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A Pocket Full of Rye (Miss Marple #7)

3.77 of 5 stars 3.77 · rating details · 9,384 ratings · 263 reviews

A handful of grain is found in the pocket of a murdered businessman! Rex Fortescue, king of a financial empire, was sipping tea in his 'counting house' when he suffered an agonising and sudden death. On later inspection, the pockets of the deceased were found to contain traces of cereals. Yet, it was the incident in the parlour which confirmed Jane Marple's suspicion that...more

Paperback, 220 pages

Published January 1st 2000 by Signet (first published January 1st 1953)

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Jan 13, 2009 Carrie rated it 3 of 5 stars

You know, it was kind of fun when I was doing my mad end of year Agatha Christie tear, in hopes of finishing up all her books in 2008 (which BTW, I did not), but now that I am reviewing all those books I read, it is kind of a slog. I mean, Christie is a pretty good mystery writer, and it’s pretty amazing that she could write 80+ books with so few duds and so little repetition, but I am also running out things to say about them. This is a Marple book, and a pretty good one, with a nursery rhyme t...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Rofi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Rex Fortescue ditemukan meninggal di kantornya. ternyata dia diracuni oleh seseorang. Inspektur Neele yang menyelidiki kasus ini merasa yakin bahwa istri mudanya yang merencanakan peracunan ini. namun sang istri mempunyai alibi yang kuat, sehingga Inspektur Neele harus berusaha mencari bukti yang kuat untuk membuktikan teori.
Namun tak disangka setelah Rex Fortescue terbunuh, sang istri justru menjadi korban selanjut. Bahkan setelah itu masih ada korban yang harus terbunuh. sehingga teori sang i...more "Rex Fortescue ditemukan meninggal di kantornya. ternyata dia diracuni oleh seseorang. Inspektur Neele yang menyelidiki kasus ini merasa yakin bahwa istri mudanya yang merencanakan peracunan ini. namun sang istri mempunyai alibi yang kuat, sehingga Inspektur Neele harus berusaha mencari bukti yang kuat untuk membuktikan teori.
Namun tak disangka setelah Rex Fortescue terbunuh, sang istri justru menjadi korban selanjut. Bahkan setelah itu masih ada korban yang harus terbunuh. sehingga teori sang inspekturpun runtuh.
Rex Fortescue mempunyai tiga orang anak: Percival yang merupakan partner usaha dan si alim serta sang istri, Jennifer yang suka berbelanja namun sebenarnya kesepian; Lancelot yang merupakan kambing hitam keluarga namun sangat cerdas dan istrinya Pat yang dulu tinggal di Irlandia; dan Elaine seorang putri yang benar-benar tulus berduka karena kehilangan ayahnya namun ternyata pertunangannya ditentang habis-habisan oleh ayahnya.
Siapakah yang telah membunuh sang Ayah? atau kah memang ada campur tangan orang luar? atau kasus ini murni karena kepribadian Rex yang banyak dibenci orang sehingga mempunyai banyak musuh yang ingin membunuh? Lalu apakah hubungan burung hitam dengan semua kasus ini? Jawabannya adalah ada pada sifat manusia yang selalu sama dimana saja."

Oke... buku ini sekali lagi membuat saya benar-benar harus berkata: AMAZING!!! Diakhir-akhir pemecahan saya berhasil menemukan pembunuhnya dan motifnya! ckck.. seperti kata Miss Marple, sifat manusia itu dimana-mana sama saja.
Kali ini Miss Marple tidak terlibat dari awal, dia terlibat dalam kasus ini ketika salah satu kenalannya menjadi korban pembunuhan. Inspektur Neele yang awalnya merasa yakin bahwa Istri Rex adalah pembunuh suaminya merasa bingung ketika dihadapkan dengan serangkaian pembunuhan yang tidak berpola ini. Miss Marple berhasil menemukan kesamaan dari tiga pembunuhan ini dan kaitannya dengan burun hitam.
Misteri dibalik ketiga pembunuhan tersebut memang agak rumit dan baru diakhir-akhir saja saya berhasil memecahkan siapa pelakunya dan motifnya sebelum Miss Marple berkata "dialah pembunuhnya." (emang sih baru diakhir-akhir saja, hehe)
sayangnya kemunculan Miss Marple tidak terlalu banyak hanya Inspektur Neele yang mondar-mandir mencari petunjuk dari kasus ini. Memang kurang greget kalau memang Miss Marple dimunculkan hanya sedikit dan tiba-tiba berhasil memecahkan kasus dengan petunjuk yang "sedikit" pula. Tapi, disitulah letak kejeniusan Agatha Christie, sehingga pembaca tidak akan bosan dan akan ber-AMAZING-ria diakhir bab karena tahu siapa pembunuh dan motifnya.
dan... Agatha Christie sangat "fair" dalam memberikan petunjuk, (setelah saya baca ulang) banyak petunjuk-petunjuk yang mengarah ke pelaku sebenarnya.
Pokoknya ini novel keren banget!! MUST READ!! :D(less)

