3/5:
Tape Measure Murder
Jane Marple: "Unassuming" is an Understatement
This week we will read our second Agatha Christie story, "The Tape Measure Murder."
You'll notice many contrasts compared to last week's Hercule Poirot mystery, "The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb."
As you read, be sure to note how Agatha Christie develops this tale, and especially how the unassuming Miss Marple leads us to the conclusion of "whodunnit."
Click here to print out or download a pdf version of this lesson.
Jane Marple is classic Agatha Christie genius. Miss Marple, an amateur detective, lives in the peaceful hamlet of St. Mary Mead. Apparently, Christie based her character on a friend of her step-grandmother’s.
In her autobiography she described Miss Marple as:
"the sort of old lady who would have been rather like some of my step grandmother's Ealing cronies – old ladies whom I have met in so many villages where I have gone to stay as a girl" (Miss Marple, 2021).
As the story goes, Miss Marple may also have been based on Miss Caroline Sheppard, a character from The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. When this novel was adapted for the stage, Christie did not at all like the portrayal of Miss Sheppard as a young girl. Hence, the elderly Miss Marple was born.
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).
Her Character Changed
Margaret Rutherford
Geraldine McEwan (can anyone verify?)
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...
Who Was the Best Miss Marple?
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.’
14-minute comparison....
And I couldn't resist sharing with you this brief meeting of Monsieur Poirot and Miss M....
The Tape Measure Murder
This is the first female detective we’ve examined this term, so it’s interesting to compare her to the more masculine style of Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot (though Poirot is not exactly a “manly” man).
“The Tape Measure Murder” first appeared in the U.S. in This Week in 1941. In the U.K. it appeared under the title "The Case of the Retired Jeweller" in The Strand magazine in February 1942.
By 1950, the story was gathered and published in the short story collection Three Blind Mice and Other Stories.
Let’s sort through our various literary components as we piece together how this story works.
Setting
St. Mary Mead, where many of Miss M.’s stories take place. You might think nothing much happens in a lovely little British hamlet… but don’t underestimate the darker side of human nature! “Bad” guys (and gals, as it happens) are everywhere, influenced by greed, jealousy, lust, and a host of other emotions.
This is Nether Wallop (in the U.K.), which was the set location of St. Mary Mead for the 1984-1992 television series.
Miss Marple's house was the one on the left (Wiki)
Point of View
Last week’s Hercule Poirot story illustrated how the little Belgium detective’s sidekick, Captain Hastings, narrates a story. This technique reveals the action through less-intelligent eyes; along with Captain Hastings, we are all a step behind Poirot.
In “The Tape Measure Murder” exposition comes through dialogue. We don’t have a sidekick (not Miss Marple’s style), but we do hear a good deal of villager dialogue (think: GOSSIP) to drop hints about what’s going on and how the people of St. Mary Mead are casting their aspersions.
I’ll mention another clever Christie ploy, which is how she uses the local police perception of Miss Marple. Chief Constable Melchett, for example, admires Miss M.: “She hears things…She’s a very sharp old lady.” Inspector Slack, in contrast, is repeatedly humiliated by Miss Marple’s cleverness on past cases. His ego has been bruised, and he would prefer to solve the case himself.
Characters
Notice how Christie introduces various characters, and the adjectives she uses to paint their portrait:
Miss Politt was tall and gaunt, with a sharp nose, pursed lips, and meagre iron-grey hair. She hesitated before using the knocker for the third time [she had waited a discreet interval between knocks]. Glancing down the street she saw a figure rapidly approaching. Miss Hartnell, jolly, weather-beaten, fifty-five, shouted in her usual bass voice, “Good afternoon, Miss Politt!”
The dressmaker answers, “Good afternoon, Miss Harnell.” Her voice was excessively thin and genteel in its accents. She had started life as a lady’s maid. “Excuse me,” she went on, “But do you happen to know if by any chance Mrs. Spenlow isn’t at home?”
This type of writing--deliberate and suggestive descriptors, with hints at what’s to come—provides all the reader needs to settle in and immerse in this case.
We’ve already mentioned the role of the chief constable and the primary investigator. Other characters include Constable Palk, the first officer at the crime scene (the one with the pin in his tunic).
How does Miss Marple, in her underhanded way, feed the clues to Constable Palk and Inspector Slack?
Other characters:
Ted Gerard: “A good-looking young man” with mysterious ties to a religious movement called The Oxford Group.
Mrs. Spenlow: She has a mysterious past. And she has been hanging out with Gerard. Hmmm…
Mr. Spenlow: Interesting how he and Miss Marple strike up a friendship. “I like him,” Miss Marple says at one point. Notice how Christie develops several passages between Miss Marple and Mr. Spenlow. Did you trust him as much as Miss Marple did?
Plot
Mrs. Spenlow has been strangled by a tape measure. WHODUNNIT?
The police (on the wrong trail) and Miss Marple (on the right trail) use questioning, gossip, and common sense to trace the clues and the history of the characters.
Christie throws in several red herrings (like the Ted Gerard character), but perhaps you honed in on the never solved jewel robbery, years before, of the Sir Robert Abercrombie estate (mention of the ne’er-do-well son is also a red herring).
How does this tie back to Mrs. Spenlow?
And what the heck is a “tweeny”? I looked that up for us and according to Wikipedia:
A tweeny was a junior domestic worker in a large household with many staff. They were, in effect, scullery maids. Why is this important to the story?
Theme
There are several. What was the main perpetrator’s motive?
What did you think of the Spenlow marriage?
This was yet another case of restoring a gentleman’s reputation.
What does this story suggest about Christie’s attitude about the class system?
What other themes come to mind?
Final Thoughts About the Story
A few final points to consider:
In our last story, Hercule Poirot solved the mystery of the “curse” of the Egyptian Tomb. What do you think of Miss Marple’s talents in solving mysteries?
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?
Works Cited
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/
Tape Measure Murder. (2024). Retrieved from https://agathachristie.fandom.com/wiki/Tape-Measure_Murder