The Complete Miss Marple Collection

Miss Marple #1-12

by Agatha Christie

The complete eBook collection of the twelve Miss Marple mystery novels as well all twenty short stories by the Queen of Mystery herself, Agatha Christie.

It includes "The Murder at the Vicarage", "The Body in the Library", "The Moving Finger", "A Murder is Announced", "They Do It With Mirrors", "A Pocketful of Rye", "4:50 from Paddington", "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side", "A Caribbean Mystery", "At Bertram's Hotel", "Nemesis", "Sleeping Murder", and "Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories".

Librarian's note: this entry is for the collection of Miss Marple novels and short stories. Each of them, including all twenty short stories, has an individual entry elsewhere in Goodreads.

Genres: Mystery, Agatha Christie, Fiction, Classics, Crime, Thriller, Collections

3600 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 26, 2013

About the author

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

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.

Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of Miss Marple's stories in one collection?
Yes, please!
I've left links to a longer review of each story if anyone is interested in a particular book.

The Murder at the Vicarage
Miss Marple's 1st book!



The Body in the Library
I figured it out! I knew whodunnit!
I was smugly chuckling and congratulating myself on finally beating Agatha Christie at her own game as I listened to the end of the book drawing near, knowing that I had beaten the Queen of Mystery.



Goddammit.
She fooled me again.

The Moving Finger
Oh, this is a good one!

Alright, before the internet gave birth to trolls, there were the poison pen writers.
What's that? <--ask the kids
Well, back in the day, the same sort of unbalanced idiots who like to make obnoxious anonymous comments online were forced to send out (gasp!) anonymous letters via the mailbox.



And that's what this Miss Marple mystery is about!

A Murder is Announced
I FIGURED IT OUT!
Yess. I finally got one right!



Ok, the gist is that there is an advertisement in the local paper to come to Letitia Blacklock's house for a Murder that evening. Of course, they all suppose that it's one of those Murder Parties where they play as victims and detectives.

They Do It With Mirrors
Miss Marple and the Magic Trick!



But not really.
The point of this one is that not everything is what it seems. Like an illusionist's trick - they do it with mirrors.

A Pocket Full of Rye
A rich dude chokes on his tea, and in his pocket the fuzz find...RYE.
Nefarious, I say!



Or maybe not.
For some reason, Pocket Full of Rye seemed like a more complex story than what you normally get from one of Agatha's murder mysteries. <--I have no evidence for that statement, it's just this feeling I got while I was reading it.
I mean, there are always red herrings in Christie's books. Sometimes even blue and yellow herrings.
All those delicious, delicious herrings...

4:50 from Paddington
Lucy Eyelesbarrow is the best thing about this book.
Loved her. Why is she not in more books?
She and Miss Marple were just an unbeatable team!
Psst - This book is also known as What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!



The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
A really good Christie mystery for Marple fans.
The victim, Heather Babcock, is one of those idiots who gets on everyone's nerves. You know, a pushy do-gooder who forces their help on everyone?
It's not sad when she bites it.



A Caribbean Mystery
The magical Miss Marple does it again!
Only this time, she does it on a tropical vacation.



At Bertram's Hotel
Bertram's Hotel is a bastion of never-changing, respectable, old English perfection.
Or is it?



Nemesis
Agatha isn't known for her sequels, but that's almost exactly what Nemesis is...in a way.
Remember A Caribbean Mystery?!
No?
Yeah. Well, it was somewhat forgettable. But for whatever reason, Christie decided to use one of those characters that Jane teamed up with to kick start this mystery. And while most of them have absolutely nothing to do with her current Nemesis, you do get a tiny peek at what some of those guys are up to now. <--kinda cool



Sleeping Murder
The main characters are newlyweds Gwenda & Giles, but Jane Marple is introduced early on as the elderly aunt of Giles's cousin (some of you will recognize Raymond West from other books!). And when Gwenda begins to think she's losing her mind due to some startling coincidences at her newly purchased house, and a frightening reaction to the line of a play...
*rubs hands together*
Well, naturally, Miss Marple sticks her nose (delicately) into Gwenda's troubles, and steps in to help her sort things out.




