Publication date: 1957
Summary: Perfect setting for murder: Miss Marple's friend Mrs. McGillicuddy is on a train when she witnesses a man strangling a woman in the train running on the track next to hers and going in the same direction. Jane Marple sends super-efficient, amazing housekeeper Lucy Eyelesbarrow to find the body at Rutherford Hall - the only place where the body could have been thrown from the train. Lucy gets caught up in family affairs and tries to keep things together for the family while Jane quietly works out the crime.
The novel shows a postwar family, unable to afford full-time staff (largely because of Luther Crackenthorpe's penny-pinching ways). Lucy represents a new kind of woman. She is not of a servant class (she is an academically brilliant woman who chooses exclusive housekeeping as opposed to a job in academia because it's more lucrative). She's a bit like a more disciplined Anne Beddingfeld - adventurous but a bit more level-headed.
The novel is one of the first I'd ever read of Christie's and I remember liking it very much then (mostly because of the American title: What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw). It's a good Marple, but I wish we saw more of Marple. I also wish Lucy would have made a comeback in a later novel - she's a very enjoyable character.
Body count: Unknown woman strangled and found in a sarcophagus at Rutherford Hall, Alfred Crackenthorpe dies after eating some poisoned curry, Harold takes poisoned sleeping pills and dies.
Detective/Sleuth: Miss Jane Marple, Detective Inspector Craddock
Rating: 3.75-4 bowls of poisoned curry
Commentary:
Saturday, March 27, 2010
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Matt,
ReplyDeleteThe editorial comments are hilarious, and it's all worth a shot of that postcard-beautiful scenery. Too bad you weren't reviewing one of Christie's thrillers. Doesn't a part of The Big Four take place in Switzerland?
I think the biggest criticism 4:50 from Paddington gets from critics is that there's really no earthly way that Miss Marple could have figured out the killer's identity. I suppose if she had let him kill a few more Crackenthorpes there would have been nobody else left!! But there is no clue, per say, that reveals the flaw in the killer's plan!
That said, Marple DOES behave like a bloodhound at the beginning, as you pointed out. It's the most diligent detecting I think I've ever seen her do in order to figure out where the body probably is. And then, yes, we don't get to see much of her again till the end. But there are many delights in this book:
1) Lucy. I'm with you! She could have been a recurring character. It would have been nice for Miss Marple to get caught up in a local mystery while visiting Lucy and her husband, Dermot Craddock. (For it MUST be him that she marries, right?)
2) Mrs. McGillicuddy. I think I still confuse her with Margaret Rutherford as Marple, but I think of her as a cuddly old dear.
3) The family is cool, and there's just enough difference in the men to make the cast of suspects rather diverse and interesting. The invalid Cedric is fun. He's like Uncle Timothy from After the Funeral, but with spunk. I like how he proposes to Lucy.
4) You said it well: the premise is great and the follow-through is wonderful. I LOVE the final reveal of the killer through the old "chicken bone in the throat" gambit!!
Okay, is this really your first time reading Ordeal by Innocence? Well, savor it. It's a fine novel and has richer characterization than is usual for AC, as well as LOTS of atmosphere. Even the two dead characters (Jacko and his mom) are fully realized, like Amyas Crale in Five Little Pigs). I just ordered the audio book and will "read along" with you. Can't wait to talk to you about it.
I hope the film festival in Switzerland was great. I got to go to a film festival once at the junior college a few miles away from my school. It WAS on a hill, but there was no snow, no Saint Bernards, no Heidi.....kinda boring!!!!
Brad