Marple: Twelve New Mysteries
Ratings36
Average rating4
As with most anthologies, there were hits and there were misses. Overall, I enjoyed reading about Miss Marple's new adventures.
Een verzameling kortverhalen gebaseerd op het legendarische personage bedacht door Agatha Christie en dit door een aantal door mij gekende en geliefde auteurs (Leigh Bardugo, Ruth Ware, Kate Moss, etc.). Dit had er alle tekenen naar om een heel leuke cozy mystery ervaring te worden.
Helaas kon het me precies toch zo niet bekoren. Ik ben blijkbaar niet van de kortverhalen als het op mysteries aan komt, want ofwel vond ik de ontknopingen te voor de hand liggen, ofwel net te ingewikkeld dat je het onmogelijk zelf kon gaan ontrafelen.
Excellent collection of short mysteries that honor the iconic Miss Marple while introducing some new territory for our sleuth.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!
A high 4 stars. Overall, a really amazing and fun time!
This is such a great collection! So many very typical Miss Marple stories! From an assortment of female mystery, crime and thriller writers who are taking a stab at writing a Miss Marple story.
The stories are all versions of very classic mystery tropes and plots. Most of the set-ups could easily be found in a Christie. It's brilliant.
Because many of the stories just seem so familiar, this anthology feels very cosy, even if the topics of the mysteries obviously aren't. Familiar and cosy in the best way!
Many of the stories use Raymond, Marple's nephew, as the reason for Miss Marple to show up in certain places! It's kind of hilarious.
I do wish more stories had been set between the wars and not so many in the 60s/70s. But that's just a personal preference.
Also, some authors, especially the American ones, didn't get the tone and language quite right. Their stories just felt off to me. They didn't fit into a Miss Marple anthology or feel like Miss Marple stories. But most of those were still fun, little mysteries nonetheless!
Most stories were just so much fun to read!
Individual ratings of the short stories:
Evil in Small Places by Lucy Foley - 4 stars
(Fun. And typically Miss Marple!)
The Second Murder at the Vicarage by Val McDermid - 4 stars
(Nicely written and a good time! Typical St Mary Mead!)
Miss Marple Takes Manhattan by Alyssa Cole - 2 stars
(This just felt wrong for a Marple story. The writing and setting were off and it was a bit boring.)
The Unravelling by Natalie Haynes - 4 stars
(Fun! Typical murder mystery! And I liked the writing.)
Miss Marple's Christmas by Ruth Ware - 5 stars
(Personal favourite! Felt the most like a GAD mystery!)
The Open Mind by Naomi Alderman - 3.5 stars
(Great, just slightly the wrong tone for a Marple story. Has too many, different things happening for a short story. Would make a great full-length novel. With a sleuth who isn't Miss Marple.)
The Jade Empress by Jean Kwok - 2 stars
(Just didn't work. Felt more like a possible Poirot setting than a Marple one. No idea when this was set, which didn't help the historical elements. I didn't enjoy the writing style. Miss Marple didn't read like Miss Marple.)
A Deadly Wedding Day by Dreda Say Mitchell - 3 stars
(Fun mystery. But not Marple-y enough. Too much internal dialogue and a second sleuth who isn't just “the plucky, but slightly clueless, helper”. Should have been its own book, without Miss Marple!)
Murder at the Villa Rosa by Elly Griffiths - 5 stars
(Third favourite. Really great version of a 1st person POV in a GAD-style mystery!)
The Murdering Sort by Karen M. McManus - 3 stars
(Really good mystery. But not a Marple story. Writing and setting felt slightly wrong. Was like expecting “Phryne Fisher” but ending up with a teenage version of “Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries”.)
The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse - 4 stars
(A lot of fun and a very typical Miss Marple story with nice writing!)
The Disappearance by Leigh Bardugo - 5 stars
(Second favourite. Writing was great and very funny. Felt like a classic mystery. Amazing version of a St Mary Mead story.)
‘'Here they were confronted by a stream of masked figures, marching past the front door to the house. They were like something from a medieval painting; demons and fiends come to carry the sinners away. The acrid scent of burning paraffin caught at the back of the throat. Several of them were beating drums. All carried lighted torches and several groups had hoisted aloft life-size, papier-mâché figures with hideously distorted features: oversized heads and bulging eyes, clad in the red robes and caps of Catholic cardinals. There was a strange hum of energy about the. It felt dangerous, even flammable - as though any second the very air might ignite. Miss Marple paused, staring: at once fascinated and repelled.''
Evil in Small Places (Lucy Foley): Miss Marple visits a friend a few days after Guy Fawkes's Night. When a rather...hated woman is murdered, secrets will come to the surface in a story that ends with a bang. Excellent start and references to a number of well-known characters from Christie's classic stories.
The Second Murder at the Vicarage (Val McDermid): Murder returns in our familiar vicarage. Unfortunately, this story seemed rather dull to me and cemented my opinion that McDermid is one of the most overrated writers out there...
Miss Marple Takes Manhattan (Alyssa Cole): In an exciting story full of the spirit of New York, Jane finds herself thrown into the glamour of Broadway.
The Unravelling (Natasha Haynes): A man is killed with a bow and an arrow in a story that read like the epitome of a snoozefest...
Miss Marple's Christmas (Ruth Ware): A very atmospheric and spirited Christmas story that also pays tribute to the great Dorothy Sayers and one of her classic mysteries.
The Open Mind (Naomi Alderman): A rather interesting story that delves deep into the machinations of the academic community, the sexism, the ambitions.
The Jade Empress (Jean Kwok): On a ship to Hong Kong, the death of a father who is about to meet his son after many years reveals a game of revenge and money. I solved this one too quickly but it was an exciting story with poignant remarks on colonialism and an exciting dose of Chinese folklore.
A Deadly Wedding Day (Dreda Say Mitchell): A complex mystery involving the death of a wedding guest, family vices and greed. The writer stresses the blatant racism towards the Caribbean, its people and its culture.
Murder at the Villa Rosa (Rosa Elly Griffiths): A writer travels to a luxurious retreat in Naples with the intention of ‘'killing'' his famous detective. he encounters a colourful cast and Miss Marple, along with certain strange coincidences...What started as a mystery worthy of Christie's legacy became an absolute drivel with one of the most far-fetched, naive endings I've ever read.
The Murdering Sort (Karen M.McManus): Miss Marple's brilliant nieces witnesses the death (or should we say murder?) of an eccentric patriarch in a beautiful story.
The Mystery of the Acid Soil (Kate Moss): A village in Chichester is struck by a series of deaths and a strange disappearance. Miss Marple is on her way there, unaware of the misfortunes. But a distraught curate and a weird death by tetanus will prompt her to solve yet another case. A well-written, albeit predictable, countryside mystery.
The Disappearance (Leigh Bardugo): A young man disappears, a woman is found dead. Secrets among the community are plenty and Miss Marple's friend asks for help in a case which hides tragedies underneath its layers. In my opinion, this is the finest story in the collection.
‘'I wonder, sometimes, if there isn't a concentration of evil in small places.''
Many thanks to William Morrow and Edelweiss for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.