The Moving Finger (Miss Marple, #4) (2024)

Oh, this is a good one!

Alright, before the internet gave birth to trolls there were the poison pen writers.
What's that? <--ask the kids
Well, back in the day, the same sort of unbalanced idiots who like to make obnoxious anonymous comments online were forced to send out (gasp!) anonymous letters via the mailbox.

And that's what this Miss Marple mystery is about!
Except, like a lot of Miss Marple mysteries, she's not exactly the star of the show. The main character is an injured fighter pilot (Jerry) who moves to a village with his sister (Joanna) to recover from his injuries. There he meets up with an entire cast of small-town bananas characters and gets caught up in a mystery.

Except, no. You won't be able to solve it.
This is an Agatha Christie novel. <--she doesn't make solvable mysteries.
She does, however, make fun mysteries. And this is one of her (in my opinion) better ones because of the cast of interesting characters.

I've read this before, but this time around I listened to the audiobook narrated by Joan Hickson - who I thought did a lovely job.
Recommended for fans of Christie mysteries.

2023

I've become a fan of the BBC Radio dramatizations of Agatha Christie books and have loved all the ones I've come across so far. For obvious reasons, the dramatizations are shorter and you lose some of the nuances of the book, but most of the time they capture the spirit very well.
I will say that this particular story lost quite a bit more in the translation than most of the ones I've come across. I absolutely love The Moving Finger but I wouldn't suggest this dramatization unless you've already read the book or you might miss out on several key plot points.

The Moving Finger (Miss Marple #4), Agatha Christie

Original publication year 1942.

Characters: Miss Jane Marple, Jerry Burton, Joanna Burton, Megan Hunter, Aimée Griffith, Owen Griffith, Richard Symmington, Elsie Holland, Agnes Woddell, Mrs. Dane Calthrop, Emily Barton, Mr. Pye.

Abstract: Jerry Burton, wounded pilot narrator, recuperates in quiet Lymstock with loyal fashionable sister Joanna, until vicious letters spread suspicion, then death. Mrs Symmington is not the type to panic, but drinks cyanide and leaves two boys in the care of buxom blonde governess Elsie. Her daughter Megan intrigues Jerry, while shy Dr Griffith asks Joanna to help deliver a newborn. Eccentric vicar's wife Mrs Calthrop invites sweet old Miss Jane Marple to unravel clues that Jerry recognizes when he dozes.

عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «نامه‌ های مرگبار»، «انگشت اتهام»؛ «دست پنهان»؛ نویسنده: آگاتا کریستی؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش روز بیست و ششم ماه نوامبر سال2013میلادی

عنوان یک: «نامه‌ های مرگبار»، نویسنده: آگاتا کریستی؛ مترجم: «عباس پورتمیجانی»، نشر «انتشارات عطایی، تاریخ چاپ دوم 1373»، در197صفحه، شابک9643130096؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیا - سده20م

عنوان دو: «انگشت اتهام»، مترجم: «بهزاد منتظری»، نشر انتشارات سبزان، تاریخ چاپ نخست سال1387»، در264صفحه، شابک9789648249781؛

عنوان سه: «دست پنهان»، مترجم: «مجتبی عبدالله‌نژاد»، نشر «تهران، کتاب هرمس، کتابهای کارآگاه، تاریخ چاپ سال1388»، در216صفحه، شابک9789643636210

چکیده: چهارمین داستان، از ماجراهای «دوشیزه مارپل» است؛ روستای آرام «لیمستوک»، محل مناسبی برای آرامش «جری بورتون»، و خواهرش «جووانا» بود؛ اما خبرنامه‌ ای در میان مردم پخش می­شود، که رابطه ­ای نامشروع، بین «جری» و «جووانا» وجود دارد، آنگاه که خودکشی صورت گرفت، روستا، در شوک ژرفی فرو می­رود؛ چندی بعد، شخصی را برای پژوهش، به آن روستا می­فرستند، که کشیش، دکتر و خدمتکاران را، متهم میکند؛ میهمانِ خانه­ ی کشیش هم، کسی جز دوشیزه ی پیر، کارآگاه «جین مارپل» نیست.؛ ...؛

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 07/12/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 30/10/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

Not a favorite by any means, The Moving Finger is a good, tidy mystery, but our Miss Marple is not part of the story until the very end. I have read quite a few Christie mysteries, stand alone stories, a few Poirrot, a few Tommy and Tuppence, but mostly Miss Marple. She is my favorite, because she knows human failings and foibles so well and she looks like a dowdy old lady; and therefore is not taken seriously by murderers, until it's too late.

