The Thirteen Problems Part 20

E-Book Extras The Marples Essay by Charles...o...b..rne

The Marples The Murder at the Vicarage; The Thirteen Problems The Thirteen Problems; The Body in the Library The Body in the Library; The Moving Finger The Moving Finger; A Murder Is Announced A Murder Is Announced; They Do It with Mirrors They Do It with Mirrors; A Pocket Full of Rye A Pocket Full of Rye; 4.50 from Paddington 4.50 from Paddington; The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side; A Caribbean Mystery A Caribbean Mystery; At Bertram's Hotel At Bertram's Hotel; Nemesis Nemesis; Sleeping Murder Sleeping Murder; Miss Marple's Final Cases Miss Marple's Final Cases 1. The Murder at the Vicarage The Murder at the Vicarage (1930) (1930) The murder of Colonel Protheroe-shot through the head-is a shock to everyone in St. Mary Mead, though hardly an unpleasant one. Now even the vicar, who had declared that killing the detested Protheroe would be 'doing the world at large a favour,' is a suspect-the Colonel has been dispatched in the clergyman's study, no less. But tiny St. Mary Mead is overpopulated with suspects. There is of course the faithless Mrs Protheroe; and there is of course her young lover-an artist, to boot. Perhaps more surprising than the revelation of the murderer is the detective who will crack the case: 'a whitehaired old lady with a gentle, appealing manner.' Miss Jane Marple has arrived on the scene, and crime literature's private men's club of great detectives will never be the same.

Sat.u.r.day Review of Literature: 'When she really hits her stride, as she does here, Agatha Christie is hard to surpa.s.s.'

2. The Thirteen Problems The Thirteen Problems (1932) (1932) Over six Tuesday evenings a group gathers at Miss Marple's house to ponder unsolved crimes. The company is inclined to forget their elderly hostess as they become mesmerized by the sinister tales they tell one another. But it is always Miss Marple's quiet genius that names the criminal or the means of the misdeed. As indeed is true in subsequent gatherings at the country home of Colonel and Mrs Bantry, where another set of terrible wrongs is related by the a.s.sembled guests-and righted, by Miss Marple.

The stories: 'The Tuesday Night Club'; 'The Idol House of Astarte'; 'Ingots of Gold'; 'The Bloodstained Pavement'; 'Motive v v Opportunity'; 'The Thumb Mark of St Peter'; 'The Blue Geranium'; 'The Companion'; 'The Four Suspects'; 'A Christmas Tragedy'; 'The Herb of Death'; 'The Affair at the Bungalow'; 'Death by Drowning.' Opportunity'; 'The Thumb Mark of St Peter'; 'The Blue Geranium'; 'The Companion'; 'The Four Suspects'; 'A Christmas Tragedy'; 'The Herb of Death'; 'The Affair at the Bungalow'; 'Death by Drowning.'

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

3. The Body in the Library The Body in the Library (1942) (1942) The very-respectable Colonel and Mrs Bantry have awakened to discover the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing evening dress and heavy make-up, which is now smeared across her cold cheeks. But who is she? How did she get there? And what is her connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry? The Bantrys turn to Miss Marple to solve the mystery.

Of note: Many of the residents of St. Mary Mead, who appeared in the first full-length Miss Marple mystery twelve years earlier, The Murder at the Vicarage The Murder at the Vicarage, return in The Body in the Library The Body in the Library. Mrs Christie wrote Body Body simultaneously with the Tommy and Tuppence Beresford spy thriller simultaneously with the Tommy and Tuppence Beresford spy thriller N or M? N or M?, alternating between the two novels to keep herself, as she put it, 'fresh at task.'

The Times Literary Supplement wrote of this second Marple novel: 'It is hard not to be impressed.' wrote of this second Marple novel: 'It is hard not to be impressed.'

4. The Moving Finger The Moving Finger (1943) (1943) Lymstock is a town with more than its share of shameful secrets-a town where even a sudden outbreak of anonymous hate-mail causes only a minor stir. But all of that changes when one of the recipients, Mrs Symmington, appears to have been driven to suicide. 'I can't go on,' her final note reads. Only Miss Marple questions the coroner's verdict. Was Was this the work of a poison pen? Or of a this the work of a poison pen? Or of a poisoner poisoner?

Of note: The Moving Finger The Moving Finger was a favourite of its author. From was a favourite of its author. From An Autobiography An Autobiography (1977): 'I find that...I am really pleased with... (1977): 'I find that...I am really pleased with...The Moving Finger. It is a great test to reread what one has written some seventeen or eighteen years before. One's view changes. Some do not stand the test of time, others do.'

