The Mousetrap

Paravicini enters the room, joking about a lovers’ quarrel, then explains that Trotter is looking for his skis. Trotter then joins them, asking the couple if they moved his skis. Mollie suspects Christopher, but he enters the room and denies taking the skis. Trotter demands that everyone gather again. Mollie goes upstairs to find Miss Casewell, and Giles looks for Metcalf.

Once Metcalf and Miss Casewell return, Trotter interrogates them about the skis. They both deny moving the skis, and Metcalf suggests everyone search for them (it is, in fact, Metcalf who has hidden the skis). Trotter again demands to know who is connected to Longridge Farm, but no one responds. He dismisses them. Metcalf and Christopher leave the room.

Paravicini starts touching Mollie, making creepy comments, and humming “Three Blind Mice.” Giles intervenes; he and Mollie head toward the kitchen. Trotter questions Paravicini about his car and appearance. Paravicini is cagey, and when Trotter releases him, Paravicini says he will look for the missing skis in the drawing-room.

Then, Trotter questions Miss Casewell. She reveals her real first name, Katherine—or Kathy to her brother—but not her last. Katherine notices Trotter twirling his hair, which gives him away to her as Georgie, her brother. She refuses to provide her full name, much information about her past, or the reasons for her traveling to Monkswell Manor. Katherine does admit that she left England when she was around twelve or thirteen, and Trotter begins to suspect she is his sister. When Katherine realizes this, she begins to cry.

Christopher returns and tries to comfort Katherine. She leaves, heading for her room. Christopher notes that Trotter is acting strangely. Trotter says he’s had a realization and needs everyone back together again. No one admits to finding the skis. Trotter wants everyone to return to where they were during the murder, to reconstruct their actions. At first, everyone is unwilling, but they eventually agree to participate.

Trotter has people switch places in the reenactment, and says he will take the place of Mrs. Boyle, the victim. After everyone else leaves the room, Trotter has Mollie play “Three Blind Mice” on the piano offstage and then join him in the main room. He reveals that he knows she was the Corrigans’s schoolteacher, under her maiden name Waring, and that Jimmy—the youngest Corrigan—tried to send her a letter asking for help. Mollie admits this is true but says she did not get the letter in time because she became ill with pneumonia and feels guilty about it.

Trotter pulls out a gun and confesses that he made the fake call from the police station, cut the phone line, and pretended to be a police officer. In fact, he is Georgie Corrigan, the murderer. He plans to make Mollie his third victim (mouse) for not responding to Jimmy’s letter and whistles “Three Blind Mice” while grabbing her throat and mouth.

Miss Casewell and Metcalf interrupt the attack. Miss Casewell admits she is Katherine Corrigan and calls Trotter by his real name, Georgie. She tells him it was the hair twirling that gave him away, and gently leads him upstairs. Metcalf fetches Giles, and when Giles returns, Mollie tells him about being the Corrigan children’s schoolteacher.

Metcalf reveals he is an actual policeman while putting away the gun that Trotter had tossed aside to grab Mollie. When he leaves to fetch the skis he hid earlier, Giles and Mollie discuss Paravicini being a thief.

Finally, Giles and Mollie confess that they both went to London to buy anniversary presents, and exchange gifts—cigars and a hat. Metcalf hurries into the room, worried about a burning smell in the kitchen. Mollie realizes she burned her pie, and the curtain falls.

After the text of the play, there are lists of furniture and props, as well as a drawing of the set. It is important to note that there is only one set for this play; all the action takes place in one room. This room is the guest house lounge in the Great Hall at Monkswell Manor. Christie’s focus on a single location develops the stakes because the characters become trapped in Monkswell Manor by the snow.