"The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it."
verse 51 of Edward FitzGerald's translation of the Rubáiyát by Omar Khayyám

“It's rather like Happy Families, isn't it? Mrs Legal, the lawyer's wife, Miss Dose, the doctor's daughter, etc. ... So sweet and funny and old-world. You just can't think of anything nasty happening here, can you?”

But nasty things do happen ... even in such an innocuous place as the village of Lymstock, where Jerry Burton moves with his sister to convalesce from war-inflicted wounds.
At the beginning both Jerry and Joanna are charmed with life in the country: getting neighbourly, making calls, trying to blend in. It is cozy and idyllic and then it turns out that a vicious poison pen is at large. Anonymous, defamatory letters are addressed to all and sundry and it doesn't take too long for a victim to commit suicide. All the village is abuzz with gossip -"no smoke without fire"-concerning the identity of the PP as it seems she or is it a she?! could be anyone. Old secrets, animosities are rising to the surface and things do get ugly when a murder is committed shortly afterwards, placing the first death in a new light.

Once again, Dame Agatha's genius is at work in this novel: the mystery is simple yet it is so cleverly hidden in plain sight that you will not discover the fire behind the thick smoke. (or at least I didn't.)

The protagonists -siblings Jerry and Joanna Burton- are delightful, sympathetic characters. Their being "outsiders" as well as the story presented from their -Jerry's- POV gives plenty of opportunity to Agatha Christie to poke fun at the customs of the country versus modern young people from London and to make keen observations about the human character in general and in particular with a wonderful array of secondary characters.

Strangely enough, Miss Marple comes onto the scene almost at the end of the novel and while I enjoy her keen insight and sharp mind, I have my doubts about her being necessary to solving the crime. We have a competent detective, who could have done just as well.

Still, it is a delightful read, among the TOP 5 of my favourite Christie books.

Lunchtime Listen 2024
And now it's only 3 years since I last read this. This was a really good version read by Richard E Grant, that was a lunchtime listen that lasted only two days despite being over 6 hrs long.
Given the number of times I have read the book and seen the Joan Hickson TV version, I obviously knew the story very well, but with a book as good as this it doesn't seem to matter, and so it wasn't in any way boring, in fact with some of Richard E Grant's voices it was quite amusing.

Group Read May 2021
Despite having read this only 4 years ago, Agatha Christie’s writing is so enjoyable that this was yet again a fun and pleasant read. More tomorrow
A great story with some really believable figures in a beautiful setting. A community that has evil at its heart, where poisoned pen letters were arriving though letterboxes everyday and where the pain of receiving one of the letters appears too much for one person who takes their own life. The police continue their investigation into the letter writer, but the vicar's wife feels that an expert in human nature is needed. Its not till after a murder occurs and a trap is laid before the denouement that some of the major characters realise that the expert is in fact Miss Marple.

Group Read February 2017
The fourth Miss Marple, and again an excellent read. Yet again, despite seeing multiple TV and film versions, I had forgotten who the culprit(s) was (were), and didn't guess until very close to the end (I think it was about 20 pages behind Miss Marple resolving it).
The story is well woven, with some very lively characters and strangely it is not until a long way through (around 3/4) that Miss Marple appears to solve the problem. Even with her late appearance it is still a thoroughly enjoyable and a masterful performance.

Reading an Agatha Christie novel is such a fun experience and comfortable place for me. I enjoy these classic mysteries so, so much. They never get old!

One of my 2023-Reading Goals is to read all of the full-length novels in the Miss Marple series in order.

Even though I am a little behind my initial 'one-per-month' goal, I still think I stand a great chance of completing these all this year. The Moving Finger is the third novel in the series and I found it an absolute delight!