The Times: 'Beyond all doubt the puzzle in The Moving Finger The Moving Finger is fit for the experts.' is fit for the experts.'

5. A Murder Is Announced A Murder Is Announced (1950) (1950) The invitation spelled it out quite clearly: 'A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks, at 6:30 p.m.' Everyone in town expected a simple party game-a secret 'murderer' is chosen, the lights go out, the 'victim' falls, and the players guess 'whodunit.' Amusing, indeed-until a real corpse is discovered. A game as murderous as this requires the most brilliant player of all: Jane Marple.

Robert Barnard: 'As good as Agatha Christie ever wrote.'

A.A. Milne: 'Establishes firmly her claim to the throne of detection. The plot is as ingenious as ever...the dialogue both wise and witty; while the suspense is maintained very skillfully...'

The New York Times Book Review: 'A super-smooth Christie...neat murders in an English village...an a.s.sortment of her famous red herrings, all beautifully marinated.'

6. They Do It with Mirrors They Do It with Mirrors (1952) (1952) A sense of danger pervades the rambling Victorian mansion in which Jane Marple's friend Carrie Louise lives-and not only because the building doubles as a rehabilitation centre for criminal youths. One inmate attempts, and fails, to shoot dead the administrator. But simultaneously, in another part of the building, a mysterious visitor is less lucky. Miss Marple must employ all her cunning to solve the riddle of the stranger's visit, and his murder-while protecting her friend from a similarly dreadful fate.

Guardian: 'Brilliant.'

The New York Times: 'No one on either side of the Atlantic does it better.'

7. A Pocket Full of Rye A Pocket Full of Rye (1953) (1953) Rex Fortescue, king of a financial empire, was sipping tea in his 'counting house' when he suffered an agonising and sudden death. The only clue to his murder: 'loose grain' found in his pocket. The murder seems without rhyme or reason-until shrewd Jane Marple recalls that delightful nursery rhyme, 'Sing a Song of Sixpence.' A playful hint indeed for a murder that is anything but child's play.

Times Literary Supplement: 'Ingenious.'

The New York Times: 'The best of the novels starring Miss Marple.'

8. 4.50 from Paddington 4.50 from Paddington (1957) (1957) For an instant the two trains ran side by side. In that frozen moment, Elspeth McGillicuddy stared helplessly out of her carriage window as a man tightened his grip around a woman's throat. The body crumpled. Then the other train drew away. But who, apart from Mrs McGillicuddy's friend Jane Marple, would take her story seriously? After all, there are no other witnesses, no suspects, and no case-for there is no corpse, and no one is missing. Miss Marple asks her highly efficient and intelligent young friend Lucy Eyelesbarrow to infiltrate the Crackenthorpe family, who seem to be at the heart of the mystery, and help unmask a murderer.

Of note: The introduction of Lucy Eyelesbarrow as a side-kick to Miss Marple was lauded by the critics, but her work with the older detective was limited to this novel.

9. The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1962) (1962) The quaint village of St. Mary Mead has been glamourized by the presence of screen queen Marina Gregg, who has taken up residence in preparation for her comeback. But when a local fan is poisoned, Marina finds herself starring in a real-life mystery-supported with scene-stealing aplomb by Jane Marple, who suspects that the lethal c.o.c.ktail was intended for someone else. But who? If it was meant for Marina, then why? And before the final fade-out, who else from St. Mary Mead's cast of seemingly innocent characters is going to be eliminated?

Times Literary Supplement: 'The pieces...drop into place with a satisfying click. Agatha Christie deserves her fame.'

10. A Caribbean Mystery A Caribbean Mystery (1964) (1964) As Jane Marple sat basking in the tropical suns.h.i.+ne she felt mildly discontented with life. True, the warmth eased her rheumatism, but here in paradise nothing ever happened. Then a question was put to her by a stranger: 'Would you like to see a picture of a murderer?' Before she has a chance to answer, the man vanishes, only to be found dead the next day. The mysteries abound: Where is the picture? Why is the hotelier p.r.o.ne to nightmares? Why doesn't the most talked-about guest, a reclusive millionaire, ever leave his room? And why is Miss Marple herself fearful for her life?

Of note: A Caribbean Mystery A Caribbean Mystery introduces the wealthy (and difficult) Mr Jason Rafiel, who will call upon Miss Marple for help in introduces the wealthy (and difficult) Mr Jason Rafiel, who will call upon Miss Marple for help in Nemesis Nemesis (1971)-after his death. (1971)-after his death.

