They Do It With Mirrors (Miss Marple, #6) in Appointment With Agatha

Sep 14, 2019 Wanda Pedersen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: public-library, mysteries-thrillers, women-of-a-certain-age, read-in-2019, brit-lit, female-authors, read-in-2024, halloween-bingo-2019

2024 Re-read

I never mind rereading Agatha Christie and especially not Miss Marple. I retain my first opinions on this novel, first read in 2019. Jane Marple is a shrewd old bird, disguised as a dotty old lady. And I still love that she used bird-watching as an excuse to eavesdrop! She pays attention to the people around her and is willing to see things from someone else's point of view.

I think it shows how fond she is of her friend that she was willing to pretend poverty to get an invite to sta ...more

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Sep 07, 2019 Obsidian rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: halloween-bingo-2019, 2019-library-books, favorites

I just loved this from beginning to end. As someone else said, I love it when Christie provides a diagram to show where a murder is. It's like you have your own game of Clue to play. Miss Marple is still the sharpest knife in the drawer. I can't say that I saw the ending at all. I was leaning towards one way and then found out I was wrong. The ending leaves things on a nice note for several of the characters.

Miss Marple is asked to go visit an old school friend, Carrie Louise Serrocold. Carrie' I just loved this from beginning to end. As someone else said, I love it when Christie provides a diagram to show where a murder is. It's like you have your own game of Clue to play. Miss Marple is still the sharpest knife in the drawer. I can't say that I saw the ending at all. I was leaning towards one way and then found out I was wrong. The ending leaves things on a nice note for several of the characters.

Miss Marple is asked to go visit an old school friend, Carrie Louise Serrocold. Carrie's sister thinks something is wrong at her home and can't figure out what is going on. Carrie's second husband, Lewis Serrocold has turned their home into a school for wayward (or as someone people say straight criminals) boys. Since Miss Marple has something of a reputation for solving crimes, Carrie's sister thinks she can figure out what is going on there or if she's just wrong about something going on.

Miss Marple heads to visit Carrie and quickly figures out there is a lot going on. A young man named Edgar Lawson is running around accusing others of spying on him and that his father is really Winston Churchill. Two of Carrie's step-sons, Steven Restarick, Alexis Restarick seem to be in love with Carrie's granddaughter, Gina. Too bad Gina is newly married to American Walter. And then Carrie's only living daughter believes that Gina's married beneath her and that Walter is up to something. When one of the trustees of Carrie's first husband's foundation is found shot to death during an argument everyone wonders who could have done it.

Christie I thought did a great job of setting the stage so to speak. I definitely didn't know who did what or could have done it. Miss Marple I thought was great about realizing in the end that she was looking at things wrong. As a reader, I realized I was too.

The writing was okay though the flow was a bit much in some places. I think that things moved faster when Miss Marple was involved in any of the goings on.

The setting of Stonygates felt like a very worn house. You have Miss Marple and even Walter seeing how badly run down things are even though there is enough money to fix the place up. It feels like a place out of time when you read about how little Carrie and her husband seem to care about the grounds and the rooms.

The ending was a bit rushed though. We read about what happens via a letter that someone sends to someone else which I thought was a bit of a cop-out. I would have liked to read it via Miss Marple's POV I think. ...more

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Jan 20, 2020 Stephanie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, kindle, mystery, favorites, audiobooks-2020, audiobooks-2023

"People who can be very good can be very bad too."

My pick for June's Read Christie 2023.

This year, the theme for 2023's Read Christie is methods and motives, so the month's prompt involves a gunshot.

Once again, I found myself thoroughly enjoying this Agatha Christie mystery! In some ways, I can't believe how long it's been since I last read They Do It with Mirrors. On the other hand, it's been long enough that I had trouble remembering whodunnit, so until I remembered it almost felt like I was r ...more

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Jun 20, 2022 Cosmic Arcata rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: psychological, mystery, kindle, mental-illness, allegory, 1001-books-2022, back-to-the-50-s

I read this book as part of a challenge to read a book from the 1950's. I also read Breakfast at Tiffany's as part of that challenge. What was interesting was some of the same themes: children with out a father and juvenile delinquency. Another book I just finished was The Wind in the Willows...and I wonder if the "Great Hall at Stoneygate" was not a throw back to The Wind in the Willows? One of the reasons I bought this book was for the title They Do It with Mirrors was because of a something i ...more

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Sep 11, 2020 Melisa Blok rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This one is not Christie's finest. Some racist tendencies, and I knew who did it from the beginning. ...more

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Nov 14, 2022 Sandi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-suspense, audiobooks-2022

Loved the narration by Emilia Fox. This is such a great story that moves at a good clip and keeps you guessing. Christie's characters seem to border on the extreme which makes it always entertaining to read her books. I thought Carrie Louise was a bit sappy, Gina incredibly self-centered, Mildred an old fussbudget who made herself odious to everyone, and Walter was a hoot. . . and of course Miss Marple -- sharp as at tack with a brilliant mind. It was quite a clever ending. ...more

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Mar 16, 2022 Roseli Gomes rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: agatha-christie, readchristie2022, desafio-2022

Acertei quem é o assassino.
Esse romance é aquele que nos lembra a frase da Agatha Christie: o leitor sabe mais que o investigador, que dessa vez era a Miss Marple.

Não sei dizer se era muito óbvio, se foi o mapa da casa - só sei que foi fácil.

Nem vou escrever muito para não dar a pista.

Primeiro caso resolvido sem chegar ao fim do livro, a sensação não tem preço.

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May 05, 2020 Priyanka rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was brilliantly written and it was just a joyful experience til the end. I figured out the culprit at the very start of the novel and I was quite please with my deduction.

Again, it was just delightful to visit Miss Marple again.

Reading stats: 60 pages/hour 300 wpm 3 hours and 10 mins

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