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Jan 03, 2013 Triet Lieu rated it 3 of 5 stars

A Pocket Full of Rye was a mystery and detective novel published by the literary agency Collins Crime Club for the British author Agatha Christie on November 9, 1953. It features the female detective Miss Marple and a series of murders which were based on a nursery rhyme, on this case Sing a Song of Sixpence. The novel begins with the death of businessman Rex Fortescue by taxine, a drug which is found in the leaves of the yew tree. After his death, Fortescue was discovered to have a pocket full...more A Pocket Full of Rye was a mystery and detective novel published by the literary agency Collins Crime Club for the British author Agatha Christie on November 9, 1953. It features the female detective Miss Marple and a series of murders which were based on a nursery rhyme, on this case Sing a Song of Sixpence. The novel begins with the death of businessman Rex Fortescue by taxine, a drug which is found in the leaves of the yew tree. After his death, Fortescue was discovered to have a pocket full of rye in his pocket, a grain which is not particularly edible in its unground form. The initial conclusion lies on his glamorous wife, Adele Fortescue, who is thirty years Rex’s junior and whom his children and the main character, Inspector Neele, suspected married Rex for the dead man’s money. The rest of the Fortescue family is invited to the reunion, including Rex’s sons Lancelot and Percival and his daughter, Elaine, as well as the sons’ wives. After the first reunion, Adele, the prime suspect, is poisoned with potassium cyanide while drinking her tea. Afterward, the maid Gladys is strangled with a piece of cloth and pinched on her nose by a peg by the murderer. Suspecting that the case was completed for money, Inspector Neele invited Miss Marple to solve the crime.
I was not pleased with this novel and with half of Agatha Christie’s writing which I have read so far. I cannot say that I relate to the detectives, the Belgian Hercule Poirot nor the wealthy elderly aristocrat Miss Marple, as much as I relate to Arthur Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. There is a distinctive difference between the two detectives, Poirot studies culprits responses to particular crimes and their possible motives instead of remnants left from the crime scene, just as fingerprints, blood, tobacco smoke, and . Half of the Christie’s novels are dialogue exchange between investigators and suspects and only two or three observations out of twenty are viable leads to the solution. Redeeming characteristics of the Queen of Crime’s, the honorific which her adoring fanatics give Christie works, are the suspense the irony found in the best of her cases. Her novels also provide me with a rare glance at Victorian England after World War II and the social divide between rich and poor, morals and desires, that enflamed all of the wrongdoings in his highly realistic society.
I can find no theme in A Pocket Full of Rye. The allusion of the murders to the nursery rhyme Sing a Song of Sixpence currently does the real culprit, Lancelot Fortescue, a justice in deflecting the crime to a more suspicious member of the family in distracting the police, but I find it awkward. A typical death and redemption novel by Agatha Christie which does not find a place in anyone’s list of her novels is my final thought.
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Sep 22, 2012 Luffy Monkey D. rated it 5 of 5 stars

A most interesting fact about my interpretation of detective books is that I'm not able to appreciate and rate with the consensus how good the outcome of an investigation is. Many people swear by the cleverness of the murderer's alibi. Not me; it's not a deliberate choice, I simply can't appreciate the subtlety of a water tight crime. The way I see it, is that if the journey is good, and if there are startling revelations, and if I can put a face to a well depicted character, then the said book...more A most interesting fact about my interpretation of detective books is that I'm not able to appreciate and rate with the consensus how good the outcome of an investigation is. Many people swear by the cleverness of the murderer's alibi. Not me; it's not a deliberate choice, I simply can't appreciate the subtlety of a water tight crime. The way I see it, is that if the journey is good, and if there are startling revelations, and if I can put a face to a well depicted character, then the said book would have fulfilled its purpose of providing me with a roller coaster ride. A Pocket Full of Rye does more than tick all the boxes.

