Vickie Fee

It’s Miss Marple, not Mrs.

Sometimes I’m pretty forgetful. I’m average smarts and only occasionally brilliant. But this week I remembered reading an article a couple of years ago by some woman who thought herself an expert on cozy mysteries. She started the article by mentioning Agatha Christie and “Mrs.” Marple. I skimmed through the article but could hardly take her seriously. I mean, really?

If you’ve read anything by or about Agatha Christie, you know it’s “Miss Marple.” Jane was in love as a young woman, but her young man died in the war. She never married. The article’s writer didn’t just slip up and say “Mrs.” Marple once. She was consistent throughout the piece. And how could the editor have let this go?

I generally give writers grace when they make mistakes. But, this was not a typo or an innocent mistake. The woman is clearly an idiot.

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Thinking about this article prompted me to pull some of my Christie books off the shelf. Miss Marple stories in particular. It’s been a while since I’ve read any of them, and maybe a winter’s day would be a good time for a re-read.

I thought about Murder in the Vicarage or A Body in the Library. But moved on to a Caribbean Mystery. Miss Marple’s nephew had paid for and sent her on a therapeutic trip to the West Indies, certain the warm weather would be good for her health. I flipped through the pages and happened upon Jane, although I still feel more comfortable calling her Miss Marple. She was chatting with the Major. And I had a sudden fantasy about Christie writing one of her books featuring Miss Marple, instead with Hercule Poirot as the lead. 

I imagined him in Caribbean Mystery and could easily hear him complaining about the insects and heat. He would start weaving together clues, without the benefit of Miss Marple’s intuition into human nature. Of course both of them would solve the mystery, but the path to the solution would unfold differently.

Do you have a favorite Agatha Christie novel? Is it Marple? Poirot? Can you imagine it if the lead were a different Christie sleuth?

I love both of Christie’s most famous detectives, but I love Miss Marple the most. As a kid I would dream she was my aunt and I’d visit her in England during summer breaks, drink tea — and help her solve mysteries, of course.

Feel free to share your favorite Christie book or detective.

24 thoughts on “It’s Miss Marple, not Mrs.”

    1. Way back when I worked for Simon & Schuster, we could have all the free paperbacks we wanted (they’d be dumped en masse in a box in the book room). I read every Agatha Christie possible on my long daily train commute. At the time, my favorite was still titled Ten Little Indians (Pocket edition, mid-80s).

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  3. I too love all of Christie’s sleuths, but my favorite will always be Jane Marple. I especially love the A Murder is Announced. I live in a small community, and have for many years. I seem to aways identify with the Vicar’s wife.

    Carol

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  4. I’m fond of both Marple and Poirot, but Miss Marple has the edge because I love the way she just observes and gets to the bottom of human nature. I also enjoy Christie’s other works, including “The Mousetrap” and “The Witness for the Prosecution.”

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    1. I’ve gotta agree with you, Jen. Miss Marple pulls ahead of Poirot because sometimes he’s just too precious by half and gets on my nerves. Same with Sherlock. Just tell me what you see, man!! Plus … girl power. When I graduated from Nancy Drew to Miss Marple I remember thinking that Marple was like a grown-up Nancy, but without the zippy car or cute boyfriend. ha!

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  5. I love all Dame Agatha’s books but Miss Marple is my favorite too. Oh, that bucolic St. Mary’s Mead! To think villages like that actually exist.

    I have a special fondness for Sleeping Murder, Miss Marple’s last case. My reason is quirky – I love that fact that a line from one of my favorite Jacobean plays, the incredibly dark Duchess of Malfi, serves as a crucial clue. And I’m enough of a Christie fan to know she repurposed the murder motivation from Dead Man’s Folly for Sleeping Murder!

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  7. Miss Marple, for sure. And the one closest to my heart–because it was the first Christie I read, given to me by my mom when she finished the book–is Nemesis, where Miss Marple joins a coach (i.e., bus) tour of stately homes, to solve the murder.

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  8. I have a confession to make. I’m not sure I’ve ever actually read an Agatha Christie novel!! I’ve seen the movie versions, read the novels based on “And Then There Were None” — and I did read a Christie short story once… okay, sorry, I’ll clear out my desk.

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  9. My favorite Christie is Evil Under the Sun. I can’t say why, it just is. My favorite Christie character would be Miss Marple, though. I think the books that she’s in have a dry humor that can’t be beat.

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  11. Love all the Christie books. Started reading Colleen Cambridge’s books with Agatha Christie and her housekeeper Phyllida Bright ad characters. Very enjoyable too

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