The Fourth Man

A canon, a lawyer and a psychiatrist find themselves together on a train bound for Newcastle. There is a fourth man in the compartment, who apparently pays no attention to his companions’ animated conversation. But do they have something to learn from this stranger?

The story was first published in book form in the Oldhams Press edition of The Hound of Death and Other Stories in 1933, available only by collecting coupons from a magazine entitled The Passing Show. It was adapted as part of the Agatha Christie Hour in 1982 and included John Nettles, Michael Gough and Frederick Jaeger among the cast. The story was published in book form in the US in The Witness For The Prosecution and Other Stories in 1948.