I did notice two jarring notes in this very entertaining book. First time ever, has Miss Marple been described as tall. I never imagined her as beyond 5 feet 10 inches, tops. Almost all female characters are regularly said to be tall. One impossible explanation that occurred to me was that the author somehow had the word ringing in her brain, and wrote the entire book in one sitting. The more plausible reason was that it was a reference to something from her life. She deliberately planted the word tall throughout her book. Anyway, I'll never imagine Miss Marple as taller than average, because she was old and she must have shrunk somewhat. Elementary, my dear.

The second thing concerned the last sentence in the book: "...successfully reconstructed an extinct animal from a fragment of jawbone and a couple of teeth." That was a haphazard phrase thrown in making the last line look very abrupt. Moving on, I'd like to say that this Inspector Neele person is a super Lestrade. He is allowed one generous, clever deduction, and that was the blackmail of Jennifer Fortescue by Mary Dove. I also thought it was too much that the author made of Mary an accomplice to thieves. Too much going on, I would have liked Mary Dove to remain impassive to the end. Perhaps the author, having pitted Neele's wits against Mary's impassiveness, just had to make the Inspector put one over Mary Dove.

Despite these middling things, I had great fun reading this mystery. This book is greater than the sum of its parts. The letter and photo scene near the end provided a vital clue but was also poignant. It was a little piteous to see tears in Miss Marple eyes. (less)

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Apr 01, 2012 Mitch rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

All my friends know that if my life is busy but I still want to get my yearning for reading fullfilled that my go-to author is Agatha Christie. Her books keep me hooked where I can easily fly through them in at max two days, just by reading in the bathtub or before bed. I am RARELY dissapointed by her, and "A Pocket Full of Rye" did it's job. It kept me excited and although it doesn't rank in my top favourite AC books, it still was a well-done book to me.

THE FOLLOWING MAY OR MAY NOT CONTAIN SPOI...more

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Mar 18, 2012 Cheryl rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

Following the English nursery rhyme, SING A SONG OF SIXPENCE, Agatha Christie constructs a mystery that seems as simple as a childhood verse, but proves diverse and unconnected until Miss Marple joins the investigation and focuses the Scotland Yard inspectors on each line.

"The King was in his counting house, counting out his money"---The odious Rex Fortescue, financier, dies in his office from taxine poisoning, an alkaloid extracted from the yew tree (Fortescue's estate is called Yewtree Lodge)....more

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May 20, 2011 Laurel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-year-of-agatha

Agatha Christie loved to use nursery rhymes as a motif in her mystery novels for added creepiness. Sometimes it works perfectly, as with And Then There Were None or Crooked House (my favorite). Sometimes it feels a little forced, as with One Two Buckle My Shoe or, in this case, A Pocket Full of Rye. The premise is clever and also disturbing--the three murders that echo the rhyme (the king, the queen, the maid). I wondered how on earth Dame Agatha would explain the murderer's use of the rhyme wit...more

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Nov 06, 2010 Helen rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Jul 11, 2009 Ruth rated it 4 of 5 stars

No one could create puzzlers like Dame Agatha Christie. A Pocket Full of Rye is so jam-packed with red herrings, Christie could’ve taken the story towards a half dozen or so different resolutions (at least!). The victim, Rex Fortescue, was a thoroughly unlikable man, and the dysfunctional family he leaves behind are, for the most part, equally unpleasant. The incredibly competent Inspector Neele is assigned to investigate the case, and what at first seems like a “routine” poisoning case soon gro...more No one could create puzzlers like Dame Agatha Christie. A Pocket Full of Rye is so jam-packed with red herrings, Christie could’ve taken the story towards a half dozen or so different resolutions (at least!). The victim, Rex Fortescue, was a thoroughly unlikable man, and the dysfunctional family he leaves behind are, for the most part, equally unpleasant. The incredibly competent Inspector Neele is assigned to investigate the case, and what at first seems like a “routine” poisoning case soon grows into a veritable maze of lies and misdirection – beginning with the curious discovery of rye in Rex’s pockets. When Rex’s much younger widow is subsequently poisoned while taking tea, and the maid is found murdered by the clothesline, Neele struggles to find the connection between these seemingly random crimes.

