A review by thebakerbookworm
Marple: Twelve New Mysteries by Natalie Haynes, Kate Mosse, Lucy Foley, Alyssa Cole, Jean Kwok, Naomi Alderman, Elly Griffiths, Ruth Ware, Karen M. McManus, Dreda Say Mitchell, Leigh Bardugo, Val McDermid

lighthearted mysterious medium-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

3.0

I'm not very familiar with Agatha Christie's original Miss Marple books (I've read more of her Poirot ones) so I can't speak to how these short stories compare to the originals. But, just taking them as twelve short mysteries on their own, they were pretty underwhelming to me. I would only just be getting invested in a mystery when it would be over, the culprit revealed, and we'd be moving on to the next one. Each story had a new narrator, and of course some were better than others (don't even get me started on that very lackluster non-mystery story from some random person's POV; I don't remember who wrote it but let's just say I was annoyed at the end).

I thought this would be a fun book to start October with, but now I'm wishing I'd just picked up an actual Agatha Christie book. *sigh*

Thanks to Libro.fm, Harper Audio, and the authors for my ALC.
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