alliem 's review for:

4.50 From Paddington by Agatha Christie

4.0

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Unusually for a Marple novel, our marvellous sleuth joins the action very quickly after her friend witnesses a murder on a passing train. To gain important intel for this crime, an aging Marple enlists the help of the enigmatic and independent Lucy Eyelesbarrow. The crime itself is clever and crafty (as is most often the case with Dame Christie), however there are a lot of interesting things happening with attitudes towards women in this book. None of the women are taken all that seriously regardless of whether they're old or young. Jane and Elspeth are considered too old, Lucy too beautiful and capable and Emma Crackenthorpe too underwhelming and downtrodden by men. For a while I even found myself worrying that Lucy's situation wasn't as feminist as Christie was trying to make out, that whilst she seemed to have 'fixed the system in her favour' was still mostly perpetuating a value for women around how well she completed domestic chores (and looked good whilst doing it). And given how pathetic all of the men were described, especially in comparison to her, I was disappointed by the end in that respect. Still, the excitement of the crime and layers of the story still win me over.