Many readers comment that The Big Four is not their favorite Christie novel, and even Agatha herself called it “that rotten book.”* Of course, fans will still read it, so it only makes sense to know a bit about what we’re reading. Such as: Who are these Big Fours?

The story starts with a wounded man breaking into Poirot’s apartment. Before he dies, he rattles off a message about a group of conspirators intent on world domination:  Li Chang Yen, a wealthy American, a French woman, and a man only known as “The Destroyer.” Together, they are the Big Four.

If you just google the phrase, the most common search result is “Big Four accounting firms.” They are Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. You’ll also find the Central Pacific Railroad Big Four who were wealthy tycoons and philanthropists during the late 1800s. These Big Four were Charles Crocker, Mark Hopkins Jr., Collis Potter Huntington (as in Huntington, West Virginia), and Leland Stanford (as in Stanford University). Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax are listed as the Big Four of thrash metal music and there’s a 2022 movie about an elite assassin called The Big Four.

But none of these are the Big Fours mentioned in Agatha Christie’s novel.

In the book, Poirot asks: “Tell me, what is commonly meant by the phrase, 'The Big Four'?" Hastings replies: "I suppose it had its origin at the Versailles Conference, and then there's the famous 'Big Four' in the film world.” While both of these references were probably common knowledge back in the 1920s, they may not be as well-known today, so let’s take a look.

The Versailles Conference, otherwise known as The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles, was convened in 1919 to bring an end to World War 1. More than two dozen nations took part in negotiations, but the most prominent ones were the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and Italy.

Representing Italy was Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando. Representing France was Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Lloyd George, and the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, represented their countries. They were referred to as the Council of Four or the Big Four in news reports. When Italy’s stipulations to the treaty were denied, Orlando left the conference, which made them the Big Three for a while, but he eventually returned, and work on the treaty continued.  

The Big Four in the screen world also fluctuated in numbers, but it mainly refers to Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith who together founded United Artists. William S. Hart was involved in the planning stages but left before the studio became a reality.

Griffith, a director, and the actors Chaplin, Pickford, and Fairbanks, became frustrated with how the film industry operated and wanted to exert more control over their own work. These artists united to form a joint venture that bypassed the studio system and allowed them to produce and distribute films under the partnership’s creative control. United Artists was incorporated in February of 1919, just one month after the Versailles Conference convened.

The studio has been bought and sold over the last hundred years and suffered ups and downs, but just recently United Artists was relaunched. Reports in July of 2024 say that the label will be headed by Scott Stuber for Amazon MGM and plans on producing new releases.

The Big Four was published in January 1927, cobbled together from a series of short stories that had previously appeared elsewhere.  "That rotten book” was a less-than-stellar work she felt obligated to produce during a year when she was knocked flat by a Big Four of personal gut punches.

First, in April of 1926, Agatha’s mother died. Because her brother and sister were so much older and away from home while she was growing up, Agatha and her mother were exceptionally close. Her death was a real blow.

Then, while mourning her mother, Agatha traveled to Ashfield to clear out and repair the house. Her little daughter, Rosalind, went with her. Her husband, Archie, did not. Already filled with grief, sorting through her mother’s things in her childhood home sent Agatha spiraling into a deep depression with no support from Archie.

In August, Archie told her he wanted a divorce so he could marry Nancy Neele.

The final gut punch was in December. Archie left to spend the weekend with friends who were also friendly with Nancy. Agatha wasn’t invited. While he was gone, Agatha got in her car and disappeared for eleven mysterious days.

It’s easy to see why it would have been difficult for Agatha to think up and write a new novel during 1926 and why she might always remember it as “that rotten book.” Although I am amused by the Achille character, The Big Four is not my favorite either. I would never recommend it to a casual Christie reader. Still, there is always something to be learned, and reading up on United Artists was fun. What’s your opinion of The Big Four?

*Agatha Christie: A Biography by Janet Morgan

D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin seated and Douglas Fairbanks at the signing of the contract establishing United Artists motion picture studio. [1919, Printed] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/2007678308. No known restrictions on publication.