The Body in the Library (Miss Marple, #2) in Reading the Detectives

Jan 19, 2017 Susan rated it it was amazing

When a peroxide blonde is found dead in the library at Gossington Hall, Colonel and Mrs Bantry are perplexed. However, Mrs Bantry is determined that the crime should be solved, aware that suspicion will fall on her husband ("no smoke without fire...") and wisely calls in Miss Marple. When the body is identified as Ruby Keene, a dance hostess at the Hotel Majestic in Danemouth, Dolly Bantry and Miss Marple head off for a short break to do a spot of sleuthing.

This is a classic Christie novel and t ...more

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Mar 19, 2013 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

When a peroxide blonde is found dead in the library at Gossington Hall, Colonel and Mrs Bantry are perplexed. However, Mrs Bantry is determined that the crime should be solved, aware that suspicion will fall on her husband ("no smoke without fire...") and wisely calls in Miss Marple. When the body is identified as Ruby Keene, a dance hostess at the Hotel Majestic in Danemouth, Dolly Bantry and Miss Marple head off for a short break to do a spot of sleuthing.

This is a classic Christie novel and t ...more

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Jul 13, 2013 Lady Clementina ffinch-ffarowmore rated it really liked it

Shelves: agatha-christie, series, miss-marple, murder, village

2022 review
The third of the Miss Marple books, The Body in the Library (1942) is a book I reread last week as part of a challenge with one of my Goodreads groups which is reading books set in different ‘Scenes of Classic Crime’ across the year.

As morning dawns in Gossington Hall, residence of Col and Mrs Bantry, Mrs Bantry is awoken from her early morning dream by the maid reporting a body in the library! Unsure whether she is still dreaming or awake, she convinces her husband to go take a look 2022 review
The third of the Miss Marple books, The Body in the Library (1942) is a book I reread last week as part of a challenge with one of my Goodreads groups which is reading books set in different ‘Scenes of Classic Crime’ across the year.

As morning dawns in Gossington Hall, residence of Col and Mrs Bantry, Mrs Bantry is awoken from her early morning dream by the maid reporting a body in the library! Unsure whether she is still dreaming or awake, she convinces her husband to go take a look, and it appears the maid was right. A beautiful blonde in evening dress is just lying there—dead—and neither Arthur nor Dolly Bantry (nor indeed any of the staff seem to know her—certainly not the kind of person one would expect to see in St Mary Mead). The police are summoned of course, but having witnessed Miss Marple’s talents with solving murders in The Thirteen Problems, Dolly Bantry telephones to her as well. Soon it emerges that the dead girl was Ruby Keene, a dancer working at the Majestic Hotel in Danemouth. Here she had become close to a guest, millionaire Conway Jefferson who wanted to adopt her, though his only surviving ‘family’, his son-in-law Mark Gaskell, and daughter-in-law Adelaide Jefferson, unsurprisingly, didn’t approve. Alongside, Basil Blake who works in films has been known to have loud parties in his home, just the kind where someone who looked (and dressed) like Ruby might have been.

The local Chief Constable, Col Melchett comes down to investigate (assisted by Inspector Slack), while Conway Jefferson (who also happens to know the Bantrys) calls in Sir Henry Clithering, formerly of Scotland Yard (and another admirer of Miss Marple’s talents). As much of the puzzle is connected with the Majestic Hotel, Dolly Bantry invites Miss Marple to accompany her there for a few days. The police, well aware of Miss Marple’s ‘talents’’ are glad to have her on hand.

Ruby doesn’t seem to have any ‘enemies’, so who could have killed her and why? And how did the body end up in Col Bantry’s library? Meanwhile another body is found, seemingly unconnected, and yet…

In this engrossing book which drew me in right from the start, Agatha Christie gives us a complex puzzle with plenty of twists and surprises. And to solve it, Miss Marple relies on what she knows best ‘human nature’ which is, as she says, the same everywhere. While Inspector Slack seems to think that she’d be out of her depth (this mystery not being connected with the village she knows), Miss Marple picks up on the few physical clues early on, but more importantly on the personality traits of connected people or those reflected in their actions to unravel various threads. From the readers perspective, in that sense, the clues aren’t many but that doesn’t make this any less fun to read, nor any less surprising to get to the answer. This being at least my third read (though most likely more than that), I did remember whodunit, though as always with Christie, I had forgotten some details and side plots.

