Good bite-sized mystery reading. Wouldn't necessarily recommend plowing straight through this collection like I did, though... Miss Marple's genius almost starts to wear thin. Good things come in moderation. ( )

This is a fine compendium, comprising all the Miss Marple stories Agatha Christie wrote. I prefer Christie's novels to her stories, since I find so much charm in her settings and characterizations, which as needs must be are given less prominence in short stories, But the plots here are nearly always ingenious, and Miss Marple's inimitable twinkly, fluffy brilliance is in full display. Recommended. ( )

I've read about half of these stories previously, but Agatha Christie is always a great read and the older I get the more I enjoy Miss Marple and her sense of what is 'right' in human behavior.

This is a collection of short stories featuring Miss Marple. The device is that a group of people each tell a story of some mystery they know of (and they are also supposed to know the solution—but don’t always) and the others try to solve the puzzle. They are diverting and a few of them fooled me—good bedtime reading because you can read a complete story in a few minutes and then go to sleep. I’m assuming these are early stories since Mrs. Bantry (The Body in the Library, published 1941) is the hostess of the parties where the stories are told and she, along with everyone else, is very surprised when Miss Marple comes up with the solution. If I had not read so many Miss Marple novels I would have been fooled more often because I wouldn’t have known what to look for. ( )

One wonders if Midsomer is actually St. Mary Mead in disguise? Good for a quick and straightforward read with a cup of tea. Something you can pick up, read one and put down again to pick up later. ( )