Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple: The Life and Times of Miss Jane Marple

Interesting and charming short read about the life of Miss Jane Marple.The author has been exhaustive in gleaning as much background information from Christie's short stories and novels involving Jane Marple. Christie didn't give too much away regarding her character but the book explores St Mary Mead, Marple's house and lifestyle, her friends and neighbours, her travels, interaction with the police, her maids, how she got into sleuthing and even her family. I never considered she might have a sister or brother despite much reference to her nephew Raymond in the later stories. I also didn't recall her having a niece either (who got accused of being a possible murderer!)It seems occasionally Christie contradicted herself about Miss Marple's past and indeed present. Miss Marple started off as an old Victorian woman, possibly an octogenarian (I keep seeing Whistler's Mother in these early descriptions!) and morphed into the tweedy fluffy grey haired sleuth in her early 70' s in later books (wonderfully caught by Joan Hickson in the TV series of the late 1980's).There are lots of quotes and short passages from the books and plays to illustrate the autobiography and I found it particularly interesting how some of the characters in the stories came into Miss Marple's life. There is also an extensive chronological back catalogue at the end of the book of all the Marple stories both in book, stage, cinema, TV and radio which is an interesting aside.

This short book makes a nice companion to the Miss Marple series; acting as something of a fictional biography of the character and bringing together all the elements that can be gathered from the novels to explain her background, her career as an unlikely amateur detective and the settings for her adventures. Indeed, Anne Hart becomes something of a sleuth herself, as she tries to recreate Miss Marple from the hints in the books and stories. These can, sometimes, be conflicting. In the earliest stories, Miss Marple is very elderly; dressed in black and draped in lace. However, by the time a body is discovered in the vicarage, she has become more sprightly and able to snoop quite effectively – bird watching and cutting hedges useful methods of employment for spying and eavesdropping…From that missing ‘gill of potted shrimps,’ to the uncovering of murderers, Miss Marple investigated crimes in villages, on Caribbean holidays, in nostalgic London hotels, on bus tours and even in a juvenile delinquent treatment centre. We read of her friends, family and acquaintances; from Dolly Bantry, her thoughtful nephew, Raymond West, and all of the little maids that were trained in her neat little house in St Mary Mead.With a bibliography and lots of information on Miss Marple in film, TV and radio, this is an interesting read. As I am reading all of the Miss Marple novels and stories for a reading challenge this year, I enjoyed having all of the clues about Miss Marple’s background brought together. The author carefully avoids spoilers, but I would still suggest this is best to read either after, or alongside, the novels themselves. If you have yet to read these yourself, then I envy you. There is no other character quite like the shrewd and intelligent Miss Marple – except, perhaps, Poirot; but, sadly, the two were never to meet on the page, even though it is often suggested that Miss Marple was based upon the sister of Roger Ackroyd. It is a nice thought to believe they are linked, beyond being the creations of the greatest crime writer of all time.

I really liked this biography of the fictional character, Miss Jane Marple. It highlighted aspects of the character which may get missed whilst trying to follow the plot of a whodunnit. It only works if you are already familiar with Miss Marple and St. Mary Mead. I now want to return to the original novels and read them all again. The TV series are good but they either re-invent, miss out or combine aspects of the novels to make the programmes more interesting.

I think I have read pretty much everything Agatha Christie. I did learn a few things from this book I did not know.

This is only a short book, but Anne Hart has carefully combed all the Miss Marple novels and short stories to put together as clear a picture as possible of Agatha Christie's elderly Lady detective. Although the stories Miss Marple appears in are discussed, Hart doesn't give away the identity of the murderer or culprit, which is good to know if you've not read all the Miss Marple stories. All in all this is an excellent Miss Marple companion, which puts stories in a chronological order, provides a map of St Mary Mead and helps out with the characters who have appeared in some of the stories. My only tiny criticism is the few Americanisms in the book, which are a bit jarring. The book also provides a filmography of all the dramatisations based on Miss Marple that have appeared on screen and radio.

A quick read, bought for my mother who read it twice as she gad not pucked up some of the nuances in the books.

A labour of love from Anne Hart and a wonderful tribute to the enigmatic Miss Marple - if you're as nosy as Miss Marple then this is the book for you too! The book contains everything you need to know, and want to know, about the sleuthing lady in pink wool - a full biography. Each novel is also discussed along with every short story in which Miss Marple makes an appearance. If you're a fan then you'll enjoy this book too. A fantastic idea and beautifully executed. (There is also a similar book for M. Poirot by this author which is equally good). You will not be disappointed. Recommended.

Oh dear, I was hoping for more than a rehash of what I had already read in the books. I was looking to have a linear look at Miss Marple's life, not here is St Mary Mead, here are the houses, here are the people etc etc. I understand the author can't go beyond what the Christie Estate would allow, but still! I give it two stars to be fair as I didn't finish this book -- sorry but it was so boring.