Monday, January 9, 2012

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie

A pair of siblings move to a sleepy English Town to find peace and solace in the country side. but the city slickers dream turn sour very soon. The town's folk are the victims of malicious machinations by a crazed lunatic who sends anonymous hate letters to these people, very soon one of these letters proves to be fatal as the wife of a lawyer takes her own life after being accused of adultery in one of the letters. The police start a hunt for the person responsible but Miss Marple thinks that this might not have been a suicide after all.

With a truck load of suspects and with endless Red Herrings. We get a classic Agatha Christie.

Review:

This is one of the best Miss Marple's I have ever read. Without a doubt this one would feature among the best Agatha Christie novel's of all time. Like all Miss Marple's this is a light read, it's enjoyable and has an excellent red herring.



The narrator is Jerry who has moved recently in the idyllic Lymstock with her beautiful sister Joanna. Jerry makes an unobtrusive narrator and transcribes the story of the moving finger like many other countless Dame Christie narrator's.

Dame Christie keeps on throwing Characters (suspects) in the book incessantly, and it becomes difficult to keep track of the list of suspects. I felt like all the characters got there due in the book, and never felt like any was under developed or over developed. Miss Marple like all her books comes in very late in the game with the panacea.

The mystery when you read the book looks prosaic but trust me you are not smarter then Christie, she knows how we think and puts us in that direction and then comes up with a complete diametrically opposite solution. This book is a case study of how to write a perfect cozy murder mystery. In one year Miss Marple books have gone from my least favorite to my most awaited books that I want to read.

6 comments:

  1. Hello fellow Indian blogger. I share your love for/of mysteries. (Though I didn't much like The Moving Finger). Following your blog now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I very much liked this one, too, and wrote about it here:

    http://lettersfromahillfarm.blogspot.com/2010/11/moving-finger-by-agatha-christie.html

    I've just begun reading AC in the last few years, and I think she's a wonder. Just so great.

    ReplyDelete
  3. hi Nan,

    Agreed I think her books are a delight. along with carr she is a favorite.

    ReplyDelete

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