20 Shorts:
The Tuesday Night Club
The Origin of The Marple!
Yes, this is the first Miss Marple story, and I don't really think you can call yourself a superfan if you haven't read this one.
#loser



Ingots of Gold
Once again, the Tuesday Night Club meets up, and this time it's Miss Marple's own nephew, writer Raymond West, who tells a story. He hopes that the group (well, actually Miss Marple) can figure out what happened when his friend, John Newman, was kidnapped while his salvage ship was robbed of its treasure.



The Bloodstained Pavement
This time, when the Tuesday Night Club meets, Joyce (Raymond West's future wife) tells the story of her time painting in the small coastal village of Rathole.
She witnesses a husband and wife go off on a bathing trip with a woman they ran into when they got to the hotel.
Without realizing what she was doing, Joyce painted blood stains onto her painting. When the wife drowns a few weeks later, Joyce wonders if she had some sort of a premonition.



The Idol House of Astarte
Miss Marple and her Tuesday Night Club friends listen to the clergyman of their group tell a story about the time he witnessed a man killed by seemingly supernatural forces.
The beautiful young socialite, Diana Ashley, convinces the other guests to play dress up and go out to the supposedly sacred grove of Astarte (on the property) that had a small temple/house there. It's all fun and games till the owner of the house, Sir Richard, falls over dead with a stab wound, and there's no knife to be found.
How did this toga party go so wrong?!



Motive v. Opportunity
What is it with so many of Christie's characters getting taken in by spiritualists all the time!?
I'm guessing that was probably a very talked-about THING back in the day.
Ooooh! Did you hear about Gertrude? She's been seeing that Madame Zartan on the regular since her husband died, and I'm pretty sure that wacky bitch is bleeding her dry. I'll bet her kids won't inherit a pot to piss in by the time she's done.
Or something along those lines.
Point is, vulnerable people have always existed to become the prey of unscrupulous snake oil salesmen.




The Blue Geranium
When Arthur & Dolly Bantry ask Sir Henry Clithering who he would like to invite over as a dinner guest to round out their house party, he shocks them by asking for Miss Marple to be included.
When he tells Dolly about the uncanny way the elderly spinster solved the mysteries of the Tuesday Night Club the year before, she starts to think maybe Miss Marple could help her solve a seemingly paranormal murder mystery.



The Four Suspects
Sir Henry Clithering, a member of the Tuesday Night Club, takes his turn and tells a story.
The title refers to a running theme in Agatha Christie's mysteries, where the goal of solving a murder isn't just to punish the guilty but to free the other parties who might be suspects from the suspicion of their friends, neighbors, and loved ones.



The Companion
Miss Marple solves the case of the lady's companion who drowned off the shore of Gran Canaria Island.
How?
She noticed a bit of weight gain for what it was.



A Christmas Tragedy
Miss Marple knows a murdering husband when she sees one.
Even if she can't prove it right away.
Jane Marple recounts the time she couldn't save an adoring wife from her treacherous spouse. Without any proof and only her intuition to go on, she couldn't convince the young woman that her husband was eyeballing the windfall he would receive upon her death.



The Herb of Death
It's Mrs. Bantry's turn to tell a story to the Tuesday Night Club and she's not at all sure she can make her's sound interesting. And to be fair, she hems and haws and does a fantastic job of messing it up.
It's a case of (gasp!) poisoning where everyone got sick but only one person died.
Was it an accident that there was foxglove in the sage, or did something more nefarious happen?



The Affair at the Bungalow
This is the last mystery told by a member of the Tuesday Night Club, and this time, it's the ditzy but beautiful actress Jane Helier who offers a crime for the group to solve.
It seems as though a local bungalow was burgled and the man in custody for the robbery has a crazy story to tell...



