Mission Marple Book Club discussion

Just in case anyone has already gotten this far in the reread :)

So... I'm a lot earlier in my rereading than intended, but I found out that All About Agatha have just released their podcast on this book and Mara's video will not be too far behind, so I thought it was a good opportunity to get onto this now. Plus it's stinking hot in Sydney at the moment and all I want to do is sit very still, which reading is perfect for! :)

I found I really enjoyed rereading this one again, which was a nice surprise as it's one of those books I think of as being really solid, but not a favourite. My feelings on this actually haven't changed too much. I never warmed to this one as much as Murder at the Vicarage, because I just loved everything about the setting of that one, but at the same time this is really a great mystery, and I'm not complaining. I did enjoy the reread a lot. Probably you could argue that the mystery in this novel is superior to that in Vicarage (after all this story was the first filmed for both TV series)... it's just the seaside hotel wasn't quite as fun to me as St Mary Mead.

Knowing this mystery pretty well I found on my reread I focused a lot more on the little things going on around it. I just loved the little scenes set in St Mary Mead, with the elderly ladies once again running around gossiping about the latest murder. I'd forgotten a lot of this had existed; we actually spend more time in St Mary Mead than I remembered. And all the old favourites show up. Really, reading from Vicarage to 13 Problems to this one is like a wonderful little trilogy with all the characters you love popping in and out. While written in 1942 it is clearly set in about 1931/2... something like 18 months after Vicarage, based on the Clement's baby, David. And Death by Drowning gets quite a significant shoutout for a short story.

Lots of conversation here about what women have to do when they don't have money in this era. I was struck particularly by the way Josie and Ruby were treated by their employer, the rooms they were given and how they were furnished etc. I felt more sorry for Ruby than anyone in the book it seems. The classism really stood out to me, and it made me roll my eyes at the characters a bit. After all, if Ruby is a gold-digger, surely both Adelaide and Mark were too, just in a different way?

The Pamela Reeves stuff still really affects me. We think of Christie as writing these cozy puzzle books but the section dealing with her seems so real. It is quite disturbing, like she is an example of a story parents would tell their children as a warning. I appreciate that Christie isn't afraid to go darker in her stories. The car burning part always made me think of Alfred Rouse, only to get to that chapter and realise Christie points that out herself, so that case must've made an impression on her.

Oh, and fun to see Agatha name checking herself in this one too, hehe. ;) I liked the foreword too where she talks about this being her take on what was already very much a cliché of the time: the body in the library.

Eamon wrote: "So... I'm a lot earlier in my rereading than intended, but I found out that All About Agatha have just released their podcast on this book and Mara's video will not be too far behind, so I thought ..."

Finished this one up early (it was quite short for a Christie novel, methinks?), and OMG THE STUFF WITH PAMELA WAS SO SAVAGE. I honestly am kind of shocked at how hardcore this part of the story was... honestly, they lure this young girl to her death BY IMMOLATION IN A CAR. It's... a lot. Especially considering how funny the rest of the book is. Damn, Agatha o_O

That is so true! The book is quite funny in parts and then the Pamela stuff happens and it hits you in the guts because it's just so brutal. It definitely was a short one, my version was not even 200 pages. From what I understand she wrote this and N or M? at the same time, so that may explain why?

While I hadn't thought much of him before, this time I considered Mark Gaskill as being quite well drawn as the arrogant type of man whose opinion of himself means he just cannot. Stop. Talking. Which turns out to be a great thing in the scheme of things.

Mara wrote: "Eamon wrote: "So... I'm a lot earlier in my rereading than intended, but I found out that All About Agatha have just released their podcast on this book and Mara's video will not be too far behind,..."

I always found the stuff about the child in this book slightly disconcerting. We love reading murder mysteries, but here is an example of where we are reminded of the raw reality of what a real life murder is like. And how wicked and cruel it can be. The adults involved in this one were entirely without conscience. That being said, this has always been one of my favorite Agatha Christie books. I love the Bantrys so much and I really enjoy exploring Dolly and Jane Marple's friendship and understanding of each other and trust for one another. I'm excited to explore this with you all. And thanks for the tip about the podcast..I wasn't aware of it and am going to check it out now!

I did feel for Dolly Bantry in this one, we really saw beneath the surface. Also we dwelt quite a lot on her dream about Griselda in her bathing suit, I was intrigued!

While Miss Marple is acknowledged by all as the most capable person she is frustratingly not at the centre of the story. Maybe this is an accurate reflection of the amount of agency she would have had at the time.

