“Miss Marple’s Final Cases” by Agatha Christie

Here lies the end of Jane Marple. (Don't worry, she doesn't actually die, you know.) She had a good run! And a book of short stories is a nice place to ease my way out. I'm certainly glad that Nemesis wasn't the last Miss Marple book I read. 

Two of these stories ('The Dressmaker's Doll" and "In a Glass Darkly") don't actually have Miss Marple in them, and are tales of the supernatural rather than straightforward, solvable mysteries. Which is fine--I still enjoyed reading them--though they seemed a bit out of place in a book titled Miss Marple's Final Cases. And two of the stories, surprisingly, don't involve murder! "Strange Jest" is basically about buried treasure and "The Case of the Perfect Maid" is about theft. The other five stories, of course, have all the Marple and murders one can expect. 

It's been a nice, cozy six weeks. Bye, Miss Marple!

“Sleeping Murder” by Agatha Christie

I hope you're not getting bored of reading about Agatha Christie novels. I certainly am not getting bored of reading them! I'm even a little bit sad that I only have one Miss Marple book of short stories remaining. On the other hand . . . I'm not sad to the point of wanting to binge Christie's other 52 books. I am looking forward to a bit more variety in my reading diet in the near future.

So, Sleeping Murder. I’ve definitely read this one before, and I even remembered (correctly) who the murderer was. So I didn’t  have the fun of guessing this time, but that didn't matter, because I really love this story. I think my favorite part about it is the slow reveal about the house. It’s so deliciously suspenseful and intriguing. Gwenda buys a house and it feels like home and she makes discovery after discovery about it . . . if I hadn't already known the truth, I wonder if I might have guessed it?

While chronologically this was the last Miss Marple book published, I understand now why it was sold in the first of three boxed sets. This book actually takes place before The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side. I have deduced this based on two facts. In that book, Colonel Bantry has already passed away, and Miss Marple has aged enough that her doctor has told her she must stop gardening, whereas in Sleeping Murder, Colonel Bantry makes a brief appearance (because he is still alive, not because he is a ghost!) and Miss Marple spends quite a bit of time pulling weeds (and this is not because she is given to ignoring her doctor's orders). The interesting explanation for this temporal discrepancy is explained by Wikipedia: Agatha Christie wrote this book in the 1940s but it was not published until after her death.

"Nemesis" by Agatha Christie

There's no question that this is my least favorite Miss Marple book. Not like I hated it or anything, but if I were to rank them, this one would be at the bottom. (Yes, I know I have not finished all of them yet, but I'm already halfway through the last novel and my current impression is that it may actually be my most favorite; then there's one more book of short stories, which I can't imagine being either my least favorite or my most.)

The annoying thing about Nemesis is that Miss Marple (and, thus, the reader) is so in the dark throughout the entire thing. Not only is there a mystery, but it is a mystery as to what the mystery is. (Even typing that makes me want to roll my eyes.) I found it quite frustrating. It somehow made it feel boring without actually being boring.

Mr Jason Rafiel (Miss Marple's partner in crime-detection from A Caribbean Mystery) has passed on (no, he wasn't murdered!) and has left Miss Marple a mystery to solve. But he refused to leave her any information as to the nature of that mystery. It's all up to Jane to figure it out. Little bits of information drift her way, and she's got to sort through them  and determine what may be significant. After a few days of wondering, she's told Mr Rafiel had paid for Miss Marple to go on a tour of famous English houses and gardens. Maybe the mystery involves one of the other guests on the tour? Then she is invited to spend a few days at the house of three sisters who knew Mr Rafiel. Maybe the mystery involves one of the sisters? 

I didn't really guess what the mystery was (it's all so vague, right up until the time it's actually explained) but by page 242 (out of 265 . . . so, with no time to spare!) I almost guessed whodunnit. I was off by one degree of separation as to the who, but I knew the what and the where before it was made plain.

“At Bertram’s Hotel” by Agatha Christie

Bertram's Hotel is tucked away in a quiet corner of London. It's so utterly proper and demurely luxurious, beautifully restored, with impeccable service and upstanding elderly clientele. It's like a time capsule, preserved from the memories of youth, and there isn't anywhere else like it. But, really, how could it be so perfect? 

That's what Jane Marple begins to wonder as she observes her fellow guests and the staff serving them. And when Canon Pennyfather disappears, Miss Marple once again has a mystery on her hands (though, surprisingly, not a murder--yet!)

