Most of us recognize Miss Jane Marple, Agatha Christie’s amateur sleuth. I preferred her over Hercule Poirot. Now, twelve authors from several countries try their hand at short stories in Marple: Twelve New Mysteries. Readers will recognize many of the names – Lucy Foley, Val McDermid, Alyssa Cole, Ruth Ware, Elly Griffiths. There were several authors who were new to me, although not to the crime fiction world. And, I definitely had my favorite stories, the old fashioned ones that seemed to best fit into Christie’s time frame for Miss Marple.
My favorite one was Ruth Ware’s “Miss Marple’s Christmas”, set during a Christmas party attended by seven guests, including Jane Marple, her nephew, Raymond West, and his wife, June. It was a traditional story, with a few guests not well known to the hosts. Ware sets it in the 1920s, with a trap set for the villains of the piece.
Alyssa Cole’s “Miss Marple Takes Manhattan” didn’t work for me. Miss Marple seemed out of place in New York, where she was to attend an off-Broadway play based on one of her nephew’s books. The setting and time frame didn’t work for a woman who has Victorian sensibilities. One story was set on a cruise ship on its way to Hong Kong, and one was set in 1970. They just seemed off. I have to admit, though, that I don’t really care for mysteries when the amateur sleuth is removed from their traditional environment.
Lucy Foley’s “Evil in Small Places”, Val McDermid’s “The Second Murder at the Vicarage”, and several other stories seemed to fit the Marple mode written by Christie. But, I’ll be eager to see what other readers think. Let me know your thoughts if you read the anthology.
Marple: Twelve New Mysteries. William Morrow, 2022. ISBN 9780063136052 (hardcover), 304p.
FTC Full Disclosure – I read a galley for a journal review.
I loved reading Val McDermid’s “The Second Murder at the Vicarage.”
Just an excellent collection, wasn’t it, Maureen?
Your statement that you liked Miss Marple more than Hercule Poirot made me wonder how you like Parker Pyne?
Glen, I honestly don’t even remember Parker Pyne. I might not have read those stories. What did you think of him? I do remember Ariadne Oliver, but from Hercule Poirot stories. I really loved her character Harley Quin.
Jackie agrees with you. She loved the Mr. Quin stories with Mr. Satterthwaite. According to Wikipedia, Mrs. Oliver’s first appearance was in a Parker Pyne story, as was Miss Lemon’s, Poirot’s future secretary.
I might read this for the McDermid and the other “old-fashioned” stories. I agree with you that it is a big mistake trying to take her out of her period.
Tell Jackie thank you, Jeff.
The “old-fashioned” stories are excellent. I’m not usually a Ruth Ware fan, but this one was a traditional Christmas setting, so I enjoyed it.
So looking forward to this collection!
Quite a good collection. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it, Art.
I’m looking forward to this one as well. I love Miss Marple and I’ve also read several of the authors of these stories. Think it will be fun!
I think Pyne is okay, but I like Marple and Poirot better.
I actually really loved Val McDermid’s Second Murder at the Vicarage—very smart to kill off the former housekeeper turned blackmailer. I liked the Jade Empress story (by Jean Kwon), I think because I’m a big fan of the device of disguising the killer as the service staff or a domestic worker. But my favorite was Elly Griffiths’s meta “non-murder” at the resort. This was such a smart, snappy story, though I get how the MC writer contemplating killing off his own literary character can be a kind of easy red herring.
I was actually surprised how much I enjoyed this book—I think it just hit me at the right time. I had it sitting on my shelf for a few weeks and then all of a sudden I was ready to read others’ interpretation of this iconic character.
Did it strike any of you odd how present Raymond and Joan were? More so than in any of Christie’s actually stories! And also how many writers referenced Miss Marple knitting and slipping stitches! It was incredible. I started to feel like the editor for all the stories “slipped” all these stitch references in to give the collection a knit cohesiveness.
Overall, I thought these stories were all pretty good homages, but I agree my least favorite was the Manhattan story. The social message felt a little forced.
I did notice how present Raymond and Joan were in these stories. I don’t know if the authors just wanted more familiar characters, or what. But, I noticed.
I’m so glad the book found you at the right time! Sometimes, they don’t.
Thank you, Becky! I enjoy reading others’ interpretations of books I’ve read!