Reviews

“An alibi is the fishiest thing on God’s earth! No innocent person ever has an alibi!” This book starts with Mrs. Bantry dreaming and then being woken up by her maid telling her a body has been found in their library (bodies in libraries is a staple of mysteries that AC is playing off of, as she writes in the forward in this book). At first she thinks it’s part of her dream but the body of a very young woman has, in fact, been found in their library, and they don’t know why or how. Mrs. Bantry calls on Miss Marple to help investigate because of her previous success. The police interview a man known to throw parties and such named Basil Blake, thinking the woman might be the girl he dates, but she is alive. They finally identify her as Ruby Keene, a girl who is a dancer at a hotel. She was reported missing by a Mr. Conway Jefferson, who lost his wife, son and daughter in a plane crash and he himself was paralyzed. He lives with his daughter-in-law and son-in-law. He favored Ruby like a daughter and revised his will to give her a lot of money. The DIL and SIL seem suspicious. But Josephine, Ruby’s cousin, also seems suspicious because she seemed kind of annoyed by Ruby. Then a burned car is found with a girl named Pamela’s body found inside. Pamela was apparently approached by a film producer — Basil? Evidence is pointing toward him, but Miss Marple knows who the murderer is. She confronts Basil and he admits to moving Ruby’s body to Mr. Bantry’s house because he doesn’t like him, but he didn’t kill the guy. When Miss Marple tells Mr. Jefferson to tell his DIL and SIL that he is planning to change his will, someone tries to kill him but is caught. Miss Marple reveals that the murderer is Josie, and that she was secretly married to Jefferson’s SIL. They were plotting to get his money. Also, the body in the library wasn’t Ruby but Pamela, dressed up as Ruby. The big clue that gave it away was that Pamela’s nails were bitten, but Ruby had not done that. Ruby’s body was the one in the car. So the supposed alibis for the killing were useless since it was not actually her body. Turns out Josie and the SIL were planning the murder for the money. With the mystery solved, Jefferson does change his will to leave it to his innocent daughter in law and grandson. As with a lot of Agatha Christie’s mysteries I went along for the ride and honestly did not pick up on the real murderer. And the switching of the bodies? I did not expect that to happen either. AC is really so good as switching things up when you least expect it. I enjoyed the mystery!

trixie123's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No

3.5

hollyj13's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

melaniereads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

kitpotter's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

ink_andivy's review against another edition

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lighthearted mysterious

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.75

lovecor3's review against another edition

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mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A well-constructed mystery! I enjoyed it very much. The stuff with the girl guide took me by surprise with how sad it made me.

I loved that Miss Marple solved it miles before anyone else even got close, and especially loved when she went to visit Dinah Lee & told her to stop pretending she was living in sin aha.

I always find it interesting how rude characters are in older books, and in both the Marples I've read so far. They don't hesitate to call someone stupid, or ugly, or vain - and no-one ever considers this to be especially unkind unless it's said to someone's face. I feel like in modern books, if someone talked like this, it would immediately show the reader they're unkind/two-faced/mean, but in these books, everyone does it. Just an interesting, I guess cultural, change between then and now. I suppose it might be a necessary part of the genre too.

I think the clues were very well laid-out throughout the story. Also, I didn't know that Sir Henry Clithering actually turns up in the books! I think he's only in the TV version of The Blue Geranium so it was nice to meet him properly.

Listened to on audiobook.

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