Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories (1997) - Plot & Excerpts
If you are looking for mystery stories with slowly growing suspense and clever plot twists, then Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories is the perfect book for you. Written by Agatha Christie, one of the most renowned and best-selling authors of all time, the book is an unique and interesting collection of short-story mysteries expedient for those wanting to read stories that are fairly short but highly complex and captivating. Fortunately, you won't be without any good stories to read. Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories includes 20 short stories that you will love, such as those from The Thirteen Problems, The Regatta Mystery, Three Blind Mice and Double Sin. In all the short stories, an ingenious detective named Miss Marple must solve many mysteries involving subjects ranging from murder to love.When first reading the book and its short stories, you will find it a little confusing to grasp. This is because the stories usually start out right in the action, and therefore has little introduction in the beginning. However, as you reads on, you will understand the content better and soon enjoy maximum pleasure. Do not think a good book always has to be understandable right from the very start. This element of initial "confusion" keeps you even more hooked and eager to find out the missing pieces. After I read the first few pages, all the different aspects of the book started to come together and I quickly enjoyed the book even more.Even though this book is for everyone, I would highly recommend this book to those who love enjoying books with foreshadowing, extremely interesting characters, detectives, crime and plot twists that will keep you enthralled. In conclusion, Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories is an excellent read and truly a legendary book due to its particular writing style and ability to keep readers guessing for what's next.
Miss Jane Marple is an awesome creation of Agatha Christie. Almost as sedentary as Nero Wolfe, she sits in her small house, in her small village, in the English hinterlands and solves some extraordinary mysteries. This collection spans almost the entire existence of Miss Marple as detective. For me, these stories are the best format (better than the novels) to enjoy her brain power. In over thirty years of writing (and I believe over 20 years of aging), Miss Marple evolves. I advise to ignore the images of her on film. Actors, such as Margaret Rutherford, are entertaining but not really representative of the "true" Miss Marple. (The BBC's Joan Hickson may be the best.) She begins in a black costume as 19th Century as Whistler's Mother wears. She even wears black "mittens" to keep her hands warm as she knits in proximity to her fireplace. In later stories she does venture out of St. Mary Mead, but most everything begins in this village. Jane Marple, elderly spinster, has a unique understanding of evil and can solve crimes that stump others by analogizing the situations to events and people in her own little village. Her methodology, she says, is anchored in her conviction that human nature rarely changes. Most others, "including policemen" are "far too trusting in this wicked world." She is determined in her pursuit of information and she has a keen memory and is tied into every aspect of village gossip. She reads two newspapers each day including The Times of London. In the earlier stories, she isn't a very nice person, but she seems to mellow as time goes on. Some of the regulars include the vicar, Sir Henry Clithering (ex-commisioner of Scotland Yard) and her nephew (a famous author). This collection proved to be a great addition to the nightstand.
What do You think about Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories (1997)?
This collection of short stories seemed to be the perfect choice to read right now. I had a medical procedure and initially the meds left me with the attention span of a housefly, and I was sure that I would not be able to follow the many plot interactions in her full novels. The short stories were like Goldilocks's porridge; just right. Each story followed a similar pattern but were still unique, with Agatha Christie's fun plot twists at the end. I liked being reminded that although we in America share a great deal culturally with our cousins in Great Britain, there are many fun terms and cultural practices (at least in Miss Christie's generation) that I had never heard of before. I completely missed the mark when I assumed definitions. For example, who knew that Lamb Neck is an economical but tasty cut of meat commonly enjoyed in English households. Or that a "tweeny" is not the pre-teen adolescent we hear of today, but a female junior domestic worker in a large household with many staff. She is a maid to the older senior staff including the housekeeper,butler and cook; the "between maid" or "tweeny". The stories are overflowing with these fun cultural things, and it was enjoyable goggling them to help understand the stories. Perfect for keeping a compromised attention span on-line.
—Preston
I was stuck at my grandparents house for a summer while my mother and brother went to Bermuda on a boyscout trip that I couldn't accompany them on. Needless to say, I was bitter. My grandmother had a number of books in a bookcase in the guest bedroom, mostly historical fiction, religious biographies, and birdwatching guides. But this little gem was wedged between a tell-all on St. Francis of Assisi and 'Season at the Point: The Birds and Birders of Cape May.' And thus I discovered Agatha Christie. I spent that night polishing off short story after short story, got in trouble around 2 a.m. for having my reading light on, only to slink under the covers with a flashlight as soon as my grandmother returned to bed to continue reading. Miss Marple, the aged but acute sleuth, became the love of my summer. I would read the stories over and over, trying to catch clues and put together Christie's elaborate plots. Poirot is probably the most celebrated of Christie's characters, but Miss Jane Marple taught me that a literary sleuth does not have to be male or young in order to be captivating.
—Bri
So I hadn't read Miss Marple forevs, but was delighted and surprised to find that I like the Miss Marple stories more than ever. Though I've heard that Christie actually despised Miss Marple *and Poirot* I thought she was uber. The mysteries of whodunnit themselves were tricky in some respects and easy in other respects - once one gets to know what to look for; however, there the ultimate solution of howdunnit or whydunnit wasn't ever clear to me 'till Miss Marple saved the day. Also of interest for folks is the then everyday details about the era - postwar Britain - in which these were written, but have faded from usage and consciousness - such as smelling salts and whatnot.
—Shane
