At Bertram’s Hotel (1965) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple, #11) We actually have two quite different sets of bedrooms. The English we put in one lot, the Americans in the other. The rooms all look alike, but they are full of actual differences—electric razors, and showers as well as tubs in some of the bathrooms. “One […]
A Caribbean Mystery (1964) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple #10) Dancing, lights, the music of a band (even a steel band), all that surely was for youth. But where was youth? Studying, she supposed, at universities, or doing a job—with a fortnight’s holiday a year. … A place like this was too far away and too […]
The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side (1962) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple, #9) The people, too, looked unreal. The trousered young women, the rather sinister-looking young men and boys, the exuberant bosoms of the fifteen-year-old girls. Miss Marple couldn’t help thinking that it all looked terribly depraved. … Mothers came out on doorsteps calling to […]
4:50 from Paddington (1957) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple, #8) “You’re getting deaf, Jane.” “Just a little, perhaps. People do not seem to me to enunciate their words as clearly as they used to do. But it wasn’t that I did not hear you. I’m afraid I wasn’t paying attention.” The two boys arrived on the […]
A Pocket Full of Rye (1953) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple, #7) Miss Grosvenor was an incredibly glamorous blonde. She wore an expensively cut little black suit and her shapely legs were encased in the very best and most expensive black-market nylons. Where was there a doctor near here? Nobody knew. Miss Bell seized a telephone […]
They Do It With Mirrors (1952) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple, #6) Everyone’s life has a tempo. Ruth’s was presto whereas Miss Marple’s was content to be adagio. A man who with shrewd business acumen and perfect honesty had built up a fortune so colossal that really philanthropy had been the only solution to the disposal […]
Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories (1985) Agatha Christie The Thirteen Problems (1932) 1. The Tuesday Night Club (1927) 2. The Idol House of Astarte (1928) 3. Ingots of Gold (1928) 4. The Bloodstained Pavement (1928) 5. Motive v. Opportunity (1928) 6. The Thumbmark of St. Peter (1928) 7. The Blue Geranium (1929) 8. The […]
A Murder Is Announced (1950) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple, #5) “I do wish you wouldn’t read that horrid paper, Edmund. Mrs. Finch doesn’t like it at all.” “I don’t see what my political views have to do with Mrs. Finch.” “And it isn’t,” pursued Mrs. Swettenham, “as though you were a worker. You don’t do […]
The Body in the Library (1942) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) Mrs Bantry reflected a minute and then applied an urgent conjugal elbow to her sleeping spouse. ‘Arthur, Arthur, wake up.’ Colonel Bantry grunted, muttered, and rolled over on his side. ‘Wake up, Arthur. Did you hear what she said?’ ‘Very likely,’ said Colonel Bantry indistinctly. […]
The Moving Finger (1942) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) ‘I can see you are a very clever young man—but not quite enough confidence in yourself. You ought to have!’ Joanna gave a loud hoot. ‘For goodness’ sake don’t encourage him to feel like that. He thinks quite enough of himself as it is.’ ‘Be quiet, Joanna,’ […]
The Murder at the Vicarage (1930) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) ‘I’m evidently not a housekeeper by nature. I find it better to leave things to Mary and just make up my mind to be uncomfortable and have nasty things to eat.’ Miss Marple is a white-haired old lady with a gentle, appealing manner – Miss […]
The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side (1962) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) The famous movie star Marina Gregg as moved to St Mary Mead and she and her husband completely renovated Gossington Hall, and have invited the public to visit to support St John’s Ambulance Association. We also get Mrs Bantry, who is just as […]
The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side (1962) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) One had to face the fact: St. Mary Mead was not the place it had been. In a sense, of course, nothing was what it had been. You could blame the war (both the wars) or the younger generation, or women going out […]
4:50 from Paddington (1957) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) This might be one of my favorite Miss Marple mysteries. It’s definitely one of the most memorable. At that moment another train, also on a downline, swerved inwards towards them, for a moment with almost alarming effect. For a time the two trains ran parallel, now one […]
A Caribbean Mystery (1964) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) The story that started my love of Miss Marple. I saw this (I was probably babysitting) and immediately went, “It’s AJ Simon! What is this?” And then I fell in love with Helen Hayes and Miss Marple. “As far as I can make out,” said Miss Marple, […]