Is Miss Marple by Agatha Christie any good?

Question

I've been wanting to read this series for a while, but I've heard a few negative things about it, (mainly it being boring compared to her other works) so I'm asking for a few more opinions. Would hate to waste money on something I'd never finish reading.

Answer 1

Like all of her books everyone has their personal favorites. Mine happens to be The Man in the Brown Suit which most people do not care for. As for the Miss Marple series I prefer The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side. Miss Marple should remind you just a bit of Columbo (the detective played by Peter Falk) but Miss Marple is more in the know about the motives of her suspects than he ever was. Try checking the books out in the library first. Find the first Miss Marple at the library and read it. If you don't like it. . . no biggie. The Murder at the Vicarage is the first full length story with Miss Marple but she appeared before this is short stories. This later turns into a collection. Hope this helps you out.

Answer 2

Personally, Miss Marple is my favorite. She seems to be your typical old lady who is nothing but a nosy busybody. In reality, she is a woman with keen powers of observation and a razor-sharp mind; a woman who doesn't naively believe everything anyone tells her about himself. She won't let go of a mystery until she's solved it.

I agree you might want to borrow a copy of one of the books from the library before buying one of the Miss Marple books - just to see if you like it first. If you buy a Miss Marple, I would really recommend The Tuesday Club Murders - see http://www.amazon.com/Tuesday-Club-Murde... - which is a collection of short stories featuring Miss Marple. All the stories tie together in that it's a group who meets every Tuesday. Each member tells a mystery they know and the others have to solve it. Miss Marple is one of the members. It would be a good way to get acquainted with Miss Marple.

Some of my favorite Agatha Christie novels feature Miss Marple. Among them are The Moving Finger, Sleeping Murder, A Caribbean Mystery, Nemesis, 4:50 from Paddington and A Pocketful of Rye (as well as the one I previously mentioned).

I hope this helps. Happy reading!