The Thumbmark of St. Peter
This is a good one for 2 reasons.
1) Miss Marple takes her turn and tells the Tuesday Night Club of a murder that she helped solve.
2) In an adorable twist, Ramond West teases his Aunt Jane that there is at least one thing she doesn't know. But she pops back and shocks him by telling him that she does know he proposed to Joyce (the artist in the group) that very evening.



Death by Drowning
A local girl, rumored to be pregnant by an out-of-town architect, is found drowned.
The locals assume it was suicide because her father is known to be an unreasonable man.



Sanctuary
A man dies from a gunshot wound in the parson's wife's arms, whispering the word sanctuary with his dying breath.
A little dramatic, no?



Strange Jest
This is the story of a rich uncle who leaves his niece and nephew (who want to get married) to hunt for his fortune after he dies. To be honest, it felt a bit like Manx Gold because in that one, you have two cousins who want to get married but have to hunt for the treasure that their rich old relative leaves for them, as well. However, that one is more of a real treasure hunt with clues, and this one is that he didn't trust banks and they're just hunting around in the house for what the crazy old fart did with all of his money.



Tape Measure Murder
Not my favorite Marple.
And yet, is any Marple a bad Marple?
So. This one deals with a woman whose husband is the main suspect in her murder, mainly because he isn't showing the appropriate amount of emotion.



The Case of the Caretaker
Miss Marple, recovering from a bad bout of the flu, was feeling depressed.
I guess that's a thing?
Anyway, it took a lot out of her, and she'd started to fall into a funk. So her good friend and physician, Doctor Haydock, brings her a file with a case he recently had so she can solve the whodunnit.



The Case of the Perfect Maid
Miss Marple knows.
She's like Santa Claus or something when it comes to who has been bad or good, and her friends and neighbors would do well to listen to her advice when it comes to the hiring and firing of servants.
Or employees, as we call them these days.



Miss Marple Tells a Story
I loved the way Miss Marple narrated the story in a hilarious, humblebrag kind of way.
When a lawyer brings his client to Jane and asks her to listen to the story of the events leading up to him finding his wife dead in their hotel room, the client in question thinks it's a waste of time.
However, just as her lawyer friend hoped, the fluffy old lady manages to see a few things that everyone else missed and ends up saving his bacon.



Greenshaw's Folly
Raymond West, Miss Marple's lovable nephew, brings home a mystery to his Aunt Jane.
While trying to entertain a friend from the city with the local sight of an oddly built local house, he stumbles into a family drama and a murder-to-be decades in the making.



Highly Recommended for fans of Miss Marple.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite, fictional detective, Miss Marple is wonderful, just a little old lady who you better beware of if you're up to no good.

[Barbara K]

I’ve chosen this “book” as a medium for sharing my ranked ordering of the Miss Marple books, creating a “comment only” shelf so it won’t duplicate the read count, and not assigning it a rating. But who knows whether this will work, given the mysterious ways of Goodreads?

It is pretty obvious that for me, the early Miss Marples rank much higher than the later ones, which tend to introduce gimmicky elements (Pocketful of Rye, Nemesis) or distinctive characters (4.50 from Paddington, At Bertram’s Hotel) to make them work. Miss Marple is at her best when she is on the scene in St. Mary Mead or some similar location where she can observe and reflect first hand as the story moves along.

Here’s my rundown:

1. The Body in the Library
2. Murder at the Vicarage
3. Sleeping Murder
4. The Moving Finger
5. A Murder is Announced
6. The Mirror Cracked From Side to Side
7. A Caribbean Mystery
8. At Bertram’s Hotel
9. They Do It With Mirrors
10. The 4:50 From Paddington
11. Nemesis
12. A Pocketful of Rye

What do the rest of you think? No matter what the order, it’s comforting to know that regardless of what’s going on in the real world, I can turn to a gentle old lady with a ball of fluffy wool to sort things out.

[Catnap · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories:
The Murder at the Vicarage: To Rosalind
★★★☆☆
Reread - An unlikable man is found shot in the vicars office, who killed him? Interesting but a lot of coincidences.

