The Body in the Library

Miss Marple #2 (by Agatha Christie)

I am reading the first three in reverse order it seems!  I LOVED this story.  This has to be one of my favorite Agatha Christie's that I have read.  And, by the way, is there a better story teller (at least mystery story teller) than Agatha Christie?!?!

First of all, I FINALLY got a book that featured quite a lot of Miss Marple and I love her.  I can just picture her, she would be dressed like my Great-Grandmother.  I LOVED how my Great Grandmother took such care in her appearance - unfortunately I did not inherit this.  I am more likely to wear pajama pants, t-shirt, and slippers every single day...sigh.  She would, on the other hand, always be fashionably and sensibly dressed (with a touch of elegance! Even if other's could qualify her dress and manners as 'old fashioned'...she still was so sensibly put together, it became fashionable and elegant!).  She would wear matching jewelry sets complete with her kitten heels (they had a stockier heel than kitten shoes of today do) and a touch of perfume, with a hanky or tissue in her pocket.  Where they deviate is in how their mind worked (and possibly in their choice of shoes...it is a bit of a stretch to imagine Miss Marple in kitten heels...stocky heel or not).  Anyway, my Great Grandmother was an EXTREMELY talented musician...where as Miss Marple is an extremely talented deducer.  

Here is how her character is described:

 “Downstairs in the lounge, by the third pillar from the left, there sits an old lady with a sweet, placid spinsterish face, and a mind that has plumbed the depths of human iniquity and taken it as all in the day’s work. Her name’s Miss Marple. She comes from the village of St. Mary Mead, which is a mile and a half from Gossington, she’s a friend of the Bantrys—and where crime is concerned she’s the goods, Conway.” 

This time, Miss Marple is asked by a friend, Dolly Bantry, to come at once to help discover both the identity and the story behind the body of a plantinum blond girl who was discovered strangled in their library.  Colonel Bantry and his wife both have NO idea how this poor girl ended up there, but people are beginning to whisper, so time is of the essence.  As the story unfolds, you realize more is at play than just the murder.  With such schemes and plans afoot, it is up to Miss Marple to (gently) guide the investigators onto the right path.  Her shrewdness is uncanny.