Recently Cath at Read-Warbler read The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie. This is a book of thirteen short stories featuring Miss Marple; almost all of them were published before The Murder at the Vicarage, the first full-length novel with Miss Marple. I had never read the book, but finally I realized that I had all the stories in Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories. So last night I started reading them.
I have only read four stories so far, all from The Thirteen Problems. An alternate title for that book was The Tuesday Club Murders.
"The Tuesday Night Club"
This story sets up the premise for the rest of the stories in the book (I presume). Five people meet at Miss Marple's house: her nephew Raymond West, a well-known author; Joyce Lemprière, an artist; Dr. Pender, a clergyman; Mr. Petherick, a solicitor; and my favorite, Sir Henry Clithering, a retired Commissioner of Scotland Yard. They decide to form a club to discuss unsolved mysteries, and plan to meet every Tuesday, and proceed to discuss a case described by Sir Henry, about the poisoning of a man's wife. I had no clue who the culprit was, but I learned from reading that one that I needed to pay attention to the information about every person involved with the case to even have a chance.
One very interesting thing about this first story was the description of Miss Marple:
"Miss Marple wore a black brocade dress, very much pinched in round the waist. Mechlin lace was arranged in a cascade down the front of the bodice. She had on black mittens, and a black lace cap surmounted the piled-up masses of her snowy hair. She was knitting – something white and soft and fleecy."
Except for the knitting, that is not at all how I picture Miss Marple and I don't think that later books describe her that way. So possibly Christie's vision of Miss Marple changed over time?
"The Idol House of Astarte"
The second story is set at a country house in Dartmoor, and centers around a house party, complete with a fancy dress party. This story is spooky and creepy. The clergyman, Mr. Pender, tells the story. I did guess the solution to that one.
"Ingots of Gold"
The third story is told by Raymond West, Miss Marple's nephew. He once visited a man who lived in a town on the western coast of Cornwall. The coastal area was known for shipwrecks and lost treasures to be salvaged, and this man was planning to recover some bullion. I guessed the solution to this one too, but Miss Marple's solution explained it better than I could. The story was a bit too complex to be a fun read.
"The Bloodstained Pavement"
The fourth story, told by the artist, Joyce Lemprière, was the most fun, possibly because I could not figure it out. It is set in a different town along the coast of Cornwall, and was another spooky one with a lot of atmosphere.
So, I have read four interesting stories that were first published in book form in The Thirteens Problems. I will be reading all the stories in Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories throughout the summer, spacing them out between some of my 20 Books of Summer.