I would read more of these Agatha Christie short story collections featuring notable authors, for sure. Even the ones where Americans tried and failed to capture that British Marple feeling were entertaining in their failure. But most of these stories were pretty successful! One nailed it completely. Highlights for me were the stories from Ruth Ware (I know!), Naomi Alderman, Elly Griffiths, Kate Mosse, and Leigh Bardugo. This may be the easy way out, but I’ve just copied and pasted my Goodreads status update mini-reviews into the review box here, so you can see my thoughts on each story. To sum up my thoughts, though, this was a good collection and worth picking up if you are a Christie fan.
– – –
“Evil in Small Places,” Lucy Foley — Off to a good start! Miss Marple visits an old school acquaintance and a murder occurs at choir practice. A pretty clever ending. 4/5 Stars
“The Second Murder at the Vicarage,” Val McDermid — I liked the writing style of this one, but the way the mystery played out wasn’t very satisfying. There was absolutely no way to solve it before Miss Marple because most of the plot happened off-page. 3/5 Stars
“Miss Marple Takes Manhattan,” Alyssa Cole — This one didn’t quite work. Taking Miss Marple out of England felt weird, but more importantly the writing just didn’t catch the right tone. The mystery was dull, and the solving of it based on improbable coincidence. Not bad, but not really that good, either. 3/5 Stars
“The Unraveling,” Natalie Haynes — I feel like this author was a surprising choice to write a Marple story, and of course she worked a Greek mythology allusion in. But it was a good story! 4/5 Stars
“Miss Marple’s Christmas,” Ruth Ware — This is the first thing by Ruth Ware I’ve given over 3.5 stars to! I saw the main twist coming but it was still a fun time, and there were lots of small details I didn’t see coming, so it sort of made up for it. 4/5 Stars
“The Open Mind,” Naomi Alderman — A bit weird to see Miss Marple in the 1970s, but this was a clever little mystery in a fun setting (Oxford, the St. Bede’s College Founders Dinner). 4/5 Stars
“The Jade Empress,” Jean Kwok — I didn’t like the writing style in this one, but the mystery was all right. 3/5 Stars
“A Deadly Wedding Day,” Dreda Say Mitchell — This didn’t feel well-written to me. It was confusing in parts and the mystery wasn’t super well put together, even if the story of what happened was interesting. The dialogue was not great, didn’t read like real people were speaking most of the time. 3/5 Stars
“Murder at the Villa Rosa,” Elly Griffiths — I’d never heard of this author until a few months ago and now I’m seeing her everywhere. This is the first thing I’ve read by her and I’m definitely reading more. This is so far the most creative story in the bunch, though there wasn’t enough Miss Marple (though this in itself is actually in character for a Marple story!). 4/5 Stars
“The Murdering Sort,” Karen M. McManus — This read a bit too much like one of the author’s young adult thrillers, but it was a good set-up for a mystery. Also, it’s just weird to put Miss Marple in America. 3.5/5 Stars
“The Mystery of the Acid Soil,” Kate Mosse — Aside from a strange title, this is the best story so far in this book. Kate Mosse *gets it*. Her Marple is spot on, it’s extremely English, has great details, a put-upon Marple friend, and Miss Marple is in it the most. The prose also reads uncannily like Christie. 5/5 Stars
“The Disappearance,” Leigh Bardugo — This was a fun one to go out on. I would have given it five stars but I feel like there was a pretty big plot hole that wasn’t addressed. A character does something that doesn’t really make sense. But other than that, it was fun trying to spot the clues. 4.5/5 Stars
