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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
This was really good, fascinating and of course really well done. I have a hard time NOT liking Agatha Christie's mysteries. They are so addicting and mind puzzling.
Who better to write mysteries than a Virgo ;) She's fabulous!
Thrilling until the very end.
Who better to write mysteries than a Virgo ;) She's fabulous!
Thrilling until the very end.
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Who doesn’t love a good Agatha Chritie murder? This one was filled with the twists and turns you can expect from her. It was pretty slow at the beginning, which is why it took me so long to finish, but once Miss Marple entered about halfway through it really sped up! I look forward to watching the tv adaptation of this tomorrow.
A wealthy couple finds a the body of a young woman in their library. They don't know the woman and how she got there is a complete mystery. There are many players involved, and Miss Marple and the local detectives work together to figure out who has something to hide. Good whodunit and classic writing.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
I read a lot of Agatha Christie books when I was younger, but I had sort of forgotten about them. It was fun to revisit Miss Marple in this quick read.
1.5 Fast book, ok, but the poor dead girl got picked on a lot. Definitely didn't age well.
Not a super compelling mystery, but I liked the conclusion
I also think I might prefer more isolated mysteries
I also think I might prefer more isolated mysteries
The great thing about Agatha Christie is that her plots always surprise me and yet they always make sense. I grasped a lot of the main points in this one but missed the twist that put everything in its proper light and made the identity of the murderer clear.
The sad thing about Agatha Christie is that all her characters are types. There isn't a well-rounded personality among them. And Miss Jane Marple is a bit of a superhero with the censorious nature of a hanging judge.
The sad thing about Agatha Christie is that all her characters are types. There isn't a well-rounded personality among them. And Miss Jane Marple is a bit of a superhero with the censorious nature of a hanging judge.
Update August 15, 2022: I had to read something that was going to get me out of a reading funk. Two other books I started this last week just put me in a mood. I love a good Miss Marple, and I am trying to get back into the flow of things for an upcoming book bingo that I start yearly from September through Halloween. I always loved the Bantry's and they appear in the "13 Problems" and Dolly appears in some later books in the Miss Marple series. I thought this whole thing was cleverly done and I loved the ending and reveal of how it was done. Miss Marple for me is my favorite amateur sleuth. Poirot started to work my nerves towards the middle of that series and some of the books were pretty awful (looking at you "The Big Four"). I can say though there's a reason why the Miss Marple series has been done repeatedly over the years. I won't lie, I would love it if someone else took at turn as Miss Marple.
Update: September 20, 2020-Still one of my favorites. Re-read for comfort read.
"The Body in the Library." When retired Colonel Arthur Bantry is wakened he and his wife Dolly are told there is a dead body in the library. They investigate and find a dead young woman in his library at Gossington Hall. The police show up and everyone starts to suspect Colonel Bantry in being behind the murder. Even though many will not come out and accuse him, the appearance of impropriety is enough to cause the Bantry's to lose their place in society.
Dolly calls up her old friend Jane Marple to help. What is nice is that Dolly calls back to Miss Marple solving all of the mysteries put before her in "Thirteen Problems." So you have one character who is aware that though Jane looks like a spinsterish older woman who is called "Victorian" by her pain in the butt nephew, she could put Sherlock Holmes to shame.
What I loved about this book is that it takes you down a really long winding path to get to who is the dead girl and why was she placed in the colonel's library. Eventually the dead girl is revealed to be a missing dancer named Ruby Keene from the nearby Majestic Hotel. We have Miss Marple and Dolly going off to figure out, who at the hotel could possibly want Ruby dead.
We get introduced to a lot of memorable characters in this one and honestly I have to say that I had no idea who did what to who and when all is revealed I went, oh that's so clever. I recall watching the most recent BBC adaptation of this one and wish that they had left it alone. I liked the original ending and thought that the latest Miss Marple's tried to be too sensational with things.
I did notice in this one and the next Miss Marple, Miss Marple likes to set a lot of traps. So there is one difference between her and Poirot. Poirot was all about telling a room full of people who the guilty party was, Miss Marple always brought in the police to ensure a confession. So she was like Brenda Leigh Johnson in the Closer.
Update: September 20, 2020-Still one of my favorites. Re-read for comfort read.
"The Body in the Library." When retired Colonel Arthur Bantry is wakened he and his wife Dolly are told there is a dead body in the library. They investigate and find a dead young woman in his library at Gossington Hall. The police show up and everyone starts to suspect Colonel Bantry in being behind the murder. Even though many will not come out and accuse him, the appearance of impropriety is enough to cause the Bantry's to lose their place in society.
Dolly calls up her old friend Jane Marple to help. What is nice is that Dolly calls back to Miss Marple solving all of the mysteries put before her in "Thirteen Problems." So you have one character who is aware that though Jane looks like a spinsterish older woman who is called "Victorian" by her pain in the butt nephew, she could put Sherlock Holmes to shame.
What I loved about this book is that it takes you down a really long winding path to get to who is the dead girl and why was she placed in the colonel's library. Eventually the dead girl is revealed to be a missing dancer named Ruby Keene from the nearby Majestic Hotel. We have Miss Marple and Dolly going off to figure out, who at the hotel could possibly want Ruby dead.
We get introduced to a lot of memorable characters in this one and honestly I have to say that I had no idea who did what to who and when all is revealed I went, oh that's so clever. I recall watching the most recent BBC adaptation of this one and wish that they had left it alone. I liked the original ending and thought that the latest Miss Marple's tried to be too sensational with things.
I did notice in this one and the next Miss Marple, Miss Marple likes to set a lot of traps. So there is one difference between her and Poirot. Poirot was all about telling a room full of people who the guilty party was, Miss Marple always brought in the police to ensure a confession. So she was like Brenda Leigh Johnson in the Closer.