Moving Finger | 
so-soJerry Burton & his sister Joanna rent a house for the summer in the village of Lymstock. Jerry needs somewhere quiet to recuperate from his accident & what quieter place than the quintessential English village. The idyll is soon spoiled though when a series of poison-pen letters are sent around the village & almost no-one escapes the vitriol. Cue Miss Marple, doyen of human nature.
pickThat was candy. As I've come to expect from the Marple books, it took its time to lay out the characters, the lead up, the crime, the clues, and even more so than previously Marple herself and her crime solving insights were tacked on to the very, very end.I felt more connected to this narrator, he seemed a little more empathetic, even if given the period it was written in there were a number of choice phrases to make a modern reader cringe. 1/2
Sometimes a passage just grabs you and won't let go.
That's a new one on me.
Pusillanimity: lack of courage or determination; timidity.
so-soHow is this a Miss Marple book when she only shows up in the last 50 pages? Maybe less..
This one was okay. A brother and sister go to a town to recover after he gets into a plane accident. Everyone starts getting letters with nasty rumors and accusations. There is a death because of the letters and the mystery unfolds.
pickThis month‘s #bookspin was a gem! I started slowly working my way through all the Miss Marple‘s in Jan and plan to continue since I‘ve never read the whole set in order. One of the things that keeps them from getting at all repetitive is that she‘s not exactly the central character. In this one there‘s no mention of her til the last 50 pages. And even then, while she does, obvs, solve the mystery, she only shows up in a handful of scenes.
When at last I was taken out of the plaster, and the doctors had pulled me about to their hearts' content, and nurses had wheedled me into cautiously using my limbs, and I had been nauseated by their practically using baby talk to me, Marcus Kent told me I was to go and live in the country. #firstlinefridays @ShyBookOwl
Miss Marple is the queen of the #SmallTownSetting
#BookBinge @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
pickI liked this Christie novel set in a small village. Brother and sister team, try to solve the mystery of poison pen letters and then a murder or two.
pickMy first Hoopla borrow! This is a fun one. I like how the story plays out. Over time, Christie has become more subtle in how she conveys characters' emotions, biases, and hangups that keep them from drawing accurate conclusions, and this has really improved her storytelling (although it does mean there's less of Miss Marple in this one, which is a little sad to me).
pickI‘m so enjoying making my way through Christie‘s Miss Marple mysteries this year (this was my third). I think she had a real knack for writing engaging male narrators - the vicar in the first book, Jerry Burton in this one. I only wished for more Marple. She doesn‘t even make an appearance until the last quarter!
pickA village with a rash of poison pen letters that lead to death. The narrator is rehabbing in the country and quickly becomes embroiled in the community of interesting characters and tries his hand at sussing out the culprit.
Most enjoyable was the humor peppered throughout - some LOL comments, for sure!
But while this IS a Miss Marple, fair warning she plays a small part. She sweeps in to put the final pieces together. As we need her to!
pickAdvised by his doctor to rest after a flying injury, Jack Burton rents a house just outside Lymstock with his sister only to find their peaceful retreat enmeshed in poison pen letters, suicide, and murder.
Miss Marple only puts in an appearance in the last quarter of the book but it's still fun watching the other characters try to solve the mystery and getting so close without being able to make the final leap.
pickReally enjoyed this, completely got the wrong murderer. I‘ll never make detective 🕵️♀️ #Agathachristie #christie #movingfinger
“I think you‘re the nicest person in the world—but I‘m not in love with you.”
“I‘ll make you love me.”
“That wouldn‘t do. I don‘t want to be made.”
pickFinished this time!
I was surprised at the comedic aspect of this book. I actually chuckled out loud at certain passages. I don‘t recall being tickled by Agatha Christie‘s writing before. Has anyone else ever thought her also gifted with a funny sense-of-humor? Maybe it was the quaintness of it all. Weird about it being called a Miss Marple Mystery when she had only a hot second presence, but it was in that timing that things became crystal clear!
I pushed it aside for another book last year. Now it has come around again!
Switching from Poirot to Marple. #agathachristieclubR2 #myyearwithagatha
pickI love Agatha Christie. 💜 I had read this one many years ago but absolutely did not remember the ending, so it was a satisfying reread. Miss Marple is only a minor presence at the end, though of course she makes all the difference to solve the mystery!
