Poison Pen Letter - in Literature and Film

In Literature and Film

  • Poison pen letters are a main theme in Dorothy Sayers' novel Gaudy Night, Agatha Christie's The Moving Finger, Henri-Georges Clouzot's Le Corbeau, John Dickson Carr's Night at the Mocking Widow, and Enid Blyton's children's book The Mystery of the Spiteful Letters.
  • In Stieg Larsson's book The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, from his Millennium Trilogy, one of the main characters receives anonymous threatening letters from a sender she nicknames "Poison Pen".
  • In Paul Magrs's book Something Borrowed, the protagonist begins an investigation into the sender of a poison pen letter.
  • In the James Bond film Octopussy, Bond (Roger Moore) jokes that a new gadget, a pen with acidic ink, is "perfect for writing poison pen letters." The gadget's provider, Q, irritatedly responds "Pay attention, 007."

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