In this story we follow Jerry Burton, who after an unfortunate accident relocates himself, along with his sister, Joanna, to the little village of Lymstock to recuperate from his injuries.

The idea is that the quiet village life will be the perfect setting for him to relax and heal. Little do the siblings know that quiet villages often hold the most sinister secrets and dastardly deeds.

Not long after their arrival, the Burtons receive a poison pen letter; basically, the troll comments of their time.

The letter accuses them of terrible things, of living together and not actually being brother and sister...

It's not true of course and they're quite curious as to who would hold such vitriol against them. They just moved to Lymstock, after all, they hardly know anybody. Who would be so crass?

Soon it becomes clear that Jerry and Joanna were not the only victims. People throughout the village received similar vicious letters, all accusing the recipients of different horrible things.

At first, it seems more a nuisance than anything else, but then one goes a step too far and a woman ends up taking her own life after receiving one of the letters.

The village is in shock. The letters have to be coming from one of their own, but who?

As the Reader, you follow along as Jerry and Joanna become more ingrained in the town and the families living there. Jerry is determined to weed out the culprit.

This was so much fun. I loved getting to know the people in the town, hearing their stories and watching how they were all connected.

Village life is so interesting to me. There is a deep history in such places and many of the families living there are connected in ways that might not be apparent upon first glance. I love parsing all that out.

It was interesting to me that Miss Marple doesn't appear until about 75% of the way through this novel. Yet she still plays a major role in the solving of the crime.

It felt like more of a cameo than a starring role, but somehow, Christie made it work. Not only that, she made this feel like a true part of the series. We're just watching Marple's crime-solving resume grow and I'm here for it.

Christie fooled me in this one. I had a few different theories, but I actually didn't guess who was actually behind it all.

It all made sense once she laid it out, but yeah, I definitely didn't see it coming. I wasn't working super hard to try to figure it out, but she definitely successfully distracted me while the truth was hiding right under my nose.

I also really loved Jerry as a character. He got more than he bargained for during his period of recuperation, but it certainly turned out well for him in the end.

I am so looking forward to starting the next book in the series, A Murder is Announced. I've heard incredible things about it and can't wait to see what new mystery awaits!!

Entre más lo pienso, más me digo a mí mismo que creo que es el peor libro escrito por Agatha Christie. O eso me parece a mí.

Empezando porque con la sinopsis el misterio se hacía interesante. Imagínate que en un pueblo empieza el caos a raíz de una serie de cartas anónimas que contienen verdades y/o mentiras a medias sobre los personajes. A mí me capturó en seguida. Pero es que no hubo nada interesante, es una lectura súper monótona y aburrida donde las intervenciones de los personajes incluso no son divertidas o entretenidas. Me aburrí soberanamente y eso que es el más corto de esta colección con la señora miss Marple.

Y hablando justo de ella, pues que me estoy enojando un poco siendo sincero. Los primeros dos libros que leí miss Marple protagonizaba en conjunto con otros pero tenía su debida relevancia en el caso por desvelar y en este libro pues fácilmente podría decirse que apenas y sale en un 15% y eso, siendo generoso porque creo que no llega ni al 10% lo cual me molesta muchísimo porque con lo poco que he visto de ella me cae súper bien y me gustaría que estuviera más presente en los libros que se supone son protagonizados por ella.

Tampoco hay humor, ni hay diversión. A pesar de ser corto por primera vez lo sentí largo, y no es una sensación que acostumbro a sentir con esta señora, que siempre logra sacarme de bloqueos lectores y tenerme pegado a la pantalla. Y es que ni siquiera ese típico final con romance incluido me ha gustado, me ha caído muy mal el protagonista, es un fracasado de primera categoría. No lo soportaba a él y sus comentarios poco acertados.

The Moving Finger is an early Agatha Christie novel featuring the lovely Miss Marple. Written nearly a century ago, it takes a few chapters to fall back into the proper language and tone, as it's very different from today's standards. I love the way Christie writes, and this was no exception. It took a few scenes for the plot to solidify, but when it did, the caper became quite a page turner. While Miss Marple doesn't appear until almost 3/4 of the way thru, it's still an enticing read.