pickI really loved this one. Miss marple didn‘t come into the story until late in the book, but I guess all the murders can‘t happen in her little village. Good characters & 2 romances. A good mystery & a lot of assumptions about women that cause men to overlook facts. #scarathlon #teamslaughter @Clwojick 2pts-mystery #scaryscavengerhunt -black cover
@4thhouseontheleft #screamathon
Book 1/10 for #bfcr4
#24B4Monday - EndGame: Not only was I bouncing back and forth between books...not only was I under the influence of cold medications...not only was I on Litsy when I should have been reading...The REAL Doozy (maybe it‘s not so extraordinary) -> I fell asleep on the clock. So there we have it: thirteen hours is a fiction, sincere and well-intended, but an incorrect accounting of time as I spent some of that time drifting, dreaming and snoozing.👇🏽
I‘m reading on my Nook. It‘s as old as the hills, but I still love it. I don‘t think that it can be updated anymore, and when I tried to purchase a book I received an error message directing me to Nook.com. So that‘s a bummer if I can‘t purchase directly from the store on the device. BUT still I love it, maybe more than my kindle. I don‘t really use either of them all that much...not like I thought I would.😯
This is one of the selections for👇🏽
pickDone! Loved this one, the characters were delightful. There were a couple of insensitive words which always shock me and take me out of the story 😝 Even though it was first published in 1942, I always wonder why don‘t they don‘t just them out of newer versions. Overall, a charming story that makes me want to travel to England and solve a murder.
Working today, but reading as I can! First up, Miss Markle! @DeweysReadathon #readathon #travellingreader
pickMy first read by Agatha Christie. I loved the writing and it wasn't excessively long. I listened on audio and that made it even better. I have others by her on hold on Overdrive and one dowloaded.
pickThis one is pretty good. Oddly, Miss Marple is only in it for a blink. 💖📚
"In everybody's life there are hidden chapters which they hope may never be known."
Just for a fleeting moment I thought of Mrs. Symmington and Agnes Woddell in their graves in the churchyard and wondered if they would agree, and then I remembered that Agnes‘s boy hadn‘t been very fond of her and that Mrs. Symmington hadn‘t been very nice to Megan and, what the hell? we‘ve all got to die some time! And I agreed with happy Miss Emily that everything was for the best in the best of possible worlds.
so-soIf you like your mysteries with lots of Miss Marple, this book is not for you. If you like a romance subplot free of paternalistic misogyny, this book is also not for you.
I didn‘t mind Miss Marple not showing up till the last quarter of the book—as a mystery-solving deus ex machina—but the “romance” and a couple of other issues left me feeling pretty ‘meh‘ about this one. First time I haven‘t thoroughly enjoyed a Christie novel, so there‘s that!
“I forget exactly what they said. Something very silly about Caleb and the schoolmistress, I think. Quite absurd, because Caleb has absolutely no taste for fornication. He never has had. So lucky, being a clergyman.”
“Quite,” I said. “Oh, quite.”
😂🤣
Definitely started more books than I finished this month. I haven't been reading as much the last couple weeks but hopefully that will pick up soon.
Miss Marple doesn't make her appearance in this one until 70% and only briefly a few times after that, but it was enjoyable. I thought I'd figured this one out but nope, she got me this time.
Saturday morning reading with Frankie.
Just starting #24in48 now with my comfy reading clothes in my comfy reading chair. Starting this Christie now. #latetotheparty #readathon
On a Dame Agatha marathon. As randomly picked by my girlfriend, I'm now on to my first Miss Marple book after a long while! I have a feeling this one's going to be good 😁
#SizzlinSummerBooks #day17 #ItsAllAMystery I love me a great mystery novel. Be it Cozy Mystery, Historical Mystery, Australian Mystery or Old School Mystery, I'll read them all. Agatha Christie, Alan Bradley, Carola Dunn, Sulari Gentill & P.G.Wodehouse just to name a few of my favourite mystery writers. I highly recommend every book & author in this picture.
A stack of my #wellloved Christie's
The Moving Finger by #Agatha #christie is my favorite #sibling #mystery. #brothersisterteam #aprilbookshowers #siblings @RealLifeReading
My first Christie novel and so far it's a delight! Listening to a proper narrator introduce the characters with matter of fact observations has made me smile in approval more than once. #agathachristie #whodunnit #mystery #januaryread #missmarple #bookish
#Allisnotlost when reading a classic and kickass mystery writer with a #catoflitsy nearby (on a Lisa Frank blanket)! #agathachristie @Liberty
Sick day, rainy day reading. "No smoke without fire." ? #agathachristie #mystery
pickBook 1 of 2017 is done!Yay!!🎉Fitting I think to start off the new year with Dame Agatha.This book is one of my favourite Marples,it's narrated by a new character & she doesn't actually appear until the last third of the book, but she's brought in at the perfect moment.Jerry Burton & his sister Joanna have come to stay in Lymstock so he can recover from a plane crash. But poison pen letters are stirring things up & then Mrs Symmington dies.🔪
pickMiss Marple doesn't even arrive on the scene until about 70% of the way through the book. I like that the stories in this series are told from points of view other than the "starring" detective's. It allows for a greater range in the stories.
Time for some Agatha Christie. Slowly working my way through the Miss Marple series. 🔎📚
