{"id":12949,"date":"2020-06-04T19:17:31","date_gmt":"2020-06-04T23:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=12949"},"modified":"2025-09-29T22:04:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T02:04:25","slug":"4-50-from-paddington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12949","title":{"rendered":"4.50 from Paddington"},"content":{"rendered":"

4.50 from Paddington<\/a><\/em> (1957) Agatha Christie<\/a> (Miss Marple)<\/p>\n

\"4.50<\/a>This may well be my favorite Miss Marple story.<\/p>\n

Elspeth McGillicuddy is coming home from London when her train briefly runs alongside another train, and she witnesses a man strangling a women to death. The other train sped on, and Mrs McGillicuddy told all the proper people, but no one seems quite to believe her, so she goes to her friend Jane Marple, to tell her all about it.<\/p>\n

The are both surprised when the newspapers fail to report the discovery of a woman’s body, which piques Miss Marple’s curiosity.<\/p>\n

I love so very many things about this story. First, the tiny bits that tell you so much in a few words.<\/p>\n

Mrs. McGillicuddy handed the porter his tip which he received with disappointment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That is really a perfect sentence.<\/p>\n

And I adore this bit between Miss Marple and Mrs McGillicuddy.<\/p>\n

“You’re getting deaf, Jane.” <\/p>\n

“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 didn’t hear you. I’m afraid I wasn’t paying attention.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The other thing I love is Miss Marple’s recognition of her own weaknesses, and how she works around that.<\/p>\n

Dispassionately, like a general planning a campaign, or an accountant assessing a business. Miss Marple weighed up and set down in her mind the facts for and against further enterprise. On the credit side were the following: <\/p>\n

1. My long experience of life and human nature.
\n2. Sir Henry Clithering and his godson (now at Scotland Yard, I believe), who was so very nice in the Little Paddocks case.
\n3. My nephew Raymond’s second boy, David, who is, I am almost sure, in British Railways.
\n4. Griselda’s boy Leonard who is so very knowledgeable about maps. <\/p>\n

Miss Marple reviewed these assets and approved them. They were all very necessary, to reinforce the weaknesses on the debit side – in particular her own bodily weakness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But best of all we get Lucy Eyelesbarrow.<\/p>\n

She was unbelievably competent in every conceivable sphere. She looked after elderly parents, accepted the care of young children, nursed the sickly, cooked divinely, got on well with any old crusted servants there might happen to be (there usually weren’t), was tactful with impossible people, soothed habitual drunkards, was wonderful with dogs.
\n…
\nFor that fortnight you had to pay the earth! But, during that fortnight, your life was heaven. You could relax completely, go abroad, stay at home, do as you pleased, secure that all was going well on the home front in Lucy Eyelesbarrow’s capable hands.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So because Miss Marple is old, she realizes she can’t go out and search for bodies, so she hires Lucy Eyelesbarrow to find the body for her.<\/p>\n

It’s really all just delightful.<\/p>\n

What were you looking for in the sarcophagus?” <\/p>\n

“I was looking for a body,” said Lucy. <\/p>\n

“You were looking for a body – and you found one! Doesn’t that seem to you a very extraordinary story?” <\/p>\n

“Oh, yes, it is an extraordinary story. Perhaps you will let me explain it to you.” <\/p>\n

“I certainly think you had better do so.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s not that I don’t like the earlier stories, because I do. It’s just that everything is just so and perfectly as it should be for this story.<\/p>\n

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
\nRating: 9.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

4.50 from Paddington (1957) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) This may well be my favorite Miss Marple story. Elspeth McGillicuddy is coming home from London when her train briefly runs alongside another train, and she witnesses a man strangling a women to death. The other train sped on, and Mrs McGillicuddy told all the proper people, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[192,30,668,190,48,33,8,41],"tags":[733,228,229,693],"class_list":["post-12949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-5-10","category-british","category-comfort-read","category-cozy","category-female","category-historical","category-mystery","category-reread","tag-1950s","tag-agatha-christie","tag-miss-marple","tag-older-protagonist"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-3mR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24681,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24681","url_meta":{"origin":12949,"position":0},"title":"4:50 from Paddington","author":"Michelle","date":"June 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"4:50 from Paddington (1957) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple, #8) \u201cYou\u2019re getting deaf, Jane.\u201d \u201cJust a little, perhaps. People do not seem to me to enunciate their words as clearly as they used to do. But it wasn\u2019t that I did not hear you. I\u2019m afraid I wasn\u2019t paying attention.\u201d The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "10\/10"","block_context":{"text":"10\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/10-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"4.50 from Paddington","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/4.50-from-Paddington.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3482,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3482","url_meta":{"origin":12949,"position":1},"title":"4:50 from Paddington","author":"Michelle","date":"January 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"4:50 from Paddington","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/450-from-paddington.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21303,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21303","url_meta":{"origin":12949,"position":2},"title":"4:50 from Paddington","author":"Michelle","date":"June 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"4.50 from Paddington","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/4.50-from-Paddington.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24735,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24735","url_meta":{"origin":12949,"position":3},"title":"At Bertram’s Hotel","author":"Michelle","date":"July 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2014electric razors, and showers as well as tubs in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"At Bertrams Hotel","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/At-Bertrams-Hotel.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4902,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4902","url_meta":{"origin":12949,"position":4},"title":"Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories","author":"Michelle","date":"October 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories (2013) Agatha Christie From The Thirteen Problems (1953) The Tuesday Night Club The Idol House of Astarte Ingots of Gold The Bloodstained Pavement Motive v. Opportunity The Thumbmark of St. Peter The Blue Geranium The Companion The Four Suspects A Christmas Tragedy The Herb\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "10\/10"","block_context":{"text":"10\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/10-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Miss-Marple-The-Complete-Short-Stories","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Miss-Marple-The-Complete-Short-Stories.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12850,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12850","url_meta":{"origin":12949,"position":5},"title":"The Murder at the Vicarage","author":"Michelle","date":"May 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Murder at the Vicarage (1930) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) I was listening to Read or Dead and they were talking about Agatha Christie's first book, which had been published in 1920--100 years earlier, and one of them mentioned her being a comfort read, and I was immediately, \"YES. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Murder at the Vicarage","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/The-Murder-at-the-Vicarage.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12949\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}