Marple: Twelve new stories

Published in paperback by Harper Collins, June 2023

The clue is in the title: stories, according to the Guardian review, “reimagining” Miss Marple “from a fresh perspective”. Descriptions so often used, along with “challenging”, to describe art of a standard easily reached by a five year old or plays set entirely in the dark and consisting of more obscenities than are to be found in an episode of Derry Girls (incidentally, one of my favourite comedy series).

So, what of this book?

As an Agatha Christie afficionado, I’m probably more critical than most of attempts to recreate her style or clever plotting. On the positive side, many of the authors produce some ingenious plots, despite being hampered by the limited length of a short story. Do they read like Mrs Christie? No, they do not. For example, Miss Marple would certainly never have said she needed to “rest up”, nor can I believe she’d take up Tai Chi.

A couple of the stories do pass muster, reflecting the character of Miss Marple and the period in which she lived. The others? Too fast paced, too derivative, and not in a good way.

Verdict?

A pleasant enough read to pass a few hours, but proof Mrs Christie has few equals when it comes to plot and characters.