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Huzzah, I guessed the identity of the murderer correctly. I hit on his identity fairly early, when only one of the three murders had been committed. I didn't know anything else. Sadly to say, I couldn't guess the identity of the strangled lady. What propelled this book to 5 stars is the enormous interest I had for the first murder, which was evil in character but also very exciting to read about. Then there's the two basic murders of the brothers. They catch you unawares. They highlight the first murder and the final solution provided by Miss Marple seems to take too long.

Miss Jane Marple has the knack of solving cases which baffle Scotland Yard officials. How she does this may be explained, but cannot be taught. That's why we want to read every story of hers. People as old as Marple, who live in the same place and never travel much, don't have anything new to say. The quirky ability to reason sets her apart from other people of her gender, age, and class.

She gets help in this case via Lucy Eyelesbarrow - for me an unpronounceable name- who becomes her eyes and her brawn. Miss Marple doesn't have the body, or the opportunity to infiltrate the sprawling household where she expects a body is hidden. I thought all this arrangement was clumsy but necessary. Anyway I was soon engrossed in the intrigue. The author has the guts to prolong the suspense regarding the identity of the first body. The fact that she does this with ease while obscuring from the stage the presence of Miss Marple and instead concentrating on Lucy and Inspector Craddock, betrays her confidence in her writing.

Now, I'm wondering that this fragile, flickering, growing habit of mine to guess Agatha Christie's puzzlers can be strengthened. One trick is to eliminate most of the people who are pointedly probed as suspects. That's how partly I arrived at the correct solution. But another trick is to take a fact provided by the author. A big fact, an important fact that may be true or be a case of misdirection. You then have to decide if this important fact is true or if it's a red herring. Chances are that it will be untrue. If it's untrue then go against the direction to which the author is slyly trying to shoo you. It worked for me for this book. It may work regularly.