Miss Marple Books

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The Miss Marple series is a set of novels, which feature the fictional character, Miss Marple who is featured in all the 12 novels in this series. Miss Marple is an old woman who resides in the village of St. Mary’s and many at times works as an amateur detective. Together with Hercule Pirole, Miss Marple is one of the most loved characters to be ever written by Agatha Christie. The very first appearance of Miss Marple was in a short story, which was published in the year 1927 by The Royal Magazine. The article was titled the Tuesday Night Club and was later on converted into the first chapter of the installment The Thirteen Problems that was published in the year 1932. Christie’s first ever appearance was in the novel, Murder at Vicarage.

Miss Marple Books into Movies

Despite the fact that Jane Marple first appeared in the year 1930, she had to wait for more than thirty years before making her very first television appearance. The very first television adaptation of the Miss Marple character proved to be extremely successful; however, they were disappointing to the author herself. Thus, the author sat down and wrote another book in the series, which she handed to the actor of the first two films, Margaret Rutherford. Murder She Said was produced by MGM in the year 1961, and it featured Margaret Rutherford as the main character. The second movie was produced in the year 1963, and it also featured Rutherford in the leading role.

Miss Marple Awards

None of the books in this series have been nominated for any major awards.

Best Miss Marple Books

Murder at the Vicarage: This is the first installment in the Miss Marple book series. Apart from being the first book in the series, Miss Marple is also one of the best performing books in the series. The story has been written from the view of Miss Vicar and the eponymous Vicar. Just like all the other Miss Marple mysteries, the murder in this book takes place in an extremely small English village which is filled with hidden affairs, gossip, hate, love, envy, and classism. The village is also under the protection of an unreliable police force, who are still yet to solve any mystery.

Unlike most of the women in the village, Miss Marple is exceedingly sharp. She is constantly poking her nose into other people’s businesses and also gossiping with a majority of them. Despite the fact that many at times, Miss Marple is usually right, she is also insightful about the human nature. She is unquestionably not the kind of person whom you may want to tell a secret or live next to because your secrets will not be kept for long. The plot and the mystery were quite interesting. Almost every person in the town hated the story’s victim; thus there was never a shortage of suspects. Like any real town, there were so many events happening before the murder.

The protagonist work was to figure out which of these events was connected to the killings. Despite the fact that the book was about the murder, it was also about the people of the town and also their relationship with one another. The author has done an excellent job especially when describing the town and also the characters in the books. It was exceedingly easy for the reader to get sucked into the story and all of its turns and twists.

Thirteen Problems: This is also another book which performed extremely well in the Miss Marple book series. It is the second installment, and in this book, Miss Marple once again puts her deductive skills into use once again.

In this book novelist Raymond West, Miss Marple’s nephew is visiting. During one of the group’s meeting, Miss Marple takes Raymond along. At the meeting, the group decides to play a game where each of the members tells a mystery and then the other members tries to come up with a solution. Later on, the same game is once again played with a different group at the home of Mrs. and Colonel Bantry. Apart from Henry, the other guests are exceedingly dismissive about the old maid. Especially since she lives such a sheltered life. They argue that spending the remaining bit of her life within such an environment is going to give her an exceptional insight into the shady ongoings. As expected, Ms. Marple surprises everyone. She not only guesses the outcome of each event, but she also manages to outwit the colonel, a doctor, lawyer and everyone else.

Other Book Series That You May Like

“Hercule Poirot” is another classic from Agatha Christie. Like all her other books, the characters in this book series are formulaic and also have been well developed. The story is not only intricate but also multi-layered thereby making this series an excellent read. Apart from an exceedingly tricky plot, the author introduces the reader to the book’s protagonist, Hercule Poirot.

What Is The Next Book in The Miss Marple Series?

There doesn't seem to be an upcoming book in The Miss Marple Series. The newest book is Sleeping Murder and was released on October, 1st 1976.

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