Miss Jane Marple barely appears in this novel, but her scenes are critical in revealing the killer’s identity. She’s the catalyst that helps Neele connect the threads of these seemingly random killings. I was quite impressed with Neele’s character – for my money he’s one of Christie’s most interesting inspectors. He’s extremely intelligent, intuitive, and knows how to read people. Most importantly, he knows how to use a person's tendency to underestimate him. He’s not one of those investigators who must have every clue handed to him by the “civilian” or “amateur” sleuth. Christie could’ve written more novels featuring Neele’s character and I wouldn’t have complained at all.

Christie incorporated rhymes or famous quotes as clues in her mysteries on more than one occasion (Poirot’s One, Two, Buckle My Shoe or Tommy and Tuppence’s By the Pricking of My Thumbs, to name just a few). Pocket probably isn’t one of my favorites – the pool of suspects is relatively limited after all. But Christie throws so many misdirections and possible motives into the setting of this dysfunctional, very English, household that it’s a delight to spend a few hours with Neele and Marple sorting through the red herrings in order to reveal the culprit.(less)

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Aug 13, 2009 Allison rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Disappointing book, this was. Recently it seems her mysteries are failing to excite me in the way they once did, I'm not sure if I'm simply reading bad ones (ie post-1940s), or if I've regrettably outgrown her stories.

A Pocket Full of Rye is a Miss Marple mystery, but she only makes a couple appearances (and all in the second half); the narrative mainly follows Inspector Neele, who is absolutely lacking in character. This is unfortunate because its Miss Marple who, through sleuthing she does unk...more

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Aug 24, 2012 Shadow rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Agatha Christie fans, mystery fans, whodunits

Recommended to Shadow by: Michell

Shelves: classic-fiction, mystery-thriller

In all, a good traditional mystery perfect for a Saturday afternoon read. Agatha Christie is widely believed to be one of the best authors of the 20th century and the best mystery writer possibly ever. This novel does little to avow the assertion, but definitely doesn't take away from it either.

In general, it's well written, but not the best of her work that I have read. None of her novels are very long, but this reads almost too quick. I equate it to an hour long Law and Order episode. All the...more

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Jan 10, 2012 Natframpton rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is my second Agatha Christie novel and once again I really enjoyed it.
I was really surprised though as its obviously a Miss Marple story yet she doesn't make an appearance until half way through the book. Even then she only crops up once or twice. Now I don't know if this is normal for Agatha Christie books but I just assumed she would have a bigger role.

As much as I loved the story I was a bit annoyed at how Miss Marple came up with the solution. She played such a small role that it seeme...more

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Oct 06, 2011 Philip rated it 3 of 5 stars

Another re-read, first read in 1976, and though it's quite possible that I may have re-read it since, I really can't say for sure, although I've watched the Joan Hickson TV version several times (most recently just as I began this re-read, which is unusual for me, as I usually wait until after my re-read to re-watch the TV films) and so it may only seem as though I've re-read it!

This is generally considered to be possibly the weakest Miss Marple novel - she doesn't even appear until page 89 of t...more Another re-read, first read in 1976, and though it's quite possible that I may have re-read it since, I really can't say for sure, although I've watched the Joan Hickson TV version several times (most recently just as I began this re-read, which is unusual for me, as I usually wait until after my re-read to re-watch the TV films) and so it may only seem as though I've re-read it!

This is generally considered to be possibly the weakest Miss Marple novel - she doesn't even appear until page 89 of the edition I'm reading (which runs to 211 pages), and though Christie usually worked out most of her plotting in advance, it's possible that initially this was to be a stand-alone novel without the participation of either of her sleuths, Hercule Poirot or Jane Marple - Miss Marple seems a very late addition to the proceedings (as Poirot was to be in several future novels), and she has no personal connection to the novel's Fortescue family other than that she trained the maid, Gladys. But this is enough to get her 'inside the gates,' so to speak, and to somehow sort out the puzzle that seems at first inspired by a nursery rhyme.