Jerry and Joanna, a brother and sister pair, move to a quiet countryside village. They rent the house of a woman who is in need of money and has gone to live in a smaller apartment. Slowly, they get to know the vicar and his wife, the doctor and his sister, a few elderly ladies, a strange man, a younger family, and some other interesting dwellers in what's supposed to be a serene place. Then the poison letters begin arriving... a gossip has it out for everyone except one or two escapees. Harmless but painful, at first. Soon, a woman commits suicide and another is found dead. What is happening?

Christie lures you in with the concept that one of these 8 to 10 people is guilty, but how will shock you. That's why you read her novels. No one ever guesses, and it's rarely straightforward. That said, I did pick out one of the guilty parties... and I also think I watched this on a TV show decades ago. Still, it offers a fantastic getaway into a world that seems quite wonderful, minus a murder or two or a hundred. I'm trying to finish up my Marple reads this summer... I think I missed 3 or 4 along the way... then I'll finish the Poirot ones in the fall. Her other series don't appeal to me as much, but we'll see where I end up at the end of this year.

Mi-a plăcut!

"În viața fiecăruia există capitole ascunse care, sperăm noi, nu vor fi dezvăluite vreodată."
"Cât de multe știm la un moment dat? Mult mai mult - sau, cel puțin, așa consider - decât credem că știm! Dar nu putem ajunge la acele cunoștințe ascunse. Sunt acolo, dar nu le putem atinge."

“No, but seriously, Jerry, why do people write anonymous letters?”
“As I say, they’ve got a screw loose. It satisfies some urge, I suppose. If you’ve been snubbed, or ignored, or frustrated, and your life’s pretty drab and empty, I suppose you get a sense of power from stabbing in the dark at people who are happy and enjoying themselves.”

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie is a Miss Marple murder mystery set in a village plagued by a Poison Pen, i.e. an anonymous letter troll. We see the story through the perspective of a pilot recuperating from an injury in the quiet countryside with his sister, but is soon drawn into the accusatory and suspicious environment prevalent.

Think how desperately, violently unhappy anyone must be to sit down and write these things. How lonely, how cut off from human kind. Poisoned through and through, with a dark stream of poison that finds its outlet in this way.

What is remarkable in this novel is the characterization of a small tight-knit community and believable people with a long history, many grudges and a few secrets. Christie's keen psychological insight shines through in not only creating a gripping mystery, but also in the description of a social phenomenon that is still relevant today after nearly a century and a technological revolution.

Then, seeming to feel it was expected of her, she laid down her crochet, and delivered a gentle old-maidish dissertation on murder.

This is a Miss Marple book, but we see her only in the last quarter of the story and that only through the pilot's POV, a stranger prone to be dismissive of her. But this only proves how quickly she can sift through the scraps and her mental acuity in discerning what's relevant to solve the mystery. Overall, The Moving Finger has been a very satisfying read!

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[One star for the premise and the whole book; One star for the characters; One star for the story arc; One star for the writing; One star for the world-building and description of the society - Five stars in total].

A curious Miss Marple tale not least because of favourite elderly sleuth only has a minor role in this novel.

I think I would have enjoyed this one more if I wasn’t aware that Christie’s other famous detective featured and her appearance would have come as a great surprise.

The mystery itself instantly grabbed me as siblings Jerry and Joanna Burton arrive in the quite village of Lymstock only to find a series of anonymous letters spreading false accusations, including themselves with a letter stating that the brother and sister are really lovers...
It all comes to a head when Mrs Symmington body is found alongside a letter and poison, an inquest instantly rule the death as suicide.

The idea of a poison pen letter is a great one and easily casts everyone as a suspect.
The air of suspicion not least with the gossiping notes added an off-kilter feel about the village.

I found the middle portion of the novel to lag slightly though.

Marple herself feels tacked on at the end, I practically liked her scenes of summing up all the clues.
The realisation that the solution was so obvious is why even the weaker Christie’s are still a joy to read!

