The Top Five Miss Marple Novels

Written by Agatha Christie expert Chris Chan

Are you looking for a great Miss Marple mystery to read? Here are our introductions to the top five Miss Marple mysteries!

The Body in the Library

The Bantrys’ morning gets off to a shocking start when a corpse is discovered in their St. Mary Mead home – a glamorous blonde woman has been strangled. Faced with a scandal that could make them pariahs in the village, Dolly Bantry calls the one woman who can save them: her dear friend Miss Marple. But what do a stolen car, a suspicious adoption, and a shady entertainment business have to do with the crime? It’s up to Miss Marple to unravel the secrets and lies, and solve the case before another innocent life is lost.

The Moving Finger

Lymstock used to be such a quiet, peaceful village. Then the poison pen letters started, accusing the residents of all sorts of scandalous behaviour. Most people laughed them off … until one woman took poison after receiving one, making the village wonder if maybe, just maybe, there was something to these wild accusations after all. Fortunately, Miss Marple comes to town, and she devises a plan to catch a killer…

Sleeping Murder

When New Zealander Gwenda Reed moves to southern England with her new husband, she is excited to start a new life in the countryside, and is drawn to a house that seems oddly familiar to her. As time passes, Gwenda discovers hidden secrets in the house that awaken a disturbing sense of déjà vu, and a trip to the theatre stirs a horrible vision of a strangled woman. Is it all just a nightmare? Is Gwenda ill, as she fears? Miss Marple doesn’t think so, and has a theory as to what really happened.

A Murder is Announced

One wouldn’t think that a killer would advertise an upcoming crime in the local newspaper, but the village of Chipping Cleghorn is surprised to see an advertisement inviting them to a murder. The villagers, recovering from the fallout of WWII, assume that it’s all a diverting party game! When the appointed time comes, the lights go out and real bullets fly. A masked man lies dead, but was he the intended victim? It’s going to take a genius to sort the truth from the lies and figure out who’s behind a mounting body count. Fortunately, Miss Marple has just arrived in town!

A Pocket Full of Rye

"Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye". So the nursery rhyme goes. And when businessman Rex Fortescue is found dead in his office with rye grains in his pocket, the situation is highly suspicious. After a former maid of Miss Marple’s becomes mixed up in the affair, the beloved sleuth gets to work, befriending the murder victim’s family to get closer to the case. Miss Marple has never been so driven to bring a murderer to justice, because this time it’s personal…