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naomi19noms's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
Agatha is a genius
leafie's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
srujana_2009's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
mo_mentan's review against another edition
5.0
*4.5
i love everything about this except the very ending, which seems somewhat rushed and a shame about a great character, but somehow still a very nice, if unlikely, dénouement of everything that comes before (i just don't like that miss marple is so outspokenly in favour of capital punishment, dear jane, where's your humanist upbringing?)
but oh, all the wonderful characters in this! the inspector and lucy and the boys and the scottish lady with the name that's impossible to pronounce, the old man, the doctor and everyone being in love with lucy and the big old house and gardens and of course, murder on a train?!, wartime love affairs, poison, schemes... nothing to wish for really!
have i mentioned how much i love lucy yet? i really relate to her so much, the possibility of great academic achievements but somehow prefering care work while also using one's wits for good in the "real world"? i wish to get there at some point in my life!
i love everything about this except the very ending, which seems somewhat rushed and a shame about a great character, but somehow still a very nice, if unlikely, dénouement of everything that comes before (i just don't like that miss marple is so outspokenly in favour of capital punishment, dear jane, where's your humanist upbringing?)
but oh, all the wonderful characters in this! the inspector and lucy and the boys and the scottish lady with the name that's impossible to pronounce, the old man, the doctor and everyone being in love with lucy and the big old house and gardens and of course, murder on a train?!, wartime love affairs, poison, schemes... nothing to wish for really!
have i mentioned how much i love lucy yet? i really relate to her so much, the possibility of great academic achievements but somehow prefering care work while also using one's wits for good in the "real world"? i wish to get there at some point in my life!
ali3's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
lesserjoke's review against another edition
4.0
A most delightful little mystery. I enjoy how author Agatha Christie plays with her usual formulae in this one, while still treating readers fairly with the facts and sticking firmly within the grand whodunnit tradition. As suggested by the novel's rather exclamatory US title What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!, the action begins with a setpiece that would likely inspire later works like The Girl on the Train: an elderly passenger happens to witness a murder in the cabin of a locomotive across from her, during the brief moment that the two trains are in sync on the tracks. She alerts the authorities at the next station, but no body can be discovered and the police don't seem to believe her wild story. Desperate, she passes the investigating baton to her good friend Miss Jane Marple, who subsequently takes over as protagonist -- before deciding that a more active presence is required and enlisting a plucky young acquaintance of her own to continue the search.
Beyond the three sequential heroines, there's also the fun nature of the puzzle(s) at the core of this text. Typically in a murder mystery, only the culprit is unknown, along with their exact means and motive. Here, the women must first deduce where the corpse has been hidden in order to prove that there's been a crime at all, and even then, the victim turns out to be a Jane Doe with no identification, which makes the hunt for her killer a far more difficult task. Nevertheless, the investigators are clever and capable, and they slowly manage to put everything together and catch the murderer in their net.
Throughout it all, Christie weaves her customary red herrings and amusing character sketches, and I'm impressed by how much of the apparent misdirection and stray detailing winds up relevant to the solution in the end. The suspect is neither too obvious nor too unlikely / removed from the plot, which is a balance the writer sometimes misjudges. It's overall one of the better entries in this series, albeit not one where Miss Marple is the undisputed star.
[Content warning for ableism.]
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Beyond the three sequential heroines, there's also the fun nature of the puzzle(s) at the core of this text. Typically in a murder mystery, only the culprit is unknown, along with their exact means and motive. Here, the women must first deduce where the corpse has been hidden in order to prove that there's been a crime at all, and even then, the victim turns out to be a Jane Doe with no identification, which makes the hunt for her killer a far more difficult task. Nevertheless, the investigators are clever and capable, and they slowly manage to put everything together and catch the murderer in their net.
Throughout it all, Christie weaves her customary red herrings and amusing character sketches, and I'm impressed by how much of the apparent misdirection and stray detailing winds up relevant to the solution in the end. The suspect is neither too obvious nor too unlikely / removed from the plot, which is a balance the writer sometimes misjudges. It's overall one of the better entries in this series, albeit not one where Miss Marple is the undisputed star.
[Content warning for ableism.]
Like this review?
--Throw me a quick one-time donation here!
https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
--Subscribe here to support my writing and weigh in on what I read next!
https://patreon.com/lesserjoke
--Follow along on Goodreads here!
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6288479-joe-kessler
--Or click here to browse through all my previous reviews!
https://lesserjoke.home.blog
shakgraph's review against another edition
5.0
This is probably my favorite of all the Agatha Christie I read so far. I liked a good amount of the characters, especially Miss Marple and Craddock. The plot was so interesting to me, because the actual murder didn't take place in the location of investigation. I had no idea who the murderer was throughout the entire story. I didn't even try to guess; because I would almost come close to making an educated guess, and then change my mind. I'll have to read more of the Miss Marple mysteries!