So many stories. So many secrets.
Marple
by Naomi Alderman, Leigh Bardugo, Alyssa Cole, Lucy Foley, Elly Griffiths, Natalie Haynes, Jean Kwok, Val McDermid, Karen M. McManus, Dreda Say Mitchell, Kate Mosse and Ruth Ware
Genre: Murder Mystery
About: A short story collection featuring knitting enthusiast and criminal solving extraordinaire, Miss Marple. Each of the twelve stories are by contemporary writers full of the love and spark of a true Agatha Christie mystery.
The Good
This is such a comforting book to read. Every short story has this cosy, nostalgic feel and although there were some I enjoyed more than others, there are no bad stories in the collection. They all have interesting mysteries to them, the writing style is consistently good, and somehow these twelve writers pull together into one voice that sings out their homage to Christie. This is truly about honouring the great crime writer and giving her fans something new to read, that at the same time feels part of Christie's creation.
And although I loved all twelve of the stories, of course I had to rank them in order of enjoyment:
The Jade Empress
Miss Marple Takes Manhattan
The Disappearance
Evil in Small Places
The Second Murder at the Vicarage
Miss Marple's Christmas
A Deadly Wedding Day
Murder at the Villa Rosa
The Mystery of the Acid Soil
The Unravelling
The Murdering Sort
The Open Mind
The Bad
Short stories with a twist are always fun to read but it also means that the crimes are solved quickly, due to the nature of the form. Agatha Christie's novels are so addictive because they keep you guessing until the end - but in a short story the end is not so many pages away from the beginning, meaning you lose some tension.
The Somewhat Iffy
The Miss Marple Takes Manhattan and A Deadly Wedding Day both bring up racial injustice with some contradictory notes. Miss Marple in the American story claims that it doesn't exist in England, while in the Wedding story openly acknowledges that it's a problem. Having a clear timeline of when these stories are supposed to take place could help show how her perspective changed on the issue. It would also help in understanding how it's possible she is alive to be a great-great aunt. The Murdering Sort was really jarring to be in the POV of Raymond's granddaughter - when Raymond himself views Miss Marple as a potentially senile old women before his first child is even born.
Overall
Massively enjoyable. These short stories are a perfect read on cosy wintery nights. Miss Marple is lovingly brought back to solve cases that I could have easily believed to have been penned by Agatha Christie herself.
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