The Body In The Library was the most entertaining Miss Marple mystery I've read so far. It was her 31st novel, and the ten years since introducing In between, Christie wrote some of her biggest hits such as Death On The Nile, And Then There Were None, Evil Under The Sun, and Murder On The Orient Express.
Jane Marple is asked to visit Gossington Hall by her friends the Colonel and Dolly Bantry, keen to solve a mystery and remove any stain from their reputations. For upon awaking, there was found by the butler a young blonde, strangled dead on the library hearthrug! When Marple arrives, the case is being investigated by Chief Constable Melchett and Inspector Slack, who find that no one in the Hall had ever seen the girl before or knows how she could have appeared overnight. She was a dance hostess at the nearby Majestic Hotel, and when the Bantry's find out their friend Conway Jefferson is summering there, Dolly, Jane and the investigation move to the resort.
After a terrible plane crash which killed Mr. Jefferson's wife, son and daughter, he was left wheelchair bound and visiting the Majestic with his son-in-law, daughter-in-law, valet, and grandson. There are also the activities hostess Josie, and the tennis pro/dancer Raymond who become involved in the story. Several things turn up as they ask around about the dead girl, including the plan to adopt her into the Jefferson family, inheritances, re-marriages, and the strict timetable of her death in the library of 10pm to midnight - which everyone who is suspect has an alibi for.
Again, Jane Marble is not the lead detective, which surprised me, more of a background character in the investigation by Colonel Melchett, Inspector Slack and Superintendent Harper. I thought she was the one who would ask all the questions and ferret out the truth. Indeed, she appears off and on throughout about half of the book. However, after a second murder of a Girl Guide, and the involvement of a local movie maker, Marple offers the detectives her collected observations and a solution in the form of a trap, to prove she is correct. The end chapter, where the whole mystery is laid bare has the most twisted and entertaining solution. Seems we were all looking in the wrong direction - and who actually is the body in the library?
Body is another excellent Christie mystery, with a light and relaxed atmosphere befitting a stay at a resort hotel, unfolding between the bridge, the tennis and the nightly dancing,
There is also a nod in the beginning to the gossipy old tabbies of St. Mary Mead. Breathlessly the word spreads from one house to another about the murder at Gossington Hall, changing from a body found in the library to Miss Price Ridley's visit (panting a little because she had come rather fast) to the Vicar for his advice and counsel on the most terrible scandal! An abandoned woman, completely unclothed, strangled on Colonel Bantry's hearthrug!
I found The Body In The Library the most enjoyable Marple mystery so far. Great locations, intrigue, major twists, and a solution held out until the very last pages. You won't believe the answer, but looking back it all fits perfectly. Excellent!
1941 / Hardcover / 191 pages
Comentarios