At first, the main question is whether Bertram's Hotel (and its cast of characters) is exactly what it seems. It becomes more serious when death makes an appearance. 

I had a guess as to the truth about Bertram's Hotel on page 120. I was partially right but mostly wrong. I corrected my guess on 142 (out of 265) and was right. I also managed to guess correctly about the identity of the eventual murderer!

“A Caribbean Mystery” by Agatha Christie

This one was like a season of White Lotus, with the ritzy tropical resort as a backdrop and murder in the foreground. Miss Marple's thoughtful nephew, Raymond West, gives Aunt Jane an all-expenses-paid trip to the West Indies for some much needed rest and relaxation, never imagining that she would find herself embroiled in mystery yet again. (I mean, does he not know his aunt at all??)

This time, the story starts with murder long past. Fellow resort guest Major Palgrave loves to subject any available listener to his vast arsenal of stories from his past, one of which includes the claim that he possesses a photo of a murderer. When Major Palgrave turns up dead, Miss Marple knows that murderer must be present, and she must act quickly to ensure he (or she!) does not kill again.

I made my first guess on page 17, but by page 44 I had decided that first guess was wrong and I moved on to two other people. By page 139 I decided I was right about one of those two (but not the other one). But I also suspected two others, so I’m not sure it counts. 

I also knew who the woman by the creek was. But this was because of the short story "A Christmas tragedy" in the book The Thirteen Problems, not because of my genius. 

“The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side” by Agatha Christie

A glamorous movie star moves to St Mary Mead (into Colonel and Mrs Bantry's old house, no less!) and the village is starstruck. But on the day of a charity fete hosted at Gossington Hall, a local woman is poisoned--and rumor has it, the poison was meant for Marina Gregg. 

Well, you're never going to believe this. I guessed the truth of the matter on page 98 (out of 280). I wasn’t sure, but I guessed, and I was right. I wrote it down and everything, and I did not waver (well, I may be slightly exaggerating there). 

I Guessed The Solution! What does this mean? There are several possibilities. 1. I’m getting good at this. 2. This was one of Christie’s less clever books. 3. I’ve read this book before and subconsciously remembered the solution. 4. Some combination of the three. 

I guess I will never know which. 

“4.50 From Paddington” by Agatha Christie

“I,” Sam said, “am married to an Agatha Christie addict.”

Why, yes, Sam, I believe you are. 

Unfortunately as I write this it is two weeks after I finished reading, and I'm really struggling to remember this book. It's the one that was also published under the title What Mrs McGillicuddy Saw, and it starts with a friend of Miss Marple's boarding a train. On that train ride, Elspeth's train briefly runs parallel to another, and during those moments, she sees into a compartment on the other train--where she witnesses the strangulation of a stranger. Mrs McGillicuddy is both horrified and perplexed--what can she possibly do?

Well, she does what any friend of Miss Marple's would do: tells Jane all about it and asks for her help. Miss Marple is able to make a few deductions on her own, but she reaches a point where in-person investigation is required, and her rheumatism won't allow her to undertake this personally. She enlists the help of the most efficient Lucy Eyelesbarrow. 

Beyond this I have very little in my notes (all that remains is "Misdirection" and "Poor Emma") and what little else I can remember would be a spoiler to relate. I'm sure I did not guess the solution or I would have written that down. I'm also sure I enjoyed reading just as much as I expected to (I only would have made a note of it if I hadn't enjoyed it). 

“A Pocket Full of Rye” by Agatha Christie

Are you tired of Miss Marple yet? Unfortunately I gotta say sorry not sorry. At this point, reading these books falls somewhere between compulsion and addiction. I love puzzling over the plots (even though I invariably fail to uncover the solution and I eventually need to have it explained to me).

Here's a series of murders that seems to follow the old familiar nursery rhyme. There are blackbirds baked in a pie, an unscrupulous businessman named Rex (get it--like a king?) and his young wife who dies while eating bread with honey. There's even a maid in the garden hanging out the clothes. But who wanted them all dead, and why? Well, the why is usually pretty easy; it's mostly either love or money. But which one here?

Did I guess whodunnit? No, I did not. I mulled over various possibilities but I mostly settled on one lovely person who actually turned out to be completely innocent. Why do I always suspect the nice normal people? Does that say something about me?

“They Do It With Mirrors” by Agatha Christie

Funny, I was sure I’d read this one before, and by page 24—it was the line “her head kept its eager birdlike tilt” together with the titular reference to mirrors—I thought I knew at least part of what had happened (or would happen). As it turns out, I must have been remembering a different book! And this self-imposed red herring kept me wrong-footed all the way through.

