They Do it with Mirrors

“They said it was an accident, but I think it was just temper!”

Ruth Van Rydock – They Do it With Mirrors

Ruth Van Rydock is very concerned about her sister.  Carrie-Louise is living in a vast house that is now a home for 'delinquent' boys and Ruth is worried that her other-worldly sister cannot cope or worse - will come to harm.  She persuades their old friend Jane Marple to go and stay just to keep an eye on things.  When there is a murder and Carrie-Louise's life is also threatened can Miss Marple live up to Ruth's expectations and bring a murderer to light?

In his review in the New York Times, Anthony Boucher wrote, “Slight disappointment, on the one hand, because it is more conventional than Mrs Christie’s fine last two novels; high gratification, on the other, because so few writers are producing the purse puzzle-novel, and no-one on either side of the Atlantic does it better.”

First published in 1952, this ingenious story will leave readers guessing until the end.  Murder with Mirrors, an adaptation starring Helen Hayes was broadcast by CBS in 1985.  The BBC adapted it in 1982 with Joan Hickson as Miss Marple solving the case.  In 2009 it was Julia McKenzie's turn to be Miss Marple in ITV's adaptation.