Lymstock is the quintessential definition of the peaceful English countryside: just ask any of its inhabitants. Everything is so utterly uneventful here, that one might be tempted to attribute its inhabitants' main cause of death to boredom, rather than old age. In other words: the perfect place for Jerry Burton's rehabilitation needs. Doctor's orders. So when the first libel-induced suicide happens, our hero is obviously first in line to flex his sleuthing muscles.

In true Agatha Christie fashion, we get one heck of a convoluted story, without too much action, but enough mystery to twist around even the most logical of us. Or is it just me, who's never able to guess the criminal? I especially enjoyed the grand reveal, when it turned out that I had never even suspected the culprit. Now that's what good murder mysteries are made of.

Yet with all its well-crafted mysteries, wild speculation, and half-way decent romantic subplots, my overall impression was still that of disappointment. This was supposed to be a Miss Marple novel! So why doesn't the lovable old lady make its appearance until the 80% mark?! Yes that's correct: EIGHTY.EFFING.PERCENT!!

Score: 3/5 stars

Objectively speaking, there's nothing too egregiously wrong here. Except for the sudden flowery turn towards the end, but I'm willing to give it a pass. I have to, after finding myself shedding a tear or two at one point.

As much as I feel cheated, I kind of suspect the fault may lie mostly at my feet. I shouldn't have assumed stuff just because GR marks this book as being part of a series. *continues to sulk nonetheless*

==============
Review of Murder at the Vicarage
Review of The Thirteen Problems
Review of The Body in the Library
Review of A Murder is Announced

Un concepto maravilloso que me mantuvo entretenido cada página, hasta hubo momentos tan buenos que se me olvidaba que había un asesino suelto. Agatha nunca decepciona, aunque Miss Marple no tuvo el protagonismo que pensaba ☹️

Pero como siempre, cada misterio de esta joya británica, es especial y único... recomendado.
Pronto reseña completa en el blog ❤️

Another Agatha Christie to pass the time. Mmmmm. Delicious. Only I do have the same complaint I had with another of her books that was listed as a Miss Marple Mystery. Jane Marple doesn't appear until the last 1/4 of the book and then she's just a cute little old lady who says a few words at the end. That doesn't count as a Miss Marple mystery for me!! I much prefer it when Miss Marple is the one solving the crime firsthand. The short stories featuring her are the way to go, I'm figuring out.

Which isn't to say that I disliked this book. I DID like it, once I got over my disappointment that no elderly spinsters were going to appear and kick butt and take names. The main characters in this story are Jerry and Joanna, a clever, funny brother and sister pair who come to the small village of Lymstock so Jerry can recover from some unnamed accident. Then people start getting mean anonymous letters, a few bodies turn up, and Jerry gets involved trying to help.

I liked it. My copy says that Christie thought this was one of her finest novels. It was certainly funny in many parts and had a small romantic sub-plot which was cute and unexpected. A good read if you're an Agatha Christie fan.

This one was a disappointment. The earliest Miss Marple stories don't seem as good as the later ones, except-till now- 'The Body In The Library', which is very complex. I knew this should be a Miss Marple mystery but she doesn't appear throughout most of the book. For another thing, the story takes place in the village of Lymstock, so I kept wondering how Marple was to be brought into the picture. For a few moments I had thought that there must have been a mistake as there wasn't enough scope for Miss Marple to appear and shine.

Apart from that the denouement of the mystery itself is a disappointment. The old habit of setting up the spouse as the engineer of all the evil in the book-including the murders-is vintage Agatha Christie. But here the mystery is not as intriguing and not as impossible as her finer work. One of the lesser tricks employed in the story was to make the reader believe that the guilty must be a woman; an embittered woman who may or may not be a lady. But that didn't wash with me. There were not many false clues lying about, as the story was told from the perspective of Jerry Burton.

