<Tr> <Th> Followed by </Th> <Td> A Murder Is Announced </Td> </Tr> <P> Crooked House is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in March 1949 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 23 May of the same year . </P> <P> The action takes place in and near London in the autumn of 1947 . Christie said this and Ordeal by Innocence were her favourites amongst her own works . </P> <P> The title refers to a nursery rhyme ("There Was a Crooked Man"), a common theme of the author . Narrator Charles's fiancée Sophia says it refers not to dishonesty, but rather "we hadn't been able to grow up independent...twisted and twining," meaning unhealthily interdependent on the intensely strong personality of the family patriarch, Aristide Leonides . </P>

When is agatha christie's crooked house set