Observer: 'Liveliness...infectious zest...as good as anything Mrs Christie has done.'

The New York Times: 'Throws off the false clues and misleading events as only a master of the art can do.'

11. At Bertram's Hotel At Bertram's Hotel (1965) (1965) When Jane Marple comes up from the country for a holiday in London, she finds what she's looking for at Bertram's: a restored London hotel with traditional decor, impeccable service-and an unmistakable atmosphere of danger behind the highly polished veneer. Yet not even Miss Marple can foresee the violent chain of events set in motion when an eccentric guest makes his way to the airport on the wrong day...

Of note: Bertram's was inspired by Brown's Hotel in London, where the author was a frequent visitor.

Sat.u.r.day Review of Literature: 'One of the author's very best productions, with splendid pace, bright lines.'

The New York Times: 'A joy to read from beginning to end, especially in its acute sensitivity to the contrasts between this era and that of Miss Marple's youth.'

The New Yorker: 'Mrs Christie's pearly talent for dealing with all the words and pomps that go with murder English-style s.h.i.+mmers steadily in this tale of the noisy woe that shatters the extremely expensive peace of Bertram's famously old-fas.h.i.+oned hotel.'

12. Nemesis Nemesis (1971) (1971) Even the unflappable Miss Marple is astounded as she reads the letter addressed to her on instructions from the recently deceased tyc.o.o.n Mr Jason Rafiel, whom she had met on holiday in the West Indies (A Caribbean Mystery). Recognising in her a natural flair for justice and a genius for crime-solving, Mr Rafiel has bequeathed to Miss Marple a 20,000 legacy-and a legacy of an entirely different sort. For he has asked Miss Marple to investigate...his own murder. The only problem is, Mr Rafiel has failed to name a suspect or suspects. And, whoever they are, they will certainly be determined to thwart Miss Marple's inquiries-no matter what it will take to stop her.

Of note: Nemesis Nemesis is the last Jane Marple mystery that Agatha Christie wrote-though not the last Marple published. is the last Jane Marple mystery that Agatha Christie wrote-though not the last Marple published.

Best Sellers: 'The old charm is still there and a good deal of the old magic in plotting, too.'

Times Literary Supplement: 'Miss Marple is an old lady now, knowing that a scent for evil is still, in the evening of her days, her peculiar gift.'

13. Sleeping Murder Sleeping Murder (1976) (1976) Soon after Gwenda Reed moves into her new home, odd things start to happen. Despite her best efforts to modernise the house, she only succeeds in dredging up its past. Worse, she feels an irrational sense of terror every time she climbs the stairs...In fear, Gwenda turns to Jane Marple to exorcise her ghosts. Between them, they are to solve a 'perfect' crime committed many years before...

Of note: Agatha Christie wrote Sleeping Murder Sleeping Murder during World War II and had it placed in a bank vault for over thirty years. during World War II and had it placed in a bank vault for over thirty years.

Chicago Tribune: 'Agatha Christie saved the best for last.'

Sunday Express: 'A puzzle that is tortuous, surprising, and...satisfying.'

14. Miss Marple's Final Cases Miss Marple's Final Cases (1979) (1979) Despite the t.i.tle, the stories collected here recount cases from the middle of Miss. Marple's career. They are: 'Sanctuary'; 'Strange Jest'; 'Tape-Measure Murder'; 'The Case of the Caretaker'; 'The Case of the Perfect Maid'; 'Miss Marple Tells a Story'; 'The Dressmaker's Doll'; 'In a Gla.s.s Darkly'; 'Greenshaw's Folly.'

The Republican (Springfield, Ma.s.sachusetts): 'When it all becomes clear as day, the reader can only say, "Now why didn't I think of that?" But he never does. Mrs Christie at her best.' (Springfield, Ma.s.sachusetts): 'When it all becomes clear as day, the reader can only say, "Now why didn't I think of that?" But he never does. Mrs Christie at her best.'