Jerry Burton marries Megan Symmington. His sister Joanna marries Owen Griffth. I kept up with this book better whenever Megan was being described...what she wore, how she had a horse face...how childish her words were, how, when she cried, she rather bawled. She was crucial to my enjoyment of the book. To be honest the two way love between Jerry and Megan flares up rather suddenly. Near up to where Jerry falls for Megan, she was being described by Jerry as a sad dog who now was glad for having been taken for a walk! I haven't met someone like Megan in my life but I'm certain Dame Agatha Christie has. Any waning interest in her books rekindles because of some remarkable insight or description of hers. She must have met some of those people. She cannot have manufactured them out of thin air. That, I think, is impossible.

داستان از جایی شروع می‌شه که جری برتون و خواهرش جوانا برای استراحت به یه روستا می‌رن و اونجا نامه‌های ناشناس توهین‌آمیزی برای افراد مختلفی می‌ره و ...
کتاب معمایی خوبی بود ولی انسجام داستان یه کم پایین بود و شخصیت‌پردازی متوسطی داشت. نقش خانم مارپل توی کتاب خیلی حاشیه‌ای بود. کلیشه‌های عاشقانه کتاب کمکی به جذاب‌تر کردنش برای من نکرد.
----------
یادگاری از کتاب:
افکار و احساسات آدم‌ها روی در و دیوار تأثیر می‌گذارند.

3.75/5

Dobrze się bawiłam!

This on audio completely blew me away. It was the perfect introduction to Agatha Christie. I've already scooped up a few more of her books to dive into this year. Richard Grant has established himself as one of my favorite book narrators on audio. He makes the story come alive and reads with enthusiasm. The voices he creates for each character are unique and sure to draw a smile at times. Highly recommend this one in audio.

My Reactions:
-The brother and sister duo are stellar and I loved their banter!
-Jerry's views on women are both archaic and sweet at times. Which is so rare to see!
-Megan is a unique, gem of a character that made me laugh out loud a few times.
-I loved to see Joanna's evolution from "painted trollop" (Poison Pen's words not mine) to something more. It was exactly what I hoped for!
-I was surprised that this is a Miss Marple story but we don't meet her until the last quarter of the book; in which she tidily puts things right.
-The cast of Lymstock residents will not disappoint you with their gossip, antics, and focus on the ordinary acts of the life that most people would not comment on nor notice.
-A well crafted mystery. I was fascinated that for the simplicity of a storyline; a complexity was underfoot. The murderer seems quite obvious but keeping with the theme "there's no smoke without fire" Christie creates a smokescreen that had me fooled for most of the book as well. Masterful.

What's It About:

Jerry Burton has been injured in a flying accident. On doctor's orders, he is to find a nice quiet country town to recover in. He is to relax, join in a the mild local gossip, and prepare for mild boredom while he recovers. His sister, London maven Joanna accompanies him as she is sure this is going to such a lark of fun. When they arrive to Lymstock, both are amused by the small town life, its characters, local culture, and its quirks. Until Jerry receives his letter from the local "Poison Pen" which accuses the pair most vulgarly of being in an illicit relationship and not brother and sister at all! Jerry is miffed and begins to see that Lymstock has some darker underworking. He isn't accustomed to the sharp gossip of women and finds himself becoming more discomfited as he learns "there's no smoke without fire". The Poison Pen's letters increase in frequency and ultimately lead to a suicide. Or is it a suicide? A subsequent murder suggests there is more to this story than meets the eye.. and after all.. there's no smoke without fire, is there?

Pros: I liked the main character brother-sister duo of Jerry and Joanna, and it was an interesting variation on the traditional poison-pen mystery. Most of the characters were less hateful than is often the case in Golden Age British mysteries, which made it a relaxing read for a sick day.

Cons: Why is this a Miss Marple mystery? She hardly appears and there's no reason, in terms of the plot, that the case could not have been solved in exactly the same way by the police, who seemed competent. I would rather have had the two detectives have more page time and development. The romances were extremely weak.

Question: why do people go to country villages to recuperate? Leaving aside the fictional issue of murder inevitably occurring, they seem to be an awful combination of boredom and irritations. How is it restful to have strangers dropping in at all hours, even before breakfast, and everyone prying and gossiping?

