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This week we meet Agatha Christie’s second famous protagonist, Miss Jane Marple.

This is a relatively early story, published in 1935, that gives us a unique view into Miss Marple’s mind.

Miss Marple Tells a Story is included in collections The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (US, 1939)and Miss Marple's Final Cases (UK, 1979).

As you can see, Miss M. is about as different as can be compared to Hercule Poirot. Think about Poirot’s ego and cunning as he solved last week’s murder, compared to Miss Marple’s quiet logic.

Read on to learn more about Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. By the way, scroll down to access an audio version of "Miss Marple Tells a Story."

The Marple railway station may have been Christie’s inspiration for the famous detective’s name (Miss Marple, 2021).

The first Miss Marple showed up in a short story, “The Tuesday Night Club” published in 1927 in The Royal Magazine. Christie wrote 12 novels featuring Miss Marple (The Best Ever, 2020).

The combination of unassuming appearance, respected age, and shrewd intelligence made Miss Marple an appealing character.  She never married and had no close relatives. A few friends and one relative made their brief appearances. She had a nephew author, Raymond West. She has a long-time maid/housekeeper, Florence. Over the years she employs several young women helpers. She had one irritating companion (Miss Knight), and much later a character named Cherry Baker (Miss Marple, 2021).

In early books, Miss Marple was a nosy gossip (and not very nice). She softened up as Christie wrote more stories.

Miss Marple seems to be independently comfortable, though she received some financial support from her nephew. In terms of social class, she might be considered a gentlewoman. Although she is not a member of the aristocracy, she is comfortable with them. She had some formal education; she spent some time at an Italian finishing school, and also took art classes that required knowledge of human anatomy and human cadavers.

Check out this interesting article about a feminist interpretation of our heroine...

According to a poll by British Period Dramas, here are the top five favorite actresses who have played the role of Miss Marple.

#5: Angela Lansbury

She played the role in 1980 in the movie version of “The Mirror Crack’d.”

#4: Julia McKenzie

She played the role from 2009-2013 on ITV’s Agatha Christie’s Marple series.

#3: Geraldine McEwan

She played the role from 2004-2008 on ITV’s Agatha Christie’s Marple series.

She edged out Julia McKenzie as a favorite.

#2: Margaret Rutherford

A big favorite, Rutherford played the role from 1961-1964, starring in four different films. Apparently Agatha Christie wasn’t a big fan of Rutherford’s eccentric portrayal of Miss Marple, but audiences enjoyed the humorous take on Miss M.

#1: Joan Hickson

We have a winner! Fans voted Hickson as the best Miss Marple ever. She played  Miss M. in the BBC series “Miss Marple” from 1984-1992. She herself was in her 80s for most of the series. This show ran for three seasons and adapted 12 of Christie’s original novels. 

After seeing Joan Hickson in Murder on the Nile in 1946, Agatha Christie wrote to her hoping that ‘one day you will play my Miss Marple.’

This story was published in Home Journal in 1935 under the title Behind Closed Doors. It was unusual for an Agatha Christie story because it was initially commissioned for radio, before being printed in a magazine, and was read out by Agatha Christie (who hated public speaking) in 1934 on the BBC.

The Setting

Miss Marple’s home in St. Mary’s Mead.

Miss Marple solved the puzzle from her dining room, rather than her drawing room, because “in early spring I think it is so wasteful to have two fires going.”

Notice references to not noticing the recent murder in Barnchester because she was involved “our local excitements.”   Classic village vs. city distinction.

Christie also has a tendency to sketch out the floorplans of the crime scene.  This is particularly handy since the hotel murder occurred in a “locked room” scenario.

The Point of View

Christie’s (third person) voice shines through. She uses occasional dialogue to explain the plot and reveal clues.

The Characters

In particular, we see into Miss Marple’s mind. Christie paints her a doddering, absent minded, and humble.

To begin the story she establishes herself in this way:

“I know that in comparison with you young people I’m not clever at all—Raymond writes those very modern books all about rather unpleasant young men and women—and Joan paints those very remarkable pictures of square people with curious bulges on them—very clever of you, my dear, but as Raymond always says (only quite kindly, because he is the kindest of nephews) I am hopelessly Victorian.”

She confesses that she has “a horror of digressing.”

Yet the whole point of this story is for her brag  about how she solved this mystery:

“I didn’t want to appear vain— but I couldn’t help being just a teeny weeny bit pleased with myself, because, just by applying a little common sense, I believe I really did solve a problem that had baffled cleverer heads than mine.”

Other characters are Mr. Petherick: in this story he has been dead for a couple of years, but some of us remember him from several of Miss Marple’s earlier cases.

He was Miss Marple’s lawyer and friend. In this story he has come for a consultation, as someone might get an opinion from a specialist as well as their family doctor (which Miss Marple can appreciate).

Also Mr. Rhodes.  He is clearly in trouble.  He is being charged with his wife’s murder. He is dubious about Miss Marple’s abilities to clear him of his wife’s murder.

The defense attorney is Sir Malcolm, a young, competent man. Mr. Rhodes isn’t completely satisfied with the proposed line of defense; it’s legally sound but ignores what actually happened—a specialist’s point of view.

The victim, Mrs. Rhodes, is described as:

“…one of those romantic liars who go through life embroidering everything that happens to them. The amount of adventures that, according to her own account, happened to her in a year was simply incredible.”

“She was a woman of hysterical tendencies who craved ceaselessly for excitement.”

“…Nobody believes such people”

The suspects (women staying alone at the hotel) are Mrs. Granby and Miss Carruthers. Interesting how Christie (and others) rely on the hysterical woman character; unhinged and unpredictable.

Plot

Mr. Rhodes was working after dinner when he discovered his wife’s dead body (stabbed with a stiletto dagger, no fingerprints).

Questioning witnesses reveals that “nobody” entered except the murdered woman’s locked room except the chambermaid (she is not the sharpest knife in the cutlery drawer)

Clue: why did I put “nobody” in quotation marks?

We will untangle the plot together in our class Tuesday.

Theme

How does what we know about the suspects lead us to understand possible motives?

And how exactly DOES Miss Marple figure out WHODUNNIT and WHY?

I like how this story take us inside the mind of a mystery writer and/or a detective.

What do you think of Miss Marple’s talents in solving mysteries?  What have you learned from her methods?

The Miss Marple character has been the inspiration for many detectives since her appearance in 1927. Of course, “Murder, She Wrote” comes to mind. What other influences do you see in today’s mystery fiction?

Agatha Christie, British Author. (2021). Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Agatha-Christie

Agatha Christie. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/writer/agatha-christie

Agatha Christie website. (2021). Retrieved from https://www.agathachristie.com/about-christie/christie-experts/john-curran-75-facts-about-christie

The Best Ever Miss Marple Actress. (2020). Retrieved from https://britishperioddramas.com/lists/best-ever-miss-marple-actress-poll-results/

John Curran: 75 Facts About Christie. (2021). Retrieved from https://www.agathachristie.com/about-christie/christie-experts/john-curran-75-facts-about-christie

Miss Marple. (2021). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Marple

Robinson, J. (2021). Inside the Mind of Agatha Christie. Retrieved from https://www.kpbs.org/news/2021/jan/13/inside-mind-agatha-christie/