The Mirror Crack’d (a.k.a. The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side) by Agatha Christie
Grade: A-
The new world was the same as the old. The houses were different, the streets were called Closes, the clothes were different, the voices were different, but the human beings were the same as they always had been. And though using slightly different phraseology, the subjects of conversation were the same.
In The Mirror Crack’d, Miss Marple has gotten much older. She doesn’t get out as much as she used to, and she needs someone to look after her at home, but her mind is as keen as ever. Though the world has changed around her, human nature is still the same, and Miss Marple knows a thing or two about human nature…
When a movie star buys an estate near St. Mary Mead and opens up her house for a charity event, everyone is excited to go. Among those to attend is one of her biggest fans, and when that fan is murdered shortly after her arrival, Scotland Yard calls upon Miss Marple to help solve the crime.
The movie star was clearly based on a real-life actress, one whose story is relatively famous, so I was able to figure out the identity of the murderer almost immediately, but it did not spoil my enjoyment of the book, hence the A-.
Here is a list of the terms I had not heard before.
bumph (or bumf) : informal British term for useless or uninteresting printed material, such as advertisements and official documents; shortened from “Bum fodder,” its original meaning was toilet paper.
chivvy: to pester or harass someone or urge them to do something they don’t want to do.
marquee: in Britain, a large tent used for social functions.
scrum: informal British term for a disorderly crowd
Ted: in ’50s and ’60s Britain, a young man who listens to rock ‘n’ roll and dresses in a modified Edwardian style; also called a “Teddy boy.”
And here is the Marplethon list as it stands now.
MISS MARPLE STORIES
- 4.50 From Paddington
- The Affair at the Bungalow
- Agatha Christie’s Marple The Life and Times
- At Bertram’s Hotel
- The Bloodstained Pavement
- The Blue Geranium
- The Body in the Library
- A Caribbean Mystery
- The Case of the Caretaker
- The Case of the Perfect Maid
- A Christmas Tragedy
- The Companion
- Death by Drowning
- The Four Suspects
- Greenshaw’s Folly
- The Herb of Death
- The Idol House of Astarte
- Ingots of Gold
- The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side
- Miss Marple Tells a Story
- Miss Marple’s Final Cases
- Motive vs. Opportunity
- The Moving Finger
- The Murder at the Vicarage
- A Murder Is Announced
- Nemesis
- A Pocket Full of Rye
- Sanctuary
- Sleeping Murder
- Strange Jest
- Tape-Measure Murder
- They Do It With Mirrors
- The Thirteen Problems
- Three Blind Mice and Other Stories
- The Thumb Mark of St. Peter
- The Tuesday Night Club
Next up is They Do It With Mirrors (a.k.a. Murder With Mirrors)