Second Agatha Christie book. (To remind myself. There are so MANY!) Anyway, this was just okay. Short read which I appreciated. I didn't guess the killer right away. I liked the dialogue more than the storyline. I like how people are engaged with one another. Miss Marple just kinda showed up to solve the story in the last 30 pages.

People in this small village are getting disgusting, vulgar letters written to them. It makes for a suicide and a killing. The village is full of gossip, snide remarks and lots of finger pointing.

Will chance a few more Christie novels. Waiting for a five star. They're short so not a waste of time.

“Most crimes, you see, are so absurdly simple.”

My edition features a beautiful afterword by Claudio Savonuzzi, in which this novel is called “a black fairytale” complete with a Cinderella and a Prince properly dressed for the occasion, and where it is noted how this is the only Christie detective novel where the detective where the detective almost lets the readers forget she (this is a Miss Marple mystery) is there. Our old (not to say ancient) Queen of Busybodies, in fact, appears only in the last forty pages or so, and her role is limited to providing the solution to the case when the time comes, and except for that one moment, she barely utters a couple of words.

Lately, I've learned to appreciate more than I used to, and I would have loved to spend a few hours with her, but I must say Christie's choice did not bother me at all. Because what Savonuzzi writes in that afterword is all true: it's almost as if The Moving Finger wrote itself of its own accord, and Christie simply was the moving finger, which is also precisely part her Miss Marple played in this adventure. This is why, I believe, The Moving Finger can be said to be one of the best novels Agatha Christie ever wrote: it shines in its own light, relying on nothing and no one, not even Miss Marple, who should be the star and instead is barely an extra. An unusual book and a delightful, evil, wickedly twisted (or not) mystery that will knock the wind out of your lungs, plus a super cute happily-ever-after.

And people say Christie's readers aren't spoiled.

The Moving Finger was an interesting mystery novel by Agatha Christie. It's not one of her best-written of course, but the theme of poison pen letters leading to murder/suicide, I found quite interesting. Although it is one in the Marple series, this was more like a stand-alone murder-mystery, with Miss Marple making a brief appearance almost towards the end of the story. In fact, the appearance of Miss Marple and her contribution towards solving the mystery was rather contrived. It upset the balance of the story's structure and flow. The story would have shaped better if it was left as a stand-alone, which it was, until the rushed appearance of Miss Marple.

In any case, leaving my opinion at bay, it was an engaging story. I liked the poison pen letter idea and the characters of the quiet village of Lymstock, especially the narrator (who is the protagonist in my view), Jerry Burton. The criminal and the motive came as a surprise. I never had my suspicion in that quarter. But the realization and the capturing of the criminal was overdramatic and the motive somewhat lacked conviction. Perhaps, I'm being fastidious, but I wish the story was more convincing.

On the whole, however, I enjoyed it. The narrator, and the humour that was thrown into the story through him, added to the enjoyment and made it a fun read.

در این داستان خانوادی بارتون برای رسیدن به آرامش از لندن به روستایی کوچک و آرام پناه می برند؛ اما به زودی متوجه می شوند که در این روستای کوچک بیش از لندن تشویش و نگرانی به آن ها می رسد. ماجرا وقتی شروع می شود که شخص ناشناسی اقدام به فرستادن نامه های آزار دهنده به اهالی روستا می کند و در آن، روستاییان را تهدید به افشای راز های زندگی شان نزد دیگران میکن و به آن ها افترا های بیهوده می زند. ماجرا وقتی پیچیده تر می شود که یکی از ساکنان روستا بر اثر دریافت یکی از همین نامه ها دست به خودکشی می زند و .....

This is the fourth Miss Marple mystery, although the narrator is Jerry Barton, while Miss Marple does not appear until late into the novel. Recovering from a serious injury, it is suggested that Jerry spend some time in the country to relax and so he takes a house called Little Furze, in Lymstock, and moves there with his sister, Joanna. Shortly after they arrive, a poisonous pen letter arrives, making all sorts of foul accusations and it soon appears that many others in the village have also received such messages.

Although both Jerry, and his sister, are keen to ignore the letter, many in the village think that there is, “no smoke without fire,” and, before long, one of the letters result in something a little more serious than upset feelings. As suspicion grows and everyone suspects each other, Mrs Dane Calthrop, the vicar’s wife, declares that she is going to call in an expert – of course, Miss Marple.

