Source: Purchased
Description: Our indomitable Miss Marple turns ghost hunter and uncovers shocking evidence of a very old crime.
Soon after Gwenda moved into her new home, odd things started to happen. Despite her best efforts to modernize the house, she only succeeded in dredging up its past. Worse, she felt an irrational sense of terror every time she climbed the stairs.
In fear, Gwenda turned to Miss Marple to exorcise her ghosts. Have they dredged up a “perfect” crime committed many years before?
Genre: Mystery - Classic
Why I Picked This Book: This is the final Miss Marple book!
My Impression: While this was the last book Agatha Christie published she actually wrote it during World War II and held onto it until her death. While Poirot's final mystery has a strong air of finality, Miss Marple's final story is just another tale of her adventures. It's actually a little bizarre if reading in chronological order as Miss Marple suddenly gets far more active and several side characters suddenly come back to life.
The mystery starts with a coincidence which is a bit unusual for Christie but as Miss Marple points out coincidences do happen. The rest of the mystery is solid investigation as Gwenda, her husband and Miss Marple dig into the past. It also explores the risks of digging into a "sleeping murder" and stirring up the past. This has long been one of my absolute favorite Christie books and a reread did not disappoint.
Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Of course! Christie is one of my very favorite authors and this is one of my very favorite books.
Would I Recommend this Book? Definitely! This is such an interesting Miss Marple and one I think most mystery readers would enjoy.
Would I Recommend this Book? Definitely! This is such an interesting Miss Marple and one I think most mystery readers would enjoy.
One of these days I promise to give Christie a try!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you enjoyed this. I want to pick up an Agatha Christie book this year.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of my favorite Miss Marple mysteries, too. And you are correct; it doesn't feel like her final mystery at all. Chronologically (insofar as the Miss Marple series is chronological; I think of it as more episodic), it feels more like the middle of Miss Marple's "career." It's interesting--Christie wrote both this book and "Curtain" long before her death, but "Curtain" is more elegiac, and provides a definitive ending for Poirot's career I wonder why she didn't do that with Miss Marple? Perhaps she related more to Miss Marple and couldn't bear to finish her off, or perhaps she wanted to prevent anyone else from writing about Poirot after her death. (If so, it didn't work.)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, are you doing #ReadChristie2022 ? Here's the website, if you're interested.
DeleteMiss Marple is a favorite!
ReplyDeleteAnne - Books of My Heart
I love that the reread was so good!
ReplyDeleteGreat that the reread lived up to the first time and that you could enjoy being with Miss Marple again.
ReplyDeleteI never read this one. Sounds like one I would enjoy.
ReplyDelete