The mystery may not be entirely set in a village (we do spend a fair amount of time in the Majestic Hotel), but we do get a good flavour of the typical English village. Strangers or deviations from expected conduct are noticed immediately (and disapproved of) while gossip is the village’s lifeblood, new travelling at lightning speed. The body being discovered in Col Bantry’s library sets tongues wagging, and Miss Marple and Mrs Bantry realise the need to solve the mystery soon, for if not, the effects will soon tell on the Bantrys, particularly the Colonel since he is a rather sensitive soul. Dolly Bantry makes for a fun character as she is both shrewd enough to understand how a situation like this will affect her husband, and also determined to thoroughly enjoy ‘her’ murder as she calls it.

One also gets a good sense of the prevalent social structure, class relations and attitudes (such as the village towards the more flamboyant and unconventional ‘film’ set), or even, say, conditions that people in Ruby (and her cousin Josie)’s situation had to put up with when earning their livings.

Despite the few problems the book might throw up (like the loose ends which some in my book group caught on to—I didn’t), it is all-in-all a great deal of fun, and one I’ve enjoyed each time I’ve come back to it. No surprise then that when I read all the Miss Marple books in order a few years ago, this was one on my favourites list!

2017
Book 3 for the Miss Marple Challenge. When the Bantrys (who hosted one of the dinner parties in the previous collection at which Miss Marple amazed guests with her skills) wake up one morning to find a body in their library—a young girl who neither of them have laid eyes on before—who do they turn to but Miss Marple. The police at St Mary Mead are aware of her powers by now but (except Sir Henry) still seem to think that she might be out of her depth when the crime has nothing to do with the village she knows all about. But as Miss M says herself, human nature is the same everywhere, and so, she has little trouble solving it all and leaving them speechless once again. Once again Agatha Christie puts together a complicated puzzle with its share of twists, and doesn’t fail to surprise one with the denouement. Reading the books chronologically is proving to be great fun. By this book, Miss Marple has begun to shape into the Miss Marple that is more familiar to readers. Another very enjoyable read. ...more

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May 04, 2018 Kavita rated it really liked it

Shelves: uk, mystery, golden-age-mystery

Since I am on a Miss Marple spree, I decided to read them in sequence, leaving out the short stories for later. In The Body in the Library, Miss Marple is called upon by her good friend, Dolly Bantry, to solve the mystery of the dead body of a young woman that had suddenly appeared in her library one morning.

The trail leads to the Majestic Hotel, where the dead girl's cousin worked. From there, it was a short step to finding out suspects. A rich old man who was giving patronage to the young gir ...more

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May 03, 2015 Deborah rated it really liked it

Shelves: marple-challenge

Classic mystery. A perfect beach read.

Reread in 2017

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Mar 14, 2015 Ellen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery-sleuth, christie, miss-marple

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie.

This is a cozy mystery worth enjoying while relaxing on a do nothing week-end.

Characters are well detailed as is their involvement with one another. The mystery is who and why was a murdered victim left in Mr. & Mrs. Bantry's library. No sooner are the local police called in to the Bantry residence to investigate then Mrs. Bantry notifies her long time friend, Miss Marple, and requests her assistance in the matter.

As the investigation proceeds and the ...more

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Aug 29, 2017 ShanDizzy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was such a great book to listen to. The redoubtable Miss Marple is simply fantastic. Her insight into human nature is remarkable, and a bit sad since she tends to hardly trust anyone's word. I'm re-reading many of her stories and absolutely enjoying revisiting "an old friend." ...more

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Nov 10, 2016 Bev rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: british-mystery, bought-2015, mount-tbr-2016, mystery, vintage-mystery, library-mystery