This is a very different mystery from previous Miss Marple books; mainly as she does not have a central role. That said, I enjoyed Jerry Barton as a narrator and liked his sister and the other characters of the village. Although this is not St Mary Mead, there are many of the characters we have come to know from village life – the vicar’s wife, the doctor, local characters and gossips. An enjoyable story, with a good setting and interesting characters.

“There are questions that you don't ask because you're afraid of the answers to them.”

I do wonder why Christie turned this story into a Marple. After all, it would have worked fine without her, since she has such a small role. Especially since we are totally involved in Jerry’s point of view, the narrator.

Weirdly, it wasn’t so much the murder that captivated me (I had an inkling who it was), but rather Jerry’s interactions with his sister Joanna, Megan, and indeed the rest of the village. What a nest of vipers with all these gossips! ‘Funny’ too how certain crimes are often gendered - poisoned letters being the province it seems of women, while stabbing someone is seen as male. Only it is too easy to fall for these prejudices...
“The great thing in these cases is to keep an absolutely open mind. Most crimes, you see, are so absurdly simple.”

as per pretty much every agatha christie i've read, i was almost 99% sure that i had figured out who it was and that i am an Actual Genius, only for miss marple to blow the whole case open at the end. well-written, as usual, with an interesting romantic aspect that isn't quite usual for christie, but which i liked.

Agatha Christie Book Reading Challenge

3.5 Stars

BOOK 48 :- November 2022

This one has romance and mystery in equal amounts: for a change, I found the mystery only so-so, but I loved the romance!

***100 Days of Summer Reading 2023***

Prompt: Book set in a rural area/small community.
12 sided dice roll: 2

I was a bit disappointed that Miss Marple appeared so late in the game in this book. We spent a remarkably short time with her and had little opportunity to observe her process. Much different from The Body in the Library. I still enjoyed the book—I was rather fond of Jerry Burton, the narrator, and his sister, Joanna. Jerry has been sent to Lymstock, a small out-of-the-way village, to recover from a flying accident, boredom apparently being part of the cure. The siblings are city people out of their element, providing an outside eye on the Poison Pen letters that are troubling the village.

Readers get to know the villagers along with Jerry and Joanna. They argue over their theories and make the rounds, gathering such information as they can. All that is left is for Jane Marple to be summoned, to see through to the heart of the matter and to twinkle at Jerry Burton.

I have to wonder about all the theories of the time about spinsters going lunatic. Echoes of it still exist, such as the conviction that childlessness is some sort of disorder or that unmarried women (and men) are rather odd. Maybe we are, but we are odd in ways we enjoy.

Read this and more review on my My Book blog

As you can see I've been on a diligent Agatha Christie kick. I think that the month of November makes me want to read mysteries - must be all that grayness and rain.

“Where do one's fears come from? Where do they shape themselves? Where do they hide before coming out into the open?”

Once again this turned out to be a re-read for me, and once again I couldn't remember anything from my first time reading. I only knew that I've read it, because it felt very familiar. About 8 years ago I read many, many of her books. I kept reading one after the other, so no wonder most of my reads now are re-reads.

A fair warning, if you are looking for a mystery novel where Miss Marple is up to her elbows with solving crimes - this is not the book for you. Miss Marple is literally present in less than 30 pages. The book is told from a perspective of a recovering pilot, who came to a remote village with his sister for some piece and quiet. And while he is not the one who uncovers the truth behind the mystery - his train of thoughts is what leads the reader to correct assumptions. I know many people probably won't enjoy not having the famous Marple much in this book, but I actually really liked this format. It was different and quite refreshing.

​This was just as good the second time around and I've picked up more on many things. It actually astonished me how many things must have went over my head the first time I was reading it. The sass in conversations, the bright feminist streak and even the sheer meanness of some of the characters.

“If you’ve been snubbed, or ignored, or frustrated, and your life’s pretty drab and empty, I suppose you get a sense of power from stabbing in the dark at people who are happy and enjoying themselves.”

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