Charles...o...b..rne on The Thirteen Problems The Thirteen Problems Alternative t.i.tle: The Tuesday Club Murders The Tuesday Club Murders Miss Marple (1932) Having successfully introduced her amateur detective, Miss Jane Marple, in The Murder at the Vicarage The Murder at the Vicarage (1930), Agatha Christie wrote for a magazine a series of six short stories featuring Miss Marple. In the first story, 'The Tuesday Night Club', the old lady is entertaining a group of friends at her house in the village of St Mary Mead. Her guests are her nephew Raymond West, the novelist, and his fiance, an artist named Joyce Lempriere; Dr Pender, the elderly clergyman of the parish (what, one wonders, has happened to the Rev. Leonard Clement, the vicar in (1930), Agatha Christie wrote for a magazine a series of six short stories featuring Miss Marple. In the first story, 'The Tuesday Night Club', the old lady is entertaining a group of friends at her house in the village of St Mary Mead. Her guests are her nephew Raymond West, the novelist, and his fiance, an artist named Joyce Lempriere; Dr Pender, the elderly clergyman of the parish (what, one wonders, has happened to the Rev. Leonard Clement, the vicar in The Murder at the Vicarage The Murder at the Vicarage?); Mr Petherick, a local solicitor; and a visitor to St Mary Mead, Sir Henry c.l.i.thering, who is a retired Commissioner of Scotland Yard.

The talk turns to crime, and Joyce Lempriere suggests that they form a club, to meet every Tuesday evening. Each week, a different member of the group will propound a problem, some mystery or other of which they have personal knowledge, which the others will be invited to solve. In the first story, Sir Henry is invited to start the ball rolling. Of course, Miss Marple is the one to arrive at the correct solution every time, not because she possesses any brilliant deductive powers but because, as she puts it, 'human nature is much the same everywhere, and, of course, one has opportunities of observing it at closer quarters in a village'.

In a second series of six stories, Mrs Christie repeated the formula, the setting this time being the country house of Colonel and Mrs Bantry, near St Mary Mead, and the a.s.sembled company including Sir Henry again, the local doctor, a famous actress and, of course, Miss Marple. A separate, single story, in which Sir Henry visits St Mary Mead yet again, to stay with his friends the Bantrys, and finds himself drawn by Miss Marple into the investigation of a local crime, was added to the earlier twelve, and the collection, dedicated to Leonard and Katherine Woolley, with whom Agatha Christie had stayed in the Middle East, was published in Great Britain as The Thirteen Problems The Thirteen Problems and in the United States as and in the United States as The Tuesday Club Murders The Tuesday Club Murders, though only the first six cases appear to have been discussed at meetings of the Tuesday Club.

Some of the stories are especially ingenious, and all are entertaining, though if more than one or two are read at one sitting they can become monotonous, for they are all very sedentary stories whose action is recounted in retrospect. Miss Marple solves most of the mysteries without rising from her chair, and almost without dropping a st.i.tch in her knitting. The exception is the final story, 'Death by Drowning', which is also one of the few occasions when Agatha Christie strayed into workingcla.s.s territory. Usually, it is only the crimes of the middle and uppercla.s.ses which commend themselves to her investigators.

For all her old-world charm, and the twinkle which is never far from her china-blue eyes, Miss Marple can be stern in her opinions. Talking of a murderer whom she had brought to justice and who had been hanged, she remarks that it was a good job and that she had no patience with modern humanitarian scruples about capital punishment. Miss Marple is speaking not only for herself but also for her creator, for many years later Mrs Christie was to write: I can suspend judgment on those who kill-but I think they are evil for the community; they bring in nothing except hate, and take from it all they can. I am willing to believe that they are made that way, that they are born with a disability, for which, perhaps, one should pity them; but even then, I think, not spare them-because you cannot spare them any more than you could spare the man who staggers out from a plague-stricken village in the Middle Ages to mix with innocent and healthy children in a nearby village. The innocent innocent must be protected; they must be able to live at peace and charity with their neighbours. must be protected; they must be able to live at peace and charity with their neighbours.

It frightens me that n.o.body seems to care about the innocent. When you read about a murder case, n.o.body seems to be horrified by the picture, say, of a fragile old woman in a small cigarette shop, turning away to get a packet of cigarettes for a young thug, and being attacked and battered to death. No one seems to care about her terror and her pain, and the final merciful unconsciousness. n.o.body seems to go through the agony of the victim victim-they are only full of pity for the young killer, because of his youth.

Why should they not execute him? We have taken the lives of wolves, in this country; we didn't try to teach the wolf to lie down with the lamb-I doubt really if we could have. We hunted down the wild boar in the mountains before he came down and killed the children by the brook. Those were our enemies-and we destroyed them.*

Imprisonment for life, Mrs Christie goes on to say, is more cruel than the cup of hemlock in ancient Greece. The best answer ever found, she suspects, was transportation: 'A vast land of emptiness, peopled only with primitive human beings, where man could live in simpler surroundings.' Well, yes, but of course the price one pays for that is the Australia of today!

