The Armchair Detective

“The Blue Geranium,” by Agatha Christie

Formula: The Armchair Detective

The armchair detective is considered to be the

purest form of detective work,

because it is solved purely through the

intellectual ability of the detective to listen to the clues and find a pattern, solving the

puzzle.  

The name comes from the earliest stories where a person in distress would bring their puzzle to the un-

official detective. 

This detective is not a detective by trade

• yet their ability for solving mysteries is well known in the community.

• When all the "official" detectives are befuddled, the person in distress finds the unofficial detective, tells them the details of the case, and the unofficial detective solves it without even rising from their armchair.  

  So really, the armchair detective doesn't need to be seated in an armchair because they could be

seated anywhere. 

The keys to this formula are that the detective:

• is not a witness

• has never been to the scene of the crime,

• has no prior knowledge of the crime, – but they are able to solve it based on being

told all the facts of the case.  

Another important detail: the storyteller is always truthful.

• In life, the speaker is often subject to:– forget details, – exaggerate, – or down-right lie while telling a series of events;

• but in this formula the person relating the details of the crime tells all of the necessary information without exaggeration or lies. 

• This has to be an accepted truth in order for the detective to solve the mystery.

"The Blue Geranium," by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is one of the most read detective fiction writers. 

She is a master at plot and has created two of the most widely

known detectives: Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. 

Miss Marple is the detective in "The Blue Geranium."

Miss Marple seems to be a simple, old lady; but that is what makes her

so intriguing. 

Characters:

• At the Party:– Miss Marple– Sir Henry Clithering: ex-

Commissioner of Scotland Yard

– Mrs. Dolly Bantry: Hostess– Colonel Bantry– Dr. Lloyd– Jane Helier: beautiful

actress

• Involved with the crime:– Mrs. Pritchard– Mr. George Pritchard– Jean Instow: Pretty, friends

with George– Nurse Copling: good, old,

sensible– Nurse Carstairs: beautiful,

a thing for Mr. Pritchard – Zarida, Psychic Reader of

the Future

Clues

Zarida:

• Not recommended by Nurse Carstairs

• Invalid address• Was familiar to Mrs.

Pritchard

The Blue flowers:

• Red flowers turned blue

• Nurses would have knowledge of the testing papers.

Smelling Salts:

• Cyanide mixed in, so that Mrs. Pritchard ends up killing herself

• The fumes from the salts turn the flowers blue.

• The gas range was left on to mask the smell of almonds from the cyanide. 

Red Herrings

Jean Instow: 

• -Had the conversation about how attractive Mr. Pritchard is and how he would be better off without an invalid wife.

• -Was suspected

Nurse Carstairs:

• Was fired by a jealous and suspicious Mrs. Pritchard

• Was attractive, young, and had much in common with Mr. Pritchard

• Supposedly recommended Zarida

Mr. Pritchard:

• His wife was extremely difficult and demanding.• He would not allow his wife to leave the house

before the 3rd full moon.• He was seen mixing insecticides in the garden

shed the afternoon before his wife died.• He was seen giving his wife a glass of warm milk

before she went to sleep that fatal night.• Was the prime suspect and was being held by

the police.