A Caribbean Mystery (1964) Agatha Christie This has always been my favorite Miss Marple mystery, probably because I got to watch part of it on TV, with Jameson Parker as Tim Kendal, which is important, because I was a HUGE Simon & Simon fan. (And I just now realized that Brock Peters played Dr. Graham!) […]
A Caribbean Mystery (1964) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) This was my first Miss Marple, and remains on of my favorites. This is Miss Marple at her fluffiest and most dithering, yet still able to cause action to be taken. And still a product of her time. “Sex” as a word had not been mentioned in […]
The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side (1962) Agatha Christie This is probably the Miss Marple mystery that has embedded itself most firmly in my mind. There are so very many thing from here that randomly pop up. Out flew the web and floated wide; The mirror crack’d from side to side; ‘The curse is […]
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 […]
A Murder Is Announced (1950) Agatha Christie Next up on my Miss Marple reading binge was A Murder is Announced. The residents of Chipping Cleghorn are startled when their weekly paper has a strange personal announcement: ‘A murder is announced and will take place on Friday October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6:30 p.m.’ And […]
The Thirteen Problems (1928, 1929, 1930, 1933) Agatha Christie (Also published as The Tuesday Club Murders) I read several stories in this collection, but not all, so I don’t think I’d previously read this collection as is. After dinner seems a good time to sit around and discuss crime, and see how clever everyone is, […]
The Body in the Library (1942) Agatha Christie Colonel and Mrs. Bantry are quite shocked to discover a body in their library–a very young blonde body. The Colonel calls the police, but Mrs. Bantry knows better, and calls Miss Marple. Again, like Murder at the Vicarage, I noticed that much of the story seemed timeless. […]
Small Vices (1997) Robert B Parker On the trip to get my grandmother, as I was driving alone I wanted a book to listen to, to help me stay awake and coherent. I grabbed Small Vices, read by Burt Reynolds to keep me company on the trip. I really do love this book, and I […]
Small Vices (1997) Robert B. Parker Okay, so I didn’t totally resist, but I’ve limited myself to just Small Vices, which is one of my favorite Spenser books. Small Vices was my introduction to Spenser. It is also the reason I have some small affection for Burt Reynolds. Back when I worked in a lab, […]