Just Finished Reading: The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie (FP: 1942)

It was a dream, it had to be. How else could you explain that the maid, who usually delivered the morning tea, was saying that there was a body, an actual dead body, in the library of all places? After mulling it over Mrs Bantry told her husband to go and find out. After all such things didn’t happen in the village. At least they never had before. But when Colonel Bantry returned there was no alternative to the fact that the body existed and it was definitely in the library just as the maid had said. How strange, how vexing and how exciting! Of course there would be problems – the police will need to be involved, questions would be asked and, worst of all, tongues would wag. No smoke without fire the village gossips would say. Old Bantry has knocked off his mistress they’d say and they’d pity poor Mrs Bantry. They would start getting odd looks and whispered comments in the Post Office or at the Butchers. Slowly dinner invitations would become less frequent until they stopped all together. It would be intolerable until the police caught who was responsible – if they caught them that is. What if they didn’t? What if gossip turned into suspicion and suspicion turned into conviction that the Colonel was somehow actually involved. They’d have to move. But who would buy the house of a suspected murderer? What could they do? Partially from worry but mixed with excitement Mrs Bantry picked up the telephone and dialled her friend – someone who would understand, someone who would join in an investigation to clear their name, someone who could help and, maybe, someone who could solve the mystery of the body in the library – Miss Jane Marple.

I have a deep and abiding love for the Miss Marple stories. Jane, if I may call her that, is the quintessential English detective. A little plodding, coming at things side on, always knowing more than she reveals, understated, modest about her capacities and achievements and nearly always dead right. This story is a great example of her work. There are plenty of suspects with decent motives and various alibies to contend with. Much hinges on timings, witnesses and hidden relationships. Most of the clues are there if you can tease them out. At the end I was gratified to find out that I has suspected at least one of the main protagonists – although not for the actual murder. I had part of the solution but by no means all of it. I probably suspected 5-6 people all together throughout the book but it kept me guessing right up until the final big reveal. I really liked it. As with these things there was a few laugh out loud moments – especially when a young (aged 8 I think) detective proudly told the Chief Inspector that he had several famous detective author’s signatures…. Including that of Agatha Christie! I also enjoyed what I like the call the historical/cultural aspects of the novel that probably didn’t mean much to the author or the original readership – where relationships between people and their behaviours naturally considered normal at the time seem strange today including the fact that practically everyone smoked, almost everyone seemed to have at least on servant and no comment was made in the least about characters driving whilst intoxicated (and without seatbelts). If you like a very English detective story, or just a pleasant few hours in the company of a brilliant mature woman that you’d do a lot worse than picking up this delightful book. Recommended and more Agatha (and Miss Marple) to come.