I agree there are a lot of golddiggers in this book : Mark, Ruby, Josie and Raymond as well. I’m not sure Adelaide is one, more that she was trapped by needing money and while it was fine for women of Ruby and Josie’s class to work, it was not ok for women of Adelaide’s. I think she does come good in the end by saying she is going to marry Hugo when she thinks she will inherit nothing. Although maybe she thinks there is no point waiting for Conway to die and might as well marry Hugo while she is still young enough to marry again! Am I picking up Miss Marples way of thinking the worst of people?

It did also leave me wondering how Miss Marple and the other older ladies of St Mary Mead manage?

Lorraine wrote: "It did also leave me wondering how Miss Marple and the other older ladies of St Mary Mead manage?"

I've often wondered this too. The arrangements people had around living back then and even further back, before the first world war, are interesting to me as they are so different than now. So many people living off the interest of their fortunes it seems. I guess with Miss Marple, she wouldn't have to have very much. If she owned her own house* and was frugal as she very much comes across as, then she wouldn't need much money per year. I do remember that any holiday she took, even a visit to a health spa at the next town, was paid for by her nephew, so I imagine she's technically not that well off, but exists on a combination of frugalness, kindness of family and living in a place like St Mary Mead which would be extremely affordable for the little things she needs. In this book, as another example, Dolly Bantry pays for her to stay at The Majestic.

She's at least surviving the depression and troubles with taxation unlike other women in Christie's stories who are often forced to rent out their properties, live in garrets or become companions.

*This is probably a dumb question and off topic too, but for any UK people here, do folks in the UK actually technically own their houses ever? Whenever I watch shows like Escape to the Country, they're always talking about "99-year leases" and I don't really understand how that works.

Eamon wrote: “*This is probably a dumb question and off topic too, but for any UK people here, do folks in the UK actually technically own their houses ever? Whenever I watch shows like Escape to the Country, they're always talking about "99-year leases" and I don't really understand how that works."

I’m in Scotland, we own our houses properly here but in England (as far as I can understand) houses are either freehold where you really own it or leasehold where you get that 99 year thing. I think it must be a feudal holdover. I find it crazy!

That makes sense about the way Miss Marple lives it must have been a very precarious way of living.

I agree, that really does sound crazy. Here in Australia you own your own property too, that is, if you can afford to, which is becoming harder and harder and more uncertain now, but don't get me started on ranting off topic! ;)

Absolutely, I guess Miss Marple is at least fortunate she has her nephew and if the worst happens there would be a lot of charity coming from the vicarage next door. There are indications throughout that she watches her money extremely closely. In A Murder is Announced (view spoiler)[she realises straight away that she has been defrauded by Rudi Scherz (hide spoiler)] and in Nemesis (view spoiler)[she is thrilled at being able to do something as simple as buy a partridge with the money she has won (hide spoiler)].

I run a property business:
Houses in England are generally freehold (i.e. you buy/own the property and the land that it sits on)
Appartments within larger buildings are generally (but not exclusively) leasehold. In other words,the landlord will own the building itself;the appartments will then be bought from him via leasehold.

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


It is a long while since I last actually read this book...more than 20 years I think, but it has endured throughout as the book that hooked me onto loving Miss Marple as a sleuth. Her modest, quiet, well bred, fussy little old lady mannerisms contrast vividly with her quick, grim decision making and her determination to solve the crime and never underestimate any of the suspects' possible propensities for evil. As she states somewhere in one of the books, having a mind that is 'likened to a sink' may be thought to be a stain on one's character, but a sink is actually an incredibly useful and functional item. Actually she has a mind like a steel trap and a deep understanding of what makes people tick, which is how she never misses a single possible clue.

Some of my absolute favourite characters, Dolly and Colonel Bantry are revisited in this story, which is a delight to me. I love that the plot takes place at two different locations that are strongly contrasting in flavour and character: the stately, well run home belonging to the Bantry's, set in the old fashioned village of St Mary Mead, and the ritzy, busy, beachside hotel, where a number of the suspects are staying or working, with its dance evenings and bridge parties, fast cars and flashy young men.

During the last 10 years or so, I discovered the Miss Marple series (BBC) where Joan Hickson plays Miss Marple. In my mind, it is Joan Hickson that I visualise when I think of 'Miss Marple'. She is the epitome of a fluffy little old lady with an unsuspected ability to ferret out seemingly impossible solutions, and is superb. After watching the episode relating to this book (a number of times), I realised that there were added details in the episode that were lacking in the book. The book is actually reasonably short for an Agatha Christie, and the descriptions of scenes, plot and characters fairly straight forward. I did miss some of the details given in the TV drama on my reread, which was a little odd because usually I am groaning because there are beloved details in the book that an adaptation for screen has missed out. However, I did enjoy the book (although not quite as much as my recent reads of 'The Thirteen Problems' and 'Murder at the Vicarage').



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