The Body in the Library: To My Friend Nan
★★★★☆
Reread - A body of a young woman is found strangled in a library, she is said to be a dancer and to be on the brink of being adopted by an old wealthy invalid man. Later a body is found badly burned inside a car. Miss Marple helps her friend, the woman whose house the body was located, figure out what happened. Money is dangerous, especially other people's money.

The Moving Finger: To my friends Sydney and Mary Smith
★★☆☆☆
"No smoke without fire" Miss Marple comes in near the end and barley spends any time on page before she solves everything. This story had clunky pieces, one massive smoke screen, one singular suspect frame for no real reason, several romance tangents. Not the best.

A Murder is Announced: To Ralph and Anne Newman at whose house I first tasted "Delicious Death!"
★★★☆☆
Reread - One of those I remember vividly, the re-listen was fun but no surprises.

They do it with Mirrors:
★☆☆☆☆
What is it with Christie and casual racism??
"Whose the ****** in the woodpile?"
Was that necessary? Anyway, a boring, tedious story. Three victims total, one the intended, and two due to a boastful juvenile. I had my suspicions very early on and I was right. I'm also getting a bit tired of hearing about the similarities to people in Miss Marples village. We don't know these people so why does it matter? I am quickly realizing why people prefer Poirot.

A Pocket Full of Rye: For Bruce Ingram who liked and published my first short stories
★★½☆☆
Another nursery rhyme story (no idea what possessed Christie to write these in the first place). More racism, but nowhere near as much as I expected, considering one party lived in Kenya and recently flew back to England.
“Blackbirds? Do you mean genuine birds or the slave trade?”
Three victims total. I guessed the murderer due to their personality and the heavy-handed way they fixated on certain things. Guessed the motive too (the usual stuff). Not a lot of Miss Marple until the tail end of the book, no idea why Christie chose to do that with so many of these stories. We follow someone else and that person talks to Miss Marple who then solves things for them, we rarely see her do much.

4:50 From Paddington:
★★★☆☆
A woman is murdered on a train, a chance fluke provides an eyewitness to the murder. Part murder mystery, part family drama, the story felt overlong in some parts. As usual, Miss Marple isn’t very present in the active part of the story. The ending was contrived. I give stars for the family drama as well as the mystery, I hope Lucy picked Bryan. I’m assuming taxes were high when Christie wrote this.

The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side: To Margaret Rutherford in admiration
★★★★☆
Reread – Another story that I remember vividly.

A Caribbean Mystery: To my old friend John Cruickshank Rose with happy memories of my visit to the West Indies
★★★ ½☆
Three victims, the murders started off by an elderly gentleman boasting about knowing murderers and recognizing one. Surprisingly, no real racism and this story featured dark skinned people. Miss Marple was more active here and I liked the gruff invalid who helped her. Coupled with the mystery was a lot of drama and romantic entanglements and dysfunctions.

At Bertram's Hotel: For Harry Smith because I appreciate the scientific way he reads my books
★★★ ½☆
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
A quaint English hotel, reminiscent of times long past. A string of robberies, an absentminded member of the clergy, a powerhouse of a woman, a young girl in love and a murder. Again, there was no reason for Miss Marple being here, aside from simply overhearing a few things ,and confirming what the police found. The mystery itself had layers which was interesting. It was odd to have a police officer referred to as “father.” A bit overlong but still interesting to listen to.

Nemesis: To Dauphne Honeybone
★★☆☆☆
I don’t know if I’ve simply read too much Miss Marple back to back, or the book really is this boring. Either way, I was bored and found the story took forever to get moving, it took over half the book for anything significant to happen. This was a shame since the beginning had so much promise. I will say this is one of the few books that feature Miss Marple a bit more than usual.

Sleeping Murder:
★★★☆☆
I’m not sure the rating is entirely fair but I’m Miss Marpled out! I listened to this but barley registered much of the fine details, I just wanted it finished so I can finally close this book. I will have to revisit this story later and see if my rating changes. It also didn’t help that I read this right after Nemesis which was a dull slog. Still for now that is the rating.

