From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

The Moving Finger (Miss Marple, #3)

Agatha Christie

Start date: June 1, 2025

Finish date: June 30, 2025

Discussion: Group Challenges

Why we're reading this: Next in our Christie challenge
[close] Next in our Christie challenge

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Showing 2 of 168 topics — 7,797 comments total

Group Challenges

* Sept 25: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) by Agatha Christie
By Susan · 16 posts · 18 views

last updated Sep 12, 2025 08:12PM

* Sept 25: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) - SPOILER Thread
By Susan · 13 posts · 22 views

last updated Sep 16, 2025 12:58PM

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What Members Thought

Mar 26, 2017 Jan C rated it really liked it

Shelves: gr-group-read, mystery, 2017, england, rtd-2017-missmarple-challenge

I've read this several times and have seen the videos - but, of course, they always seem to change the story. It is enjoyable. Probably one of the few books where Miss Marple doesn't come into the picture until the book is three-quarters done. But, enter she does, to solve the murder.

Much of the book is consumed by the problem of anonymous poison pen letters. Then the bodies start falling.

Enter Miss Marple. ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Mar 22, 2020 Julie Durnell rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: england-uk, mystery

This was a cleverly plotted mystery written in the first person by Jerry Burton, recovering from an accident in a small town, along with his socialite sister, Joanna. I had pinpointed the wrong person for the murders and was quite surprised by the ending. One of Miss Marple's better stories even though she made a very short appearance. ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Jun 09, 2018 Teri-K rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: zz-2023-my-book-club, old-favorites, mystery, z-permanent-bookshelf, great-to-re-read, zz-2023-bought

I remember first reading this as a young girl. I was completely caught up the village and its people, though I didn't like Megan much. Being a smart kid I knew who guilty person was - until the final reveal, when I realized I was wrong. (view spoiler) Then I reread the book, noticing how Christie led me astray very carefully with assumptions made by characters I respected and little details glossed over. I was impressed. :)

It was one of the first Christie's ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 11, 2017 Nanosynergy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries-thrillers-espionage, series, british, 2017read, reviewed, fiction, fiction-1940s

Jerry Burton, under the care of his sister, moves to the quiet village of Lymstock to recover from an airplane accident. But this quiet village is plagued by someone writing nasty anonymous letters - one resulting in a woman committing suicide. Then a young maid is murdered. The story is told by Jerry Burton and Miss Marple does not appear in the story until about 70% into the book when she is called in as an "expert" by a woman in the village to help solve these crimes. Loved that Miss Marple d ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 07, 2024 Jessica-Robyn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-crime, historical-fiction, audiobooks, global-authors

The Moving Finger sometimes feels a little like Christie told her publishers they would get a new Miss Marple, but when she wrote the mystery, she only remembered at the end that it was meant to be a Miss Marple book. Aside from that, I actually really enjoyed this story. Having the narrator be someone secondary to the actual plot made it much more interesting to get to know the characters surrounding the crimes being committed. I found myself genuinely pulled along by the mystery and making gue ...more

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Sep 23, 2017 Stephanie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-cozy

I REALLY enjoyed this mystery. Interestingly, Miss Marple doesn't even enter the book until about 3/4 of the way through and is really just a side character. Our primary character is on the right track on the red herrings, but misses completely who the killer is. ...more

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Mar 07, 2012 Ruth rated it really liked it

Shelves: mine, mystery, kindle

It is both brilliant and misleading to call this a Miss Marple mystery since she's a very-late-appearing, tangential character. At first I was a touch annoyed by the lack of Jane, but buy the time I worked out she was going to be absent, I was so into the story it was just a passing annoyance. And in the end I think I'm impressed -- I think it takes a good author to be able to sideline her lead and still make a cracking good story filled with multiple suspects and all the twists and turns you co ...more

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Sep 16, 2013 Laura rated it really liked it

Shelves: british-golden-age-mysteries, mystery-series, crime-mystery-fiction, anglophilia, cozy-mystery

I always enjoy an Agatha Christie mystery, but this one I especially liked. Miss Marple doesn't make her appearance until the book is nearly over and her influence on the solution largely isn't shown directly. The narrator of the book -- a wounded pilot who has moved to the village with his sister to recuperate -- is appealing, and the mystery itself has an unexpected resolution. ...more

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