I just finished book 7 in the Miss Marple Mystery series. My oldest daughter has read all 12 of the Miss Marple Mysteries and she challenged me last August to read all 12, in order, by the end of summer 2024. So, technically, I have until 22 September to finish the remaining five. I really liked this one...it was super fast-paced and now it's my 2nd fave in the list with number 6 remaining my fave and #3 my least fave.
STORY SUMMARY
Two trains are running right next to each other. For a brief moment, Elspeth McGillacuddy, can look right into the window of the other train and what she sees is haunting her. She sees a murder taking place before her very eyes!! As she stares helplessly out of her own carriage window, she sees a man who is tall and dark-haired tighten his grip around a woman's throat. The woman is being strangled! Her body crumples down into the seat and then the train begins to pull away from Elspeth's train.
Who is going to take her seriously? She knows her good friend Miss Marple will....but will the authorities? After all, there doesn't appear to be any suspects and there were no witnesses ....and once the train stops, there is no corpse.
But Mrs McGillacuddy knows what she saw.
A few days later, the body is found in an old barn at Rutherford Hall. And now there is a whole family of suspects. Just who is the woman? and who murdered her?
MY THOUGHTS
Once again, Agatha Christie has a fantastic murder mystery with well developed characters and a great setting in a small village outside of London.
I loved that this time i couldn't figure out who the murderer was! I thought I knew and then there was a wonderful twist in the very ending which is so typical of Agatha Christie.
Although this is a murder mystery, the overall tone of this story is rather light and fun. I think it's because of all the characters and also there's an underlying theme of strong women who marry weak men.
The book explores the use of corridor trains vs non-corridor trains (one where there's no leaving the train via the central aisle). This is important to the development of the story. (what happened to the body??)
I liked that Lucy, the domestic help for the family at Rutherford Hall, was the one who was actually doing Miss Marple's "work" for her. That was an interesting way to give Miss Marple a "backseat" so to speak although her presence was definitely felt in the story especially in the end.
This is a short, easy read with delightful characters and although there are several of them, it's easy to keep track of them.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 12 and older.
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.
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