Short Stories:
- The Tuesday Night Club: ★★★★ "hundreds of thousands"
- Ingots of Gold: ★★ Easy to guess. Lost gold.
- The Bloodstained Pavement: ★★★ Insurance fraud. Mrs. Green from the village is even worse than the culprits here.
- The Idol House of Astarte: ★★★ Jealousy. Easy to guess.
- Motive v. Opportunity: ★★★½ I like the ending of this one. "But all the same it's a catch...just like a lawyer"

- The Blue Geranium: ★★½ Love, jealousy and obsession.
- The Four Suspects: ★★★ A hit - treachery and misrepresentation.
- The Companion: ★★ Easy to guess. Money as always.
- A Christmas Tragedy: ★★★★ Painfully sad. Like a true crime.
- The Herb of Death: ★★★★ Unrequited love. Sage and onions. 20 questions.
- The Affair at the Bungalow: ★★★ Future plans.
- The Thumbmark of St. Peter: ★★★½ Insanity.

- Death by Drowning: ★★★½ Unrequited love. Sad.
- Sanctuary: ★★★★★ Heartbreaking. The power of a parents love.
- Strange Jest: ★★★ A collector's dream.
- Tape Measure Murder: ★★★ A throwback crime. One lucky, one unlucky.
- The Case of the Caretaker: ★★★ Easy to guess and money as always.
- The Case of the Perfect Maid: ★★★½ Clever.
- Miss Marple Tells a Story: ★★★ Insanity, revenge.
- Greenshaw's Folly: ★★★½ Greed and money.

Overall Thoughts:
- All books were consumed via audiobook, I wouldn’t have been able to finish this as quickly as I did without them. For the short stories I listened to two books “The Thirteen Problems" and “Three Blind Mice and Other Stories.”
- Christie was anti-Semitic, a racist and supported misogyny. She is prone to pepper her work with all three at random intervals. Sensitive readers should beware of this.
- Poirot is the better series in my opinion. Miss Marple is very much a tertiary character in most of her stories.
- A few gems but, overall a very weak collection of stories.
- I've updated the individual books with the corresponding star rating, those that were rereads have specific read dates out side of this read through. Those that weren't have no specified read date, because the read date is during this read through.

[Jack Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars. Now here's a collection to save you time searching in nooks and crannies. Every novel and every short story about that genius of crime detection, Miss Marple. One of the premises in many of the entries is that of the police underestimating her; they can't see how the elderly spinster fussing about on the edges of the scene can be anything more than a nuisance. They've more important things to do than entertain her questions and theories. Another of the premises is the importance of her life experience in small-town England. St. Mary Mead is a mythical place but it is very real in the hearts of Agatha Christie lovers. It's here that Jane Marple accumulated her stories about the maid who lifted a valuable jewel a decade ago, and so-and-so's daughter who married the wrong man despite everyone's advice. These little anecdotes all come into play when she announces to all, including the police, the real solution to the crime. There are more novels and short stories about Hercule Poirot, but Miss Marple was the author's favourite. There are occasions too, when Agatha Christie speaks to her readers through Miss M. Watch for it and enjoy. (February 2021)

[shannon✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve rated all the books individually, but on average it would be approx, 4 stars.

