Confession Time: I've never read an Agatha Christie book. I know, shameful. All I know of Dame Christie are the names of two of her most popular main characters - Poirot and Miss Jane Marple, that her books are British mysteries with inventive twists, and good sleuthing and that she disappeared for 11 days and never explained what happened to her.
So, I grabbed this book from the library, an early book in the series (it seems some webpages say it's the 2nd book and others the 3rd), to see what all the fuss was about. The story is set in a sleepy little English town where murder comes to call. Miss Marple, based on her earlier sleuthing experience, is asked by the owner of the house in which the body is found to share her newfound 'expertise'.
Readers get introduced to a LOT of secondary characters and Christie describes a small English village - complete with gossipy busybodies, nosey neighbours and secrets. What surprised me was that Miss Marple, the main character of this series, plays a very secondary role in this book. Sure, she saves the day with her deduction, but the actual sleuthing was left to the police.
This wasn't quite the 'wow' read I was expecting from Dame Christie, but it was a very quick read at only 160 pages that had some misdirection and a decent (if not fully explained) final twist. Overall, I was a little underwhelmed by my first foray into the world of Miss Marple (and Christie).
My Rating: 3 stars
Author: Agatha Christie
Genre: Mystery
Series: Miss Marple 2
Type and Source: Hardcover from public library
Publisher: Harper Collins
First Published: 1942
Read: April 22-24, 2025
Book Description from GoodReads: It’s seven in the morning. The Bantrys wake to find the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing evening dress and heavy make-up, which is now smeared across her cheeks.
But who is she? How did she get there? And what is the connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry?
The respectable Bantrys invite Miss Marple to solve the mystery… before tongues start to wag.
The first adult book I ever read at school was an Agatha Christie, Cat Among the pigeons which my English teacher loaned to me, it was my first introduction to murder mysteries!
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