Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories(1997)

Agatha Christie

At last - all 20 Miss Marple short stories in a single volume!

Jane Marple is from the village of St Mary Mead and applies her skills of observation and deduction to a wide variety of mysteries. Several of the supporting characters appear in many of these stories, including her nephew Raymond West, Dolly and Arthur Bantry of Gossington Hall, and Sir Henry Clithering formerly of Scotland Yard.

Miss Marple made her first appearance in a novel in 1930, with the twelfth and final one coming out shortly after Agatha Christie's death almost 50 years later. Even prior to the first novel, and afterwards, Miss Marple was featured in 20 short stories. They were published in a number of different collections. But never before have they been available together.

In this complete volume, Miss Marple uses her unique insight to deduce the truth about a series of unsolved crimes - cases of a girl framed for theft, disappearing bloodstains, the cryptic last message of a poisoned man, a woman killed within days of writing her will, a spiritualist who predicts death, a mortally wounded stranger in a church, and a Christmas tragedy.

"The plots are so good that one marvels... most of them would have made a full length thriller" - Daily Mirror.

Librarian's note: the stories are: 1. The Tuesday Night Club (1927), 2. The Idol House of Astarte (1928), 3. Ingots of Gold (1928), 4. The Bloodstained Pavement (1928), 5. Motive v. Opportunity (1928), 6. The Thumb Mark of St Peter (1928), 7. The Blue Geranium (1929), 8. The Companion (1930), 9. The Four Suspects (1930), 10. A Christmas Tragedy (1930), 11. The Herb of Death (1930), 12. The Affair at the Bungalow (1930), 13. Death by Drowning (1931), 14. Miss Marple Tells a Story (1935), 15. Strange Jest (1941), 16. Tape-Measure Murder (1941), 17. The Case of the Caretaker (1942), 18. The Case of the Perfect Maid (1942), 19. Sanctuary (1954), and 20. Greenshaw's Folly (1956).

Librarian's note #2: this entry is for reviews of the collection of 20 stories. Each story also has its own entry on Goodreads. They can be found by looking for: a Miss Marple Short Story.