Murder at the vicarage: 5* - the first time I read this book was on audio, I gave it 3 stars back then. I suppose I must have missed a lot of the details.
The body in the library: 3* - I didn’t like the characters as much and the climax was a bit confusing to me. Also, I predicted the outcome partly.
The moving finger: 4* - I didn’t really like the way the story was told, but the plot was really good. I didn’t see the ending coming.
A murder is announced: 5* - this one was so good. I didn’t see the end coming and the whole story was so suspenseful.
They do it with mirrors: 4* - I liked it, the story and storytelling was good, but the characters were sometimes a bit annoying.
A pocket full of rye: 3* - I wasn’t quite feeling this one, but I still enjoyed it.
4:50 from Paddington: 5* - I enjoyed this one a lot and I definitely didn’t see the ending coming.
The mirror crack’d from side to side: 4* - it was nice to be back in St. Mary Mead and once again, I didn’t see the ending coming. I keep guessing, but so far, I’ve only been right once.
A Caribbean mystery: 5* - okay wow, this one, I really really did not see coming. And also, I loved the scenery, I wish I could go on vacation to the Caribbean too.
At Bertram’s hotel: 3* - didn’t like the storytelling in this one and the ending was super unsatisfactory.
Nemesis: 5* - this one was sooo good. I loved the storytelling and I loved how it sort of was a continuation on a previous story.
Sleeping murder: 5* - this one was so intriguing and suspenseful and once again I couldn’t guess the ending.
Miss Marple: the complete short stories: DNF - I stopped after the fifth, I didn’t find them the least bit interesting.

[nαомι αndιno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buddy read with Jan!
RTC

[Leila Mota · Rating 5 out of 5]

Agatha Christie has always been my favorite mystery writer. I'm not sure, but I've probably read almost all of her books, about 30 years ago or more. However, sometimes I like to read books I've read and loved again, especially if there's a deal and if it's an ebook. That's how I've got to this collection. I've found out that I didn't remember the plots (save one or two), so it was a real treat for me. Besides, I've had the opportunity to review my opinion about Miss Marple. If before I had thought she was a little boring, and only the author's ingenuity was worth my time, this time I could also appreciate the "heroine". She's a very interesting character, with this apparent contradiction between what is (was) perceived to be an old woman, what she should be and the way she should behave, compared to what she really is. She's smart, intelligent, witty, cunning, she has a lot a good sense, and a lot of other qualities. Not boring at all.
Of course the stories and plots are also very clever, despite having been written more than 50 years ago. I think this is an additional delight.

[Fabiano · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for those who like Agatha Christie's mysteries in general and the lovely, fluffy spinster Miss Marple in particular.
My personal favorite stories in this collection:
-“Murder at the Vicarage”;
-“The Body in the Library”;
-“The Moving Finger”;
-“A Murder Is Announced”;
-and “Sleeping Murder”.

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

UNA VECCHINA INDIFESA?

"I giovani credono che i vecchi siano sciocchi, ma i vecchi sanno che i giovani sono sciocchi!"

Prima di scendere nel dettaglio, ritengo sia necessario lodare ancora una volta la Christie per aver dato vita ad un personaggio così particolare, Miss Marple.
Nonostante abbia apprezzato maggiormente la serie di Hercule Poirot, anche questa merita tantissimo, in quanto il protagonista non è un investigatore privato, abituato e tenuto "per lavoro" ad usare le sue "celluline grigie". Miss Marple è una semplice vecchina indifesa... da cui bisogna invece stare in guardia! Vi sbalordirà con l'acutezza della sua mente, capace di risolvere anche i casi più complessi.



"Un delitto avrà luogo" e "Assassinio allo specchio" sono imbattibili, il primo per l'inaspettato criminale, il secondo per l'incredibile movente. In tutti e due è centrale la tematica dell'egoismo, declinata però in modi diversi. Nell'uno contraddistingue infatti l'assassino (e sarà causa della sua rovina)...

"Le persone che nutrono una specie di livore contro tutto il resto del mondo sono sempre pericolose. Perché sembra che siano convinte che la vita, a loro, debba qualche cosa. Ho conosciuto persone malate e inferme, che avevano sofferto molto di peggio [...] eppure sono riuscite, tutte, ad avere un'esistenza felice ed appagante. Perché è quello che ognuno di noi ha in se stesso a renderlo felice o infelice."

... e nell'altro l'assassinato (che morirà ignorando il peccato commesso).

