4:50 from Paddington

4:50 from Paddington (1957) Agatha Christie

Mrs. Elspeth McGillicuddy is taking the train from London to visit her friend Miss Marple, when she looks into the windows of a passing train and sees a woman being throttled–she alerts the conductor, the station master, and the local police, but–strangely–no body is discovered. Her curiosity piqued, Miss Marple decides to see if she can find the body, but needs someone young and able to do the actual searching. Thus, Lucy Eyelesbarrow ends up at Rutherford Hall, while Miss Marple is ensconced with Faithful Florence.

“…(W)e can go into that after you’ve found the body.”

“You seem to assume quite confidently that I shall find it,” said Lucy. “I don’t feel nearly so optimistic.”

“I’m sure you will succeed, my dear Lucy. You are such an efficient person.”

And efficient she is.

I really enjoy every part of this story, but I think my favorite characters are the two boys, Alexander and James.

The two boys arrived on the following morning. They both had well-brushed hair, suspiciously angelic faces, and perfect manners.

It’s the suspiciously angelic faces bit I adore.

“We’ve been hunting for days. In the bushes–”

“And inside hollow trees–”

“And we went all through the ask bins–”

“There were some jolly interesting things there, as a matter of fact–“

and this…

“…I rather wish we weren’t leaving here. Another body might turn up.”

“I sincerely hope not.”

“Well, it often does in books. I mean somebody whose seen something or heard something gets done in, too. It might be you,” he added, unrolling a second chocolate bar.

“Thank you!”

“I don’t want it to be you,” Alexander assured her. “I like you very much, and so does Stodders. We think you’re out of this world as a cook. Absolutely lovely grub. You’re very sensible too.”

I think that if you keep in mind when this book was written, it sounds very much like two boys who are excited about the discovery of a body, while being completely oblivious to the fact it meant someone had to die.

But of course, there were other bits too.

“He didn’t like those questions — didn’t like them at all. Put out, he was.”

“If you have not committed a murder, it naturally annoys you if it seems someone thinks that you have,” said Inspector Craddock mildly.

One of the things I love about Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple stories is the reminder that the justice system my say innocent until proven guilty, but in the court of public opinion, the opposite is usually true.
Rating: 9/10

Published by Signet

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