10/04, Progress Report: Still plodding through the Rye – with three deaths by page 88, no wonder things seem pretty static in the 123 that follow, with, of course, much rehashing of the events of the two days over which those deaths occurred. Maybe I should have postponed re-watching the Hickson version until after I’d finished re-reading it? The Hickson film actually follows the novel pretty closely, even retaining a fair amount of the dialog, though it dispenses entirely with two characters, Elaine Fortescue (Rex’s daughter) and her erstwhile fiancé , Gerald Wright (thus narrowing the field of suspects) – I don’t recall how the murderer is ultimately revealed in the novel, or what fate awaits them afterward, but I know that the film differs.

Regrettably, this novel has a rather ‘obligatory’ feel to it – a new Christie novel was expected for the fall, and a new Christie novel was duly delivered for the fall. It's what I regard as a perfectly respectable professional effort, but there's no sense anywhere that the author enjoyed herself whilst she was writing it.

10/05: This one just seems to coast to an end with Miss Marple and the Inspector agreeing on what most likely happened, and the reader surmises that that murderer will be apprehended. Christie didn't seem interested in this one enough to develop some of the story's threads.

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Feb 20, 2010 Mayday Maddie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Agatha Christie... back into the good ol' classics, eh? :)

This is was a page-turner, probably not the biggest page-turner I've ever read, but it is far better than Nancy Drew or the Boxcar Children (I think those were mysteries).

The one thing I didn't like is that it isn't a mystery you can entirely solve on your own. Not all of the clues are revealed, which is sometimes a pet peeve. I like to guess and make predictions. I like mystery novels to be kind of like a five-minute mystery (little exc...more

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Feb 23, 2010 Michael Turashoff rated it 2 of 5 stars

I was left a little wanting with this book. I have long held to fact that Christie is the best mystery writer I have ever had the pleasure of reading but in this book I can't say it was one of her best. I found the characters to be real enough and interesting as I’ve often found her characters to be even though I used to wonder when I was a teenager when I started reading Christie stories if everyone in England was rich and had no other worries except getting away with murder. I guess I always l...more

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Feb 10, 2013 sabisteb rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: hörspiele-einzelne, hörspiele, hörspieleserien, krimi-thriller

Als Gladys, ein ehemaliges Hausmädchen von Miss Marple, das sie selber aus dem Waisenhaus geholt und ausgebildet hat, ermordet wird (man findet sie erwürgt mit einer Wäscheklammer auf der Nase im Garten ihrer Arbeitgeber), will Miss Marple herausfinden, warum Gladys sterben musste. Dabei findet sie heraus, dass ihr ehemaliges Hausmädchen bereits das dritte Opfer in diesem Haushalt ist. Der Hausherr, Rex Fortescue, Finanzmakler, starb in seinem Büro durch Taxin (das Gift der Eibe). In seiner Tasc...more

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May 11, 2013 Ruby Scarlett rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very good, especially so because it's one of only a handful of Christie books that shows a servant with a life besides serving. More often than not, Christie's servants barely have a name (when it can be remembered), much less a personality fleshed out beyond the stereotypical uneducated emotional girl who either stole something or saw something. I found the end particularly moving in that regard - here and I believe for the first time, the police enters a servant's room to search her belongings...more

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Jan 23, 2010 Nikki rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, crime

I definitely think that I'm starting to be able to pick up on the clues Agatha Christie gives -- or, alternately, the way she thinks: maybe the clues aren't really there, or not large enough to pick up on anyway, since when I started reading her books, I couldn't guess the culprit nearly so well.

Anyway, I liked this one, if only because it made me feel clever. I wished it had more of Miss Marple in it, though. The way she gets involved in the mysteries is getting very contrived, by this point. W...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Mochammad Bintang rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: christie

All of agatha christie book are amazing !but Actually this book was my first Miss Marple story that i've ever read .I know that her character is the less famous than the other christie creation like poirot and tomy tuppence but after i read this book it is really beyond my expectation !and from here on i know that i am become fall in love with this warm detective,especially from the way she solve the mistery.A pocket Full of Rye story is about how far you can control your GREED so that it won't...more

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Mar 03, 2012 Janice rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mysteries