"Heather Badcock non aveva agito con cattive intenzioni. Lei non aveva mai cattive intenzioni, ma non c'è dubbio che le persone come Heather Badcock [...] possono fare del male, non perché non abbiano cuore, questo no, anzi, ma perché non si preoccupano affatto delle conseguenze che le loro azioni possono avere sugli altri."

E, in entrambi i casi, è tutto molto triste, perché come al solito la Christie ti fa innamorare di ogni personaggio in modo da straziarti il cuore nel momento in cui emerge la vera natura di alcuni.

***

Una stella in meno per altri romanzi, che comunque mi hanno stupita a più riprese: "Miss Marple e i 13 problemi" (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), per la banalità di alcuni racconti; "La morte nel villaggio" e "Addio, Miss Marple", il primo e l'ultimo libro della serie, perché era troppo facile scoprire chi fosse il colpevole; "C'è un cadavere in biblioteca", da cui ho iniziato, perché eccessivamente confusionario; "Polvere negli occhi", per la lentezza dell'indagine.
Al di là di queste pecche relativamente trascurabili, tutti questi gialli mi hanno tenuta incollata alle pagine, con il fiato sospeso e la mente che si arrovellava a formulare le più svariate teorie. Nessuna di esse, però, era in grado di far quadrare alla perfezione tutti gli indizi forniti, e per questo attendevo con ansia il momento in cui la soluzione sarebbe stata esposta dall'arguta Miss Marple la quale, al contrario, vi approdava senza alcuno sforzo, basandosi semplicemente sul confronto con casi simili, quelli della sua realtà quotidiana. Un'ulteriore prova che anche la natura umana, come la Natura, ha le sue leggi e i suoi meccanismi.

"La natura umana è sempre interessante, sir Henry. Ed è curioso come certi tipi tendono ad agire sempre nello stesso modo."

***

I rimanenti libri condividono la caratteristica di avermi annoiata, oltre a presentare un colpevole che ho individuato all'istante ("Giochi di prestigio", "Miss Marple nei Caraibi" e "Nemesi") o un esito che avrei voluto fosse diverso ("Il terrore vien per posta", "Istantanea di un delitto" e "Miss Marple al Bertram Hotel").

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this collection May 20, 2016 and finished September 24, 2016. I did read other books between these!!!

I very much enjoyed the Miss Marple series. Agatha Christie does a very good job at putting together a mystery with enough clues for the person reading to be able to try and figure it out on their own.

Bye Miss Marple. I will miss you.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite mysteries

Agatha Christie is so snarky and entertaining, and I love Miss Marple more the older I get. This has all the short stories and novels (not in order) and is very much a comfort read for me.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The master storyteller.

In the 1960’s and 70’s I read some of the Miss Marple mysteries, and loved them. They also had me scurrying to the dictionary on numerous occasions as Agatha Christie had a massive and impressive command of the English language.

I bought this collection prior to vacation so I would have something good to read in the evenings on the veranda of a cruise ship...and became addicted to Miss Marple all over again.

A thoroughly impressive collection of all of The Miss Marple books.

I recommend anyone who likes mystery to not forget the queen!

[Britt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant

I've reviewed all the books as i went, so this is specifically for the last bit, the collection of short stories with Miss Marple. It was so fun to read about the Tuesday night club mysteries. And the last one, with Bunch and then a wee peep at Inspector Craddock.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read all of the Poirot and Marple books with my mum

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murder at the Vicarage - 4/5 - same thoughts as before

The Body in the Library - 4/5 - Nice

The Moving Finger - 3/5 - Where was Miss Marple?

A Murder is Announced - 4/5- Miss Marple is here!

They do it with Mirrors - 5/5 - Miss Marple all the way :D

A Pocket Full of Rye - 4/5 - Nice

4:50 from Paddington - 4/5 - UHUH!!!

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side - 3/5 - At least it has a lot of Miss Marple

A Caribbean Mystery - 4/5 - Vacation Time

At Bertram's Hotel - 3/5 - Bored

Nemesis - 4/5 - Miss Marple in all chapters! YEAH!