Five minor points about The Thirteen Problems The Thirteen Problems, two concerned with Christie carelessness and three with Christie parsimony: (i) in one of the stories, 'phenomena' is used as though it were a singular, and not the plural of 'phenomenon'; (ii) in The Thirteen Problems The Thirteen Problems, Raymond West's fiancee is called Joyce but, in later Christie stories, after they are married, she is always referred to as Joan; (iii) variations on the plot of one of the stories, 'The BloodStained Pavement', will be presented in the story 'Triangle at Rhodes' in Murder in the Mews Murder in the Mews (1937) and in the novel, (1937) and in the novel, Evil Under the Sun Evil Under the Sun (1941); (iv) the plot of another story, 'The Companion', will be made use of again in the novel, (1941); (iv) the plot of another story, 'The Companion', will be made use of again in the novel, A Murder is Announced A Murder is Announced (1950); (v) an element in the plot of 'The Herb of Death' will re-occur in (1950); (v) an element in the plot of 'The Herb of Death' will re-occur in Postern of Fate Postern of Fate (1973). (1973).

Agatha Christie always considered that Miss Marple was at her best in the solving of short problems, which did not involve her in doing anything other than sitting and thinking, and that the real essence of her character was to be found in the stories collected together in The Thirteen Problems. The Thirteen Problems.

About Charles...o...b..rne This essay was adapted from Charles...o...b..rne's The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie: A Biographical Companion to the Works of Agatha Christie The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie: A Biographical Companion to the Works of Agatha Christie (1982, rev. 1999). Mr. Osborne was born in Brisbane in 1927. He is known internationally as an authority on opera, and has written a number of books on musical and literary subjects, among them (1982, rev. 1999). Mr. Osborne was born in Brisbane in 1927. He is known internationally as an authority on opera, and has written a number of books on musical and literary subjects, among them The Complete Operas of Verdi The Complete Operas of Verdi (1969); (1969); Wagner and His World Wagner and His World (1977); and (1977); and W.H. Auden: The Life of a Poet W.H. Auden: The Life of a Poet (1980). An addict of crime fiction and the world's leading authority on Agatha Christie, Charles...o...b..rne adapted the Christie plays (1980). An addict of crime fiction and the world's leading authority on Agatha Christie, Charles...o...b..rne adapted the Christie plays Black Coffee Black Coffee (Poirot); (Poirot); Spider's Web Spider's Web; and The Unexpected Guest The Unexpected Guest into novels. He lives in London. into novels. He lives in London.

*Agatha Christie: op. cit. op. cit.

About Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English and another billion in 100 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Mrs Christie is the author of eighty crime novels and short story collections, nineteen plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott.

Agatha Christie's first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was written towards the end of World War I (during which she served in the Voluntary Aid Detachments). In it she created Hercule Poirot, the little Belgian investigator who was destined to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. After having been rejected by a number of houses, The Mysterious Affair at Styles The Mysterious Affair at Styles was eventually published by The Bodley Head in 1920. was eventually published by The Bodley Head in 1920.

In 1926, now averaging a book a year, Agatha Christie wrote her masterpiece. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was the first of her books to be published by William Collins and marked the beginning of an author-publisher relations.h.i.+p that lasted for fifty years and produced over seventy books. was the first of her books to be published by William Collins and marked the beginning of an author-publisher relations.h.i.+p that lasted for fifty years and produced over seventy books. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was also the first of Agatha Christie's works to be dramatised-as was also the first of Agatha Christie's works to be dramatised-as Alibi Alibi-and to have a successful run in London's West End. The Mousetrap The Mousetrap, her most famous play, opened in 1952 and runs to this day at St Martin's Theatre in the West End; it is the longest-running play in history.

Agatha Christie was made a Dame in 1971. She died in 1976, since when a number of her books have been published: the bestselling novel Sleeping Murder Sleeping Murder appeared in 1976, followed by appeared in 1976, followed by An Autobiography An Autobiography and the short story collections and the short story collections Miss Marple's Final Cases Miss Marple's Final Cases; Problem at Pollensa Bay Problem at Pollensa Bay; and While the Light Lasts While the Light Lasts. In 1998, Black Coffee Black Coffee was the first of her plays to be novelised by Charles...o...b..rne, Mrs Christie's biographer. was the first of her plays to be novelised by Charles...o...b..rne, Mrs Christie's biographer.

The Agatha Christie Collection

Christie Crime Cla.s.sics

The Man in the Brown Suit

The Secret of Chimneys

The Seven Dials Mystery

The Mysterious Mr Quin

The Sittaford Mystery

The Hound of Death

The Listerdale Mystery

Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

Parker Pyne Investigates

Murder Is Easy

And Then There Were None

Towards Zero