A Miss Marple story. Although Miss Marple doesn't make her appearance until much later in the book. Based on a nursery rhyme. The king, Rex, is killed in his counting house, his office, with a pocketful of rye. Then his wife dies while eating bread and honey and the maid is killed while hanging out the clothes and, lacking the prerequisite blackbird to peck her nose, a clothespin is stuck on it. Lots of false clues, a bumbling inspector who is actually smarter than the family believes, and to th...more

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Dec 03, 2011 Kristel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie
3 stars
This 1953 work by Agatha Christie is a Jane Marple murder mystery and based on a nursery rhyme. It’s a entertaining who done it and a quick read as Christie’s novels usually are. This story is about the Fortescue family and involves Inspector Neele investigating the poisoning death of Rex Fortescue soon followed by the death of his young, second wife and a household staff. This family is best described as quoted (from Alice in Wonderland) by Inspecto...more

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Mar 09, 2013 Elaine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Title: A Pocket Full of Rye.

Author: Agatha Christie.

Genre: Mystery, Classic, Historical Fiction, Miss Marple.

Plot: Rex Fortescue, a king in his own right of his financial empire, drinks his last cup of tea at his office one brisk morning. Inspector Neele, his inner musings on the case propelling most of the story, begins investigating at once and discovers plenty of clues. Now, if only he could string them together into something coherent and solve this puzzling case!

Fortescue, it seems, was on...more Title: A Pocket Full of Rye.

Author: Agatha Christie.

Genre: Mystery, Classic, Historical Fiction, Miss Marple.

Plot: Rex Fortescue, a king in his own right of his financial empire, drinks his last cup of tea at his office one brisk morning. Inspector Neele, his inner musings on the case propelling most of the story, begins investigating at once and discovers plenty of clues. Now, if only he could string them together into something coherent and solve this puzzling case!

Fortescue, it seems, was on the brink of insanity and left behind not only a crumbling empire, but a dysfunctional rather nasty family. His second wife, much younger than himself, married for money and has an on going affair with her "golf partner," Vivian Dubois. His two sons by his first marriage, Percy and Lancelot are complete opposites. Percy, -self-righteous and uptight, has always been billed as the good boy. Yet, he has his own motives and agendas. Lance, the adventure-loving reckless black sheep of the family, hasn't seen his father in years - or has he? And then there are the daughters of the family. Percy and Lance have a sister, sweet and innocent in so many ways and yet deep in her own troubles; Elaine is the only one to show genuine grief for her father. Yet his death means she can finally marry Gerald - the suitor her father heartily disapproved of. Percy's wife, Jennifer, was a nurse before her marriage and now finds herself bored out of her mind with all the luxury surrounding her. Patricia, Lance's wife, is more at home with horses and dogs than in the world of her husband's relatives.

When everyone has a motive, figuring out who the villain is becomes increasingly difficult for Inspector Neele. And then two more people are found dead. Enter the tiny but brilliant Miss Marple, bent on avenging one of the deaths. With her crucial insight into human nature and her non-threatening appearance, Miss Marple supplies Neele with the missing clues he needs to solve this baffling case once and for all.

Likes/Dislikes: I quite enjoyed this novel. It is the seventh Miss Marple mystery and really was very interesting and baffling. I wish Miss Marple had been in it more than she actually was, but Inspector Neele was a wonderful lead character. The secondary character I liked, however, turned out to be the villain. Pity. Oh well, it was definitely a twist I didn't see coming!

Rating: PG - 14 and up, for reading level and content. I mean, it's a murder mystery ya all. It's not graphic though so no worries on that score.

Date Report Written: March 9, 2013.
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Aug 03, 2011 KaTaK rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-mystery-thriller

This is my 1st book from the Marple series (that I was able to finish). Well, it was okay but not as good as I was expecting it to be. Miss Marple solved the case alright, but she came throughout the book only in parts (she came into the story only after almost half the book was done!) and the eventual murderer did not really surprise me.

