A movie star
A deadly cocktail
A murder
When glamorous Marina Gregg came to live in St Mary Mead, tongues were sure to wag.
But, with a local gossip’s sudden death, has one tongue wagged a bit too much?
As the police chase false leads, and two more victims meet untimely ends, Miss Marple starts to ask her own questions.
What secrets might link a peaceful English village and a star of the silver screen?
Never underestimate Miss Marple

What I enjoyed the most about ‘The Mirror Crack’d From Side To Side‘ was seeing how Jane Marple coped with having grown old and with being perceived as being frail. Agatha Christie was seventy-two when this book was published, which may be what gave an edge to her observations on aging and the tendency to infantilise the elderly, regardless of how competent and well-respected they once were.

In this story, Jane is starting to recognise some of the limits on her physical abilities but is chaffing under the overbearing treatment she receives from her well-meaning live-in housekeeper/nurse.

I liked that Jane, reflecting on her dislike of how the character of St Mary Mead was being changed by the addtion of a new housing development, recognised that her resentment arose not from the character of the new things in St Mary Mead but from her reluctance to let go of the St Mary Mead of her memory. I admired that she then decided to take a walk through the housing development and meet the people there. This is how Jane Marple stays engaged with the world.

I liked that the murder mystery Jane gets involved with also requires her to udate her knowledge of the world. The image of Jane Marple diligently reading movie magazines to understand the context of the crime made me smile. Jane’s age shaped the investigation in a couple of ways: her well-established reputation as an astute amateur sleuth meant that police sought to use her as a resource and her reduced stamina meant that she had to do a lot of investigation by proxy. Both of these things gave the novel a cosy but realistic feel.

The murder mystery was a solid one although I felt that I was dragged down one false trail too many before Jane figured it all out. The explanation was a bit of a stretch but I was fascinated by Jane Marple’s reaction to what she discovered. Her insight into the killer’s thoughts and behaviours made me realise that It’s a good job that she’s more interested in solving murders than committing them. She has the mind and the nerve to kill with impunity.

I recommend the audiobook version of ‘The Mirror Crack’d From Side To Side‘ narrated by Emilia Fox. Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.