But who is she? How did she get there? And what is the connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry? The respectable Bantrys invite Miss Marple to solve the mystery… before tongues start to wag.Ĭlick on this graphic to explore the book page on LibraryThing! ReviewĪs this is my third Agatha Christie, and also the third detective/series I’ve sampled, I’ve come to the conclusion that my enjoyment of her work is not just a fluke as exemplified by my delight in Murder on the Orient Express and And Then There Were None. She is wearing an evening dress and heavy makeup, which is now smeared across her cheeks. The Bantrys wake to find the body of a young woman in their library.

The bad thing about this is they can be used.Summer is here which means it is once again time for my annual Agatha Christie! This year it’s The Body in the Library, the second in her Miss Marple collection.

Because they don’t have family or connections in higher-up society, they apparently aren’t on the books as much. But it could in 1942, although I’m betting those were the waning days of the state not being able to identify people without help.Ī related peek into the era comes from the position of orphans in society. Today, with governmental and other records identifying people in so many ways, this scheme couldn’t happen. The twist depends on someone purposely misidentifying a body as part of a pre-planned frame-job double-murder. But here I can claim a disadvantage because I’m reading the book 79 years later. Identifying clues (Spoilers)Ĭhristie, as usual, tricked me with the solution. It’s one of several of-the-time elements in “Library.” Not to marry him for his money, but to be adopted as his daughter for money. Some believe the victim was using elderly wheelchair-bound Conway Jefferson. The author gives us a twist on the “gold-digger” scenario. Among them: Agatha Christie.Īs the action shifts to a hotel where the victim worked as a dancer, more broad personalities come from perpetually flustered resident George Bartlett, and angry film-industry worker Basil Blake. And we meet a young mystery-novel fan who is thrilled to possess autographs by famous novelists. Bodies in libraries happen in books, not in real life, characters say. Sense of humorĬhristie’s playfulness extends to meta humor. Later, Dolly gets caught up in the fun of having a mystery occur right under her nose, and revels in the chance to see her friend Miss Marple solve it up-close. The couple amusingly wonders if they heard correctly. A servant wakes Arthur and Dolly Bantry to inform them there’s a body in their library downstairs. “The Body in the Library” starts with a sense of humor, which is remarkable considering the grim stuff that will come later.

Miss marple murder in the library