Murder With Mirrors (a.k.a. They Do It With Mirrors) by Agatha Christie
Grade: B
So difficult, isn’t it? To be clear about anything, I mean. Because if you’re looking at one thing, you can’t be looking at another. And one so often looks at the wrong thing, though whether because one happens to do so or because you’re meant to, it’s very hard to say. Misdirection, the conjurers call it. So clever, aren’t they?
Miss Marple gets word that her childhood friend may be in danger, so she visits the friend and there’s soon a murder. You’d think that everyone who knew Miss Marple would learn to steer clear of her, harbinger of death that she is. ;p
Miss Marple solves the case in her usual methodical and slightly humorous way, but I thought this outing was only so-so, hence the B grade. For those who are concerned about such things, Christie used the N word and the Q word in this book, and so you may be offended. I only find such things offensive if they appear in literature from the last 20 years or so. There’s no excuse for that kind of talk these days, but I like to pretend that authors of the past didn’t know any better.
Interesting Odds and Ends:
pettifogging: adj. trivial.
siskin: n. a greenish-yellow Eurasian finch, cousin of the goldfinch.