Marple (short stories)
Various authors, HarperCollins
She’s the quintessential queen of crime. Where she goes, murder seems to follow, but so, too, do the answers. Shrewd, impeccably observant, and an inspiration for many a reader — and writer — of crime fiction, Miss Marple is a character Agatha Christie crafted for the ages.
Miss Jane Marple first made her appearance in Christie’s 1927 short story, The Tuesday Night Club. Deciding to build on this character and “give old maids a voice”, she published her first Miss Marple novel, The Murder at the Vicarage, in 1930. For years following this, her whodunnits followed the amateur detective as she unravelled the strangest, most imaginative mysteries. It was a stroke of genius to base her character on elderly, unmarried women who are often underestimated and unnoticed. This is, after all, part of Miss Marple’s unmistakable charm.
She built a character that, to many, feels like a familiar aunt, tucked away in the fondest recesses of the reading mind. Twelve books and several short story collections later, even Miss Marple had to be laid to rest with Christie’s last published Miss Marple novel, Sleeping Murder, which was released posthumously in 1976 — the year Christie died.
But her legacy lives on. For lovers of a good Miss Marple mystery, luck strikes in the form of Marple: a short story collection written by 12 contemporary women writers who, as the book cover states, are “dedicated Christie fans and Marple aficionados”.
If you’re an avid fan, this is a rare treat to reacquaint yourself with an old friend and her twinkling eyes.
In Evil in Small Places, Lucy Foley reminds the reader that many terrible things can happen in England’s small, picturesque villages — a thread that Christie wove through her own work. Shortly after her arrival in Meon Maltravers to visit a former schoolmate, the new — and rather disliked — choir mistress is found murdered in her home by none other than Miss Marple. Piecing together what appear to be blackmail notes left behind, recounting earlier conversations and using her powers of deduction, Miss Marple is quick to the finish line in determining the sinister forces at play.
Val McDermid takes us back to the beginning with The Second Murder at the Vicarage. “To have one murder in one’s vicarage is unfortunate; to have a second looks remarkably like carelessness or worse”, reads her opening line. When a dead maid is found in St Mary Mead’s vicarage, Miss Marple must solve this second murder to clear the vicar of ill-doing.
Always the adventurer, Miss Marple ventures to far-flung places well beyond her beloved St Mary Mead. She travels with her nephew, Raymond, to the Broadway scene in Manhattan; we’re acquainted with her close friend, Bella, whom she met on the Caribbean island of St Honoré; go on holiday with her to the Amalfi Coast, where she coaxes her travel companions into revealing their touching life stories; and she meets her great-great-granddaughter on a trip to Cape Cod.
Perhaps my favourite story — by Jean Kwok — takes place on board the Jade Empress en route to Hong Kong. On the cruise ship, Miss Marple meets Mr Pang, her partner during ballroom dance lessons, who is travelling to Hong Kong to reunite with his adult son whom he last saw when he was a child. When he is found dead in his cabin and suspicion falls on his doting daughter, Miss Marple takes the case ashore until she manages to solve the mystery of dear Mr Pang. She manages to do so midway through a tai chi class.
Over lunch, she says to the detective working the case: “I have recently learned that ‘dim sum’, which I believe is what this style of food is called, means ‘touch the heart’ ... That’s lovely, isn’t it?” And with that, she breaks the case wide open to Chief Webster.
Woven through the stories are themes of prejudice and injustice. And as always, Miss Marple is there with her wit and open-mindedness to reflect on what a just version of humanity looks like.
Compared to Miss Marple’s Final Cases, one of Christie’s own short story collections, Marple stands up to the style and tone of Christie’s writing. It’s an ode to the beloved character, delivered with deftness and a breath of fresh air from each of the 12 writers who were justifiably chosen for the task. If you’re an avid fan, this is a rare treat to reacquaint yourself with an old friend and her twinkling eyes. And if you’re a new reader, it welcomes you to the world of Miss Marple in a most whimsical way. Either way, it’s a read to be enjoyed.
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