Colonel Arthur Bantry and his wife Dolly wake up one fine morning to discover their usually well-ordered house in disarray (or at least their household staff to be dismayed). Mary, their maid, on her usual morning rounds had opened the curtains in the library, letting the sunshine in to reveal the body of a blonde woman on the hearth rug. The Bantrys have a difficult time believing that they didn't just dream that Mary came in and announced she'd found a body, but Dolly finally convinces Arthur Colonel Arthur Bantry and his wife Dolly wake up one fine morning to discover their usually well-ordered house in disarray (or at least their household staff to be dismayed). Mary, their maid, on her usual morning rounds had opened the curtains in the library, letting the sunshine in to reveal the body of a blonde woman on the hearth rug. The Bantrys have a difficult time believing that they didn't just dream that Mary came in and announced she'd found a body, but Dolly finally convinces Arthur to go and see. And then when it's proved that there really is a body in the library, the first thing to be done after ringing up the police is to get Miss Marple over as soon as possible to begin sleuthing like mad. Dolly very naturally wants to play detective--after all it's her very first dead body--but she knows that she won't be able to make heads or tails of it. Jane Marple will take care of that and Dolly can play Watson to Miss Marple's Sherlock Holmes.

What I feel is that if one has got to have a murder actually happening in one's house, one might as well enjoy it, if you know what I mean. (Dolly Bantry)

Of course, it's not all just fun and games. Dolly is also very worried about how her husband will take the police scrutiny and she knows that the village gossips will be hard at work offering up theories before any official investigation begins. She's hoping that Miss Marple will have the crime solved before the tongues can begin wagging.

But it's not quite that easy to discover how a cheaply dressed dance hostess from the Majestic Hotel wound up on floor of the library at Gossington Hall. While there are no real connections to the Bantrys (other than the fact that Colonel Bantry had lunched at the Majestic just the week before), there are several leads that come to light during the course of Miss Marple's investigations--alongside those of the official police--Inspector Slack and Chief Constable Colonel Melchett. There is Basil Blake, a local young man with connections to the film industry. Blake has been the subject of local gossip due to his frequent parties and the platinum blonde who has been living with him. And he's been known to dance with Ruby Keene--was she making trouble for him with his own blonde?

It's also discovered that Ruby had insinuated herself into the lives of a wealthy family by making herself agreeable to the patriarch, Conway Jefferson. He had taken such a shine to the girl that he had decided to adopt her and add her to his will to the tune of 50,000 pounds. That didn't go down so very well with his son-in-law and daughter-in-law. Did they do away with a young woman they felt was a gold digger before she could get the gold? Then there's Ruby's cousin, Josie Turner. When Josie is called upon to identify the body and then visit Gossington Hall (so Slack can see if she recognizes Bantry), Miss Marple notices that she seems more angry with her cousin than sorrowful at her death. Did Ruby get mixed up with a young man and ruin her chances with Jefferson? Was Josie depending on a share of the winnings and do away with her cousin in a fit of anger? And what about the missing Girl Guide, Pamela Reeve? Miss Marple is convinced that she fits into the puzzle somewhere. It will take several parallels with village life and a cunning trap devised by Miss Marple to capture the villain.

Miss Marple is at her inquisitive best. She sips tea at the Majestic and listens to the suspects chatter away about poor Ruby. She goes round with her collection box to check in on Basil Blake. She's comfortably cozy to around, but shrewd as all get out when it comes to analyzing the crime. As she says about one of the suspects,

Yes, I do [like him]. Most women would. But he can't take me in. He's a very attractive person, I think.But a little unwise, perhaps, to talk as much as he does.

No, they can't take her in. And that's one of the things we like so much about Miss Marple. Most people think she's led such a sheltered life in St. Mary Mead, but her everyday experiences give her a view direct to the heart of the matter. An excellent vintage mystery that, like so many of Christie's words, takes what is now a standard of detective fiction (the body in the library) and gives it a merry twist. ★★★★ and a half.

First posted on my blog ...more

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Mar 27, 2017 Jennifer M rated it it was amazing

Shelves: z-read-2017, z-read-2023

I enjoyed this book. I was expecting Miss Marple to be in it a bit more, but i did enjoy it.

It was a little difficult keeping track of the different policemen for me, but I loved all of their quirks. The ending was great, and seeing who the culprit was was satisfying since I didn't like this character.
I can't really say much more without giving spoilers, and since I don't like spoilers I'll just say it's worth the read. ...more

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