Sleeping Murder - 4/5 - Nicelly Done

Short Stories - 5/5 - I love Miss Marple in the short form. That's were we better get to see her wits! She is offered with a problem and by "human nature being what it is" she finds the solution. Perfection.

[Yune · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came at mystery rather sideways, so missed out on a lot of the classic canon of the genre. While I was laid up with a broken foot and essentially living a sloth's life on my mom's couch, I devoured the Miss Marple series for the first time.

I'll be honest: I'm not sure I would have appreciated these so much when I was younger. But having an older female protagonist who didn't flinch at human nature and whose insights were often underestimated but rarely wrong is a sincere delight to me now. I could have done without the constant direct comparisons to X and Y Villager who committed the rural version of the crime, but I suppose they gave Miss Marple some basis for her knowledge.

I also liked the cleverness (both Miss Marple's and those of other characters) and the surprising variation in POV among the books. I was also interested to see Christie's note that she thought the short form better suited for the premise, as I rather liked the drawn-out character development available in the novels.

Good stuff that raises the bar for other mysteries.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection is a true bargain since it includes all 12 Miss Marple novels plus the 20 Miss Marple short stories. I watch as many of the tv versions of Christie's work as I can. But rereading the Marple books again, showed me that nothing tops her actual writing. It had been 20 years since I had first read these works.

My current favorite in this collection is "Nemesis". This is probably because the recent tv versions of "Nemesis" were found lacking. There were too many plot and character changes from the original work. One tv movie changed a major setting in the novel of a historic rundown house belonging to 3 sisters to a bewildering convent with nuns! The original house's picturesque setting was lost which had intensified the evilness of some events in the book .

Please mention in your review how many nights you stayed up very late reading this delightful collection! I read late 6 nights with one reading session ending at a bleary eyed 4 am! Enjoy!

[Page Dobson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alone, each of these mysteries are good. However, I made the mistake of reading the complete collection through as one would read a novel. The stories became formulaic and predictable, thus losing their charm. I wish I would have sprinkled these short stories over some time and then I would have appreciated the stories more and would have given Christie another chance much sooner (because when I finally read Murder on the Orient Express, I loved it!).

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Agatha Christie, and while I can't give a book by book review, this collection is a stand out. I love Miss Marple and all the books written about her. I have read and own every story written by Agatha Christie in book form and the whole Miss Marple collection on my kindle so I can keep it with me for anytime reading.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of one of the quintessential sleuths of all time having all the novels and short stories all in one place. how convenient is that? I've written reviews for each individual novel or set of short stories previously, so I will not overindulge here. Needless to say, definitely recommended for the whole series.

[Beverly J. St. John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Timeless mysteries

I have been reading Agatha Christie Duncan was a young woman. Now that I am considered "old" I still enjoy we reading her books, short stories, etc. She is timeless and there is no one who can match her gift for writing an excellent plot. Her characters come alive and are easily likeable, or not, depending on their contribution to the lot. Excellent!

[Kay Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always good!

I haven't read these in years, but they are still great. They are very good mysteries, although there isn't a great deal of character development. They're really ingenious.

[Katia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Agatha Christie and Miss Marple are favourites of mine...
Enjoy!

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most Marple mysteries: "Can you stay awake through the hundred pages of idle gossip to catch the few important clues to this commonplace crime?"

[Robert L Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read

This collection is very entertaining. I enjoyed these stories very much. The last set of short stories was the best!

[Jacquie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the entire collection of Miss Marple, for my nook, so I can read it over and over again. Had forgotten some stories, others came right back to me. Excellent as always Ms Christie

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful

Miss Marple is what I aspire to be when I grow up, she always keeps her head on a swivel, and is a fount of knowledge.

[Crescenzo Di Lena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing read

I love miss Marple’s character so much
She proves don’t judge a book by its cover is a true statement

[William H. Haugland III · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Best Mystery Writer

I can’t understand how someone can be as talented as Mrs. Christie. Each of her stories are different and very entertaining.