In this story, Miss Marple is sent to visit an old schoolmate, Carrie Louise, where she lives on the grounds of a reformatory founded by her (third) husband, Lewis Serrocold. Carrie Louise's sister Ruth has a feeling that something bad is about to happen, and she's sure her old friend Jane can suss it out, whatever it is. The cast of characters is a bit convoluted, with various children and stepsiblings and the like. Can Miss Marple root out a potential murderer before it's too late? Or is Carrie Louise not even the one in danger?

Did I guess whodunnit? Well, if I hadn’t been so distracted by what I thought was the solution, I might have guessed right. As it was, I knew the drama in the study was not to be taken at face value. In hindsight, the killer was obvious. But I didn’t believe it until I was forced to. 

“A Murder is Announced” by Agatha Christie

Don’t mind me, I’m just over here bingeing the Dame. 

I don’t think I’d read this one before. It's the one where the local newspaper announced that a murder would occur at 6:30pm at Little Paddocks. Everyone, including the house's owner Letita Blacklock, seemed surprised by this, but a handful of curious neighbors turned up expecting some sort of exciting game. And in fact for a moment it does seem to be a game--the lights theatrically go out just as a masked man throws open the door and shouts "Stick 'em up!"--but then the masked man is shot dead. Then, in the days that follow, there is a poisoning, followed by a strangling . . . Just as one lie is often followed by a second and a third to keep the truth obscured, it seems it's the same with murder.

Did I guess whodunnit? No, not at all. I was too focused on Emma and Pip, and I didn’t even figure out who they really were until Agatha told me. 

“The Moving Finger” by Agatha Christie

On to the fourth of fourteen Miss Marple books. Although, oddly, Miss Marple was hardly in it! She didn't even appear until page 175 (out of 234). But she did, of course, play a pivotal role in the resolution of the mystery. 

This is the one narrated by the young (and apparently rich) invalid who moves to the countryside with his sister for rest and recuperation. His doctor had suggested they do so in order to find a calm and quiet place to convalesce, but instead Jerry and Joanna Burton are thrust into turmoil: there are anonymous letters, then an unexpected death, and then a murder. Hardly the tranquility they were expecting!

Did I guess whodunnit? Not at all. Once again, I suspected the poor narrator. (Was I meant to?) I found Jerry weird and creepy. I was just sure he was an unreliable narrator who was hiding something from me (like the fact that he was a murderous madman). But it turns out that no, Jerry is just charming and rich, if maybe also a bit impulsive and cryptic. 

“The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark” by Carl Sagan

To balance out the current glut of Agatha Christie, I'm actually in the middle of reading several other books and have just finished this one. I’d never even heard of this book (though of course I’d heard of Carl Sagan) until my friend BR mentioned that she was reading it. I looked into it, noted the author was one I’d always meant to read but hadn’t yet, and immediately ordered a copy (plus a copy of Cosmos, which at this point is still waiting to be read). 

Carl Sagan was obviously a highly intelligent individual, but happily that did not make this book inaccessible or inscrutable. Well… except for the part where he started discussing the four Maxwell equations for the behavior of electricity and magnetism in matter. At that point he might as well have been writing out what the teachers say in Charlie Brown specials (“wat wap wat waaah wah…”) for all the sense I could make of it. But barring those five or so pages, this book was suitable for the masses. 

That’s not to say I raced through it eagerly. This was definitely not as fun to read as Miss Marple. That’s the problem with reading more than one book at a time—sometimes it can be hard to pick up the ones that are more work than play. I circumvented this issue by bringing Sagan’s book with me on a plane, which made reading progress in leaps and bounds. 

It didn't take long to realize this book must have been a major inspiration for another book that I have read but have not yet blogged about: The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe. (The reason I have not blogged about that one yet is because I am re-reading it—studying it, even!—and am not quite ready to move on.) Both books are about science and science communication, delving into logical fallacies, how to recognize pseudoscience, and the necessity and advantages of skepticism. I would venture to say that Skeptics' Guide is a better book: I found it more comprehensive, better organized, and it's certainly more up-to-date (although that comparison is a bit unfair, as Demon was published in 1996 and Skeptics' Guide was published more than two decades later). But I'm glad I've dipped my toe in with Sagan, and I'm looking forward to Cosmos.