It's been a long time since I've read an Agatha Christie, and somehow I had never got around to this one (she wrote over 80 novels.) What I remembered about Christie was her incredible plots and twists, but I didn't remember her for great style or characterizations.
Well, she may not be an Austen or a Faulkner (or a Sayers), but she is incredibly fun to read--smooth, well-paced, a fine observer of human nature and witty. This novel published in 1930 was the first mystery with Jane Marple. Narrated by the vicar, Len Clement of St Mary Mead in "Downshire," he describes the indomitable sleuth this way:
Miss Marple is a white-haired old lady with a gentle appealing manner. Miss Wetherby is a mixture of vinegar and gush. Of the two, Miss Marple is much the more dangerous.
Underestimated as an old bitty, a inconsequential spinster who "knows nothing of life," Miss Marple hides under her unassuming manner sharp observations and an even sharper mind. Moreover, by the end of the novel I was quite fond of the vicar and his wife. If you haven't read Agatha Christie, you're missing something special, although I wouldn't number this one as one of her best. Of the novels by her I've read, the ones that are my favorites include Death Comes at the End (set in Ancient Egypt), And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
