Agatha (Christie) All Along: Part One: The Marple Era
Old Pussies Get It Done
For reasons that now escape me, in January 2024 I decided to read all of Agatha Christie’s books this year. This was partly because I didn’t read any Christie books until maybe a decade ago, and since then, I’ve really only read (and re-read) Murder on the Orient Express, And Then There Were None, and Crooked House. She’s the best-selling author in history (after whoever wrote The Bible, and Shakespeare), I love a whodunnit, let’s get on with this then.
I soon learned that she has written both novels and short story collections. I’m not often a fan of short story collections, and this project already was feeling unwieldy, so I limited my project to only read her full-length novels, of which there are sixty-three.
I started my project reading the twelve Miss Marple novels. I enjoyed each and every one of these twelve Marple books. She’s an old lady prone to referring to herself as an “old pussy” (which I kind of want to put on a T-shirt) who is always self-deprecating and yet so intelligent I thought at times she was some sort of ageless being solving murders through the centuries.
Unlike on Murder, She Wrote, she never develops any sort of reputation that precedes her so each and every book includes people being surprised and then, either delighted or annoyed, at how her busybody ways manage to solve murders that the police are incapable of figuring out.
As I enjoyed all twelve, here are quick descriptions of each, in chronological order.
The Murder at the Vicarage (1930)
Premise: The first Marple book finds our heroine solving the murder of a the local magistrate using entirely her keen eye for detail and knowledge of human behaviour.
Marple Level: Medium. She only appears as a real character midway through.
The Body in the Library (1942)
Premise: The body of a glamorous young woman is found in a manor house in Miss Marple’s village of St. Mary Mead. Miss Marple solves the crime.
Marple Level: Medium. She becomes a main character midway through the novel.
Premise: Adult siblings move to a small town where everyone is receiving mean, anonymous letters in the mail. A murder occurs.
Marple level: Low. She only arrives at the very end to solve things, after not being in the book beforehand.
Premise: The local newspaper in Chipping Cleghorn posts a notice that someone will be murdered that night, and then someone is. Miss Marple is on the case.
Marple Level: Low. She only arrives later in the book.
They Do It With Mirrors (1952)
Premise: Miss Marple visits her friend Carrie Louise at her old Victorian mansion, where a murder occurs.
Marple Level: High.
Premise: Miss Marple’s former maid, Gladys, gets embroiled in a series of murders based on the nursery rhyme Sing A Song of Sixpence.
Marple Level: Medium. She arrives midway through.
Premise: Miss Marple’s friend witnesses a murder happening when her train passes another train. Miss Marple sends a young woman named Lucy Eyelesbarrow undercover to figure out whodunnit.
Marple Level: Low. She is having health issues, which is why Lucy Eyelesbarrow (who is a fabulous, capable character) does the sleuthing on her behalf.
The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side (1962)
Premise: An American movie actress moves into a manor in Miss Marple’s small town of St. Mary Mead. A murder occurs.
Marple Level: Medium. Miss Marple works alongside a detective to figure out what happened (of course, she solves it, but we get his POV as well).
Fun Fact: This novel was the basis for the 1980 movie The Mirror Crack’d, starring Angela Lansbury (in old age makeup) as Miss Marple, and Elizabeth Taylor as the movie actress. It was meant to start a new series of Marple films, but did not. Which is good! As it freed up Angela Lansbury to play Jessica Fletchet in Murder, She Wrote.
Premise: Miss Marple goes to the Caribbean island of St. Honoré after a bout of ill health, and a murder occurs.
Marple Level: High.
Premise: Miss Marple goes for a holiday to her favourite London hotel, where a murder occurs.
Marple level: High.
Fun Fact: When I visited London earlier this year, I considered staying at either Brown’s Hotel or Flemings Mayfair Hotel, which inspired this setting. But as I am not an independently wealthy old lady, I stayed somewhere far less expensive.
Premise: In a semi-sequel to A Caribbean Mystery, the recently deceased tycoon Jason Rafiel (who she had previously met on St. Honoré) asks her to look into a crime for him; if she succeeds, she will inherit a fortune. Murders occur.
Marple Level: High.
Premise: A young woman from New Zealand moves into a house on the south coast of England that is eerily familiar to her, and where a murder happened years earlier. A new murder then occurs.
Marple Level: Medium. She arrives midway through.
Next time: Poirot!
Though first published in 1976, this book was written in the 1940s.
When I was starting my Christie journey I started with the Ms. Marples too. I have read a couple Poirots out of order (based on how their adaptations appeared on PBS on Thursday nights) but I've since started at the top, but I haven't gotten very far - I'm up to book 4 I think.
Christie never misses, always a good time.
Murder in the Vicarage is one of my faves!