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A decent introduction to Miss Marple. This story is part of the The Thirteen Problems collection.

This is a short story known for having the very first print appearance of the legendary Miss Marple. I began my Marple journey with this story because I always love to see how an author introduces a staple character the very first time. In that sense, I am slightly disappointed because there’s hardly any character background provided. (Maybe this is a Christie specialty, because her first Poirot book The Mysterious Affair at Styles also revealed little beyond boring facts about the detective. Contrast this with ��A Study in Scarlet�� where Arthur Conan Doyle presents a perfect picture of the maverick Sherlock Holmes and makes us get inside his mind with ease.)

Anyway, back to the story. This is a very quick read, not requiring more than 15 minutes. Six people �� Miss Marple, her nephew, a clergyman, an artist, a solicitor and an ex-commissioner of the Scotland Yard �� have come together to form a ‘Tuesday Night Club��, whereby one of them will reveal a mystery, the answer to which is known only to that person. The remaining five try to resolve it individually. Needless to say, Miss Marple won this first round.

There is not at much of Miss Marple in this story as I would have liked but the story still is interesting. Not a very innovative mystery too because the culprit was quite predictable. The modus operandi is of greater interest than the villain. I might have enjoyed the big reveal more had I known the British term for a common baking ingredient. Because I wasn’t aware of it, the resolution seemed to come out of nowhere.

Overall, a fairly decent introduction, but the rest of the stories will determine the fate of the book. I was expecting more thrills, but there's a long way to go yet on the Marple journey.

3.5 stars



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