The truth is I liked the Poirot series better compared to Marple series; because with Miss Marple being an old lady her involvement in the case especially murde...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Lachlan Smith rated it 3 of 5 stars

Although the story was intriguing, "A Pocket Full of Rye" failed to surprise at the end. Agatha Christie eliminated too many of the suspects, so it could really only be one person. And you always knew that it was going to be "the person that couldn't have possibly done it", unlike her other books where I really had no idea who it could be.
Also, the ending was quite different to most of her books. Usually they end with the detective (in this case Miss Marple) gathering everyone in one place and r...more

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May 03, 2010 Katie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was not a bad read at all, until a few weaknesses began to show later on. Miss Marple seems to have been inserted awkwardly just to appeal to fans, since she doesn't show up until later, and she doesn't really contribute anything, except by way of deus ex machina -like prescience. Also, the clue that clinched it had to do with someone throwing something out the window into the bushes right next to the house, which was a stupid thing to do since that should have been the first place the poli...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Roberta rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: gialli-thriller-e-noir, ebook

L'indagine ruota attorno a una filastrocca, meno famosa di 10 piccoli indiani, ma sempre allegramente "nera".
Tra possibili malattie mentali, mogli, amanti, domestici di dubbia provenienza e parenti in attesa di eredità quell'avido del morto non sembra nemmeno il peggiore. Miss Marple aiuta e, sì, alla fine è il suo colpo di genio a risolvere il caso, ma sono contenta che la polizia non faccia poi la pessima figura a cui troppi telefilm ci hanno abituati.
Volevo passare questo inizio d'anno a lett...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Negar rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Sing a song of sixpence, a pocketful of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds backed in a pie.
When the pie was opened the birds began to sing.
Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?

The king was in his counting house, counting out his money,
The queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey,
The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes,
When there came a little dickey bird and nipped off her nose."

It's another Agatha Christie book with a nursery rhyme theme. Having watched the TV Movie "...more

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Feb 22, 2013 chippyvale rated it 4 of 5 stars

It's my first time reading a novel written by Agatha Christie, & boy, I've been missing out so much these years! I heard of her as a mystery writer of course but somehow, I just didn't bother (the shame!) giving her novels a try until today. I really enjoyed it! I can't wait to go to the library to check out the "sequel" and see if Lance gets what he deserves.

On the other hand, I concur with what another reviewer had said about Miss Marple. Suddenly she waltzed into the novel again nearing...more

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Jan 03, 2012 Chip rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Lots of misdirection - excellent characters - minimal fluff - a book I enjoyed devouring. There are moments when you need a good English mystery (a dark and stormy night, with a fresh pot of tea next to the fire). I loved picking the whodunnit only to have my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd best guess tossed out the window, so that I didn't really know who (or whom) did it until the very end of the book. I would say they just don't write 'em anymore like that *but I happen to know* that PD James is every bit...more

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Nov 09, 2011 Gerry rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The action takes place at Yew Tree Lodge and two murders have been committed before Miss Marple makes her appearance - and her presence felt.

The Fortescue family lose their head, Rex, and then one of the maids is strangled and no sooner has Miss Marple arrived than a third murder, Rex's wife, takes place.

Intrigue and investigation follow and even though Inspector Neele works hard to discover the perpetrator of the crimes, it is Miss Marple who, not surprisingly, points him in the right direction...more

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About Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born in Torquay, Devon, England, U.K., as the youngest of three. The Millers had two other children: Margaret Frary Miller (1879–1950), called Madge, who was eleven years Agatha's senior, and Louis Montant Miller (1880...more

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Books by Agatha Christie

Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot, #10)

The Mysterious Affair At Styles (Hercule Poirot #1)

Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple, #1)

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Trivia About A Pocket Full of Rye

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Quotes from A Pocket Full of Rye

“Nobody believes in magicians any more, nobody believes that anyone can come along and wave a wand and turn you into a frog. But if you read in the paper that by injecting certain glands scientists can alter your vital tissues and you'll develop froglike characteristics, well, everybody would believe that.” — 16 people liked it

“You think he is marrying her for money?'

'Yes, I do. Don't you think so?'

'I should say quite certainly,' said Miss Marple. 'Like young Ellis who married Marion Bates, the rich ironmonger's daughter. She was a very plain girl and absolutely besotted about him. However, it turned out quite well. People like young Ellis and this Gerald Wright are only really disagreeable when they've married a poor girl for love. They are so annoyed with themselves for doing it that they take it out of the girl. But if they marry a rich girl they continue to respect her.” — 5 people liked it

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A Pocket Full of Rye (Miss Marple #7)

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