From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

Sleeping Murder (Miss Marple, #12)

Agatha Christie

Start date: August 1, 2025

Finish date: August 31, 2025

Why we're reading this: Reading this one in chronological order for when it was written
[close] Reading this one in chronological order for when it was written

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Mar 15, 2017 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Although this is listed as the thirteenth Miss Marple novel, and was published in 1976, it was actually written during WWII and shows her as a fairly sprightly lady, compared to some books. According to the Agatha Christie website, it should sit between “The Moving Finger,” and “A Murder is Announced,” and that is where I have positioned it in my re-reading of these books.

Gwenda Reed has arrived from New Zealand, charged with buying a house for her, and her new husband, Giles; who is due to join ...more

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Mar 21, 2017 Lady Clementina ffinch-ffarowmore rated it really liked it

Shelves: murder, agatha-christie, british, mystery, miss-marple

Book 5 for the Miss Marple challenge. I was excited to read this one as this is the first of the books in the Miss Marple challenge that I had not read before. I also only discovered because of the challenge that though this book was published last, it was written much earlier and chronologically also falls early in the series. This one was in a way Miss Marple’s Five little Pigs, a murder that has happened years ago, without even clarity on whether it was a murder but based on a (then) child’s Book 5 for the Miss Marple challenge. I was excited to read this one as this is the first of the books in the Miss Marple challenge that I had not read before. I also only discovered because of the challenge that though this book was published last, it was written much earlier and chronologically also falls early in the series. This one was in a way Miss Marple’s Five little Pigs, a murder that has happened years ago, without even clarity on whether it was a murder but based on a (then) child’s memory of events. Gwenda Reed arrives in England to find a house for herself and her husband and ends up finding the “perfect” house, only to have some mysterious things happen. It turns out that she has been there before, and lived as a child in that very house, but not only that she may have also witnessed a murder. Miss Marple urges Gwenda and Giles to leave matters be but the two set out to investigate, and she soon joins them using her “social network” (the kind there was before the days of Facebook and such) to get introduced to Dillmouth society. They identify and look up people from Gwenda’s family’s past, meet and interview them trying to pick up clues into what happened all those years ago and whether Gwenda’s memories were all real or mixed with fancy somehow.

The mystery/puzzle itself was very enjoyable and I would have been entirely surprised by whodunit (only I remembered suddenly from a TV adaptation that I’d seen some time ago) since for most of the book I was thinking on the wrong track. That did slightly spoil the surprise element for me but I nevertheless enjoyed the characters and how once again it is what people are “inside”—their true natures—that holds the key to how they act, irrespective of the facade they put on for us to see in everyday interactions.

Miss Marple in this one I found getting closer to the image of Miss Marple one has in one’s mind—using the same skills and still grey haired and rather frail but not as lacy and fluffy as in the earlier books. Also, she has a far more active part in this one, getting herself to Dillmouth, and participating in the investigation. Needless to say, I enjoyed it very much!
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Aug 25, 2018 Kavita rated it it was amazing

Shelves: uk, mystery

This is the last Miss Marple book, and I finally come to the end of my journey with the old lady. The thirteenth novel in the series is about a young woman who decides to settle down in England with her husband. She finds a very suitable house and discovers that she has a keen sixth sense about its past. This frightens her and it only gets worse when she gets the image of a murdered woman lying in her house in her mind suddenly. Miss Marple befriends the young couple and helps them unravel the m ...more

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Mar 14, 2017 Deborah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: marple-challenge

I must have read this is the past, although I have no memory of doing so. Yet the plot seemed very familiar, and I figured out who did it.

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Jan 30, 2013 Amy rated it really liked it

Goodbye Miss Marple. We've had a lot of fun over the years solving mysteries and knitting. This was a good send off for the series and an interesting little mystery to boot. ...more

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May 04, 2020 Jinx rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-harder-2020

I think this has been the only Christie that I've correctly guessed. Listened to the Audiobook and very much enjoyed it. ...more

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Jan 12, 2019 michelle+8 rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019

Possibly my favorite Miss Marple book! I really enjoy having Miss Marple not be the main focus of the book. Rather Gwenda and her husband Giles are the main characters, and they are the ones trying to solve a "sleeping murder" -- against Miss Marple's good advice. Though, of course, the old pussy herself does quite a bit of the work. ...more

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