The Thirteen Problems (1932)

This book was Miss Marple's Greatest Hits.

It's a book of short stories in which Miss Marple is clever, self-deprecating, and draws her village parallels to solve mysteries framed in the form of "problems" at a dinner party. The other members of the party tend to come up with outlandish or complicated solutions to the "problems," but Miss Marple sits, knits, and gets to the heart of things.

I figured out some of the short stories, but not all. It was very nice to just watch the clever lady think and try to convince folks that people are the same, due to their nature, whether con artists or petty village thieves. ( )

Du fond de son fauteuil où elle se teint très droite tandis que ses mains tricotent, une vieille demoiselle pleine de malice écoute ses amis - un colonel et un haut fonctionnaire de Scotland Yard, tous deux à la retraite, un vieux pasteur et un médecin plein d'expérience, une charmante actrice - raconter sept étranges histoires où glisse l'ombre d'un criminel inconnu. Et toujours Miss Marple le découvre, ce criminel, parce que, dit-elle avec modestie, elle a beaucoup observé les petites gens de son village et que la nature humaine est partout la même.

Classic Ms. Marple -- what's not to love? -- and this time in short stories for great quick bedtime read. ( )

I picked this book up to join in on the Agatha Christie read along at Book Club girl. There is an Agatha Christie read along challenge that is being hosted by several bloggers this summer. I would never have picked up this book except for the challenge. It turns out Miss Marple is the perfect kind of cozy mystery that I adore. This book is an introduction to Miss Marple who is an elderly lady who everyone dismisses because of her age and because she has rarely left her English village. It turns out that the village is the perfect place to study human nature and according to Miss Marple people do not change. In this book Miss Marple attends a dinner party where everyone takes turns telling a story about a mystery with which they have direct experience. Each story triggers a recollection of someone Miss Marple has known in her village and thus to everyone's surprise she is able to solve each mystery, including one that hasn't even happened yet! Even though everyone is very condescending to Miss Marple, at first even going so far as to register surprise that she wants to play along in their little mystery telling game, they soon come to respect her judgement. I love it when Miss Marple dishes the put downs right back at them. She tells one person that he couldn't be expected to understand what happened because he is of course a man. Go Miss Marple! I didn't spend too much time puzzling out the answers to the mysteries my self because I couldn't wait to read Miss Marple's explanations. A common theme to the solution of the mysteries was mistaken identity and greed. I thought that these stories would be a little old fashioned for my taste but I loved them. Miss Marple is right, human nature doesn't change and I could see anyone of these stories taking place today. I can't wait to start the next book in this challenge, 4:50 from Paddington. ( )

A great book that feels like less of a short story compilation than a series of "Who Done It?" where Miss Marple and the reader are guessing in every situation what the answer to the mystery is. It's engaging for the reader in a way that a mystery novel cannot. ( )