The Moving Finger (Miss Marple) by Agatha Christie

 

The Moving Finger (Miss Marple) by Agatha Christie. 

Audio book narrated by Richard E. Grant.

The edition published 16th February 2023 by Harper Collins.

From the cover of the book:

A malicious letter...

A tragic death...

A village filled with suspects...

Nothing ever happens in the sleepy village of Lymstock.

Until letters accusing the villagers of unspeakable acts start to appear. They try to dismiss them as a cruel hoax, but then one of the recipients is found dead. The letter next to her body reads simply, ‘I can’t go on’.

As fear spreads among the villagers, Jane Marple must uncover who is writing these letters – before anyone else is hurt.

Never underestimate Miss Marple.

***********

Injured pilot Jerry Burton is under doctor's orders to decamp to a quiet location for some rest and relaxation to help get him back on his feet. He and his girl-about-town sister Joanna decide to rent a house in the sleepy village of Lymstock, Devon, and look forward to the novelty of being in a place where apparently nothing ever happens.

However, it is not long before they find out that even little country villages have their crimes. A poison pen letter arrives on their door-mat suggesting some very unpleasant things about the nature of their relationship, and although they find it rather funny at first, the thought that it could be from one of their neighbours sends a chill down their spines. Local GP Dr Owen Griffith tells them that there has been a spate of nasty correspondence in recent weeks, and the village is rife with gossip about who the writer might be. Everyone is very unsettled by the contents of the letters, and Dr Griffith predicts that the many mutterings and unsubstantiated finger pointing are bound to cause real trouble before long.

Matters come to head when Mrs Symington, the wife of the local solicitor, is found dead with one of the offending letters at her side. The coroner rules that Mrs Symington's death is a suicide, and the police are inclined to agree. It becomes imperative that the letter writer is found before more damage is done, but there are many suspects, and it proves difficult to find the culprit. 

Jerry sets himself to the task of discovering the disturbed Lymstock resident who has them all in a state of fear, keen to protect young Megan Hunter, Mrs Symington's unconventional 20 year old daughter who he and Joanna have taken under their wing - but such a devious crime as this is no job for an amateur. This calls for an expert in the shape of Miss Marple!

This is a mystery that revolves around the atmosphere of fear created by a crop of rather nasty letters being sent to the residents of a little Devonshire village. The general feeling is that this must be the work of a spiteful middle aged woman, but who could it be? The story is rife with the small community dynamics that I love, and Christie explores the insidious nature of gossip and the kind of mischief it can lead to nicely, playing on the "no smoke without fire" theme beautifully. There is a gaggle of larger than life characters in this mystery too, and we get to know them as Jerry (the narrator) takes us through the happenings in the days following his and Joanna's arrival in the village, and talks us through what he knows about progress in the case and the theories of everyone he meets.

Agatha Christie always considered The Moving Finger to be one of her best novels, but it is actually a plot that meanders about and takes a long time to come to the point. The red herrings come in the form of the speculations of the central characters, and there are so many suspects that whittling them down happens rather haphazardly. I very much enjoyed the conversational scenes in which many theories are bandied about with wild abandon though, and the gentle romances that Christie weaves for Jerry and Joanna are delightful.

Despite the lovely look at small town gossip, and the array of delicious characters, this story does not quite hit that sweet spot for me. It is obvious to see Christie's intent by using Jerry as the narrator, as the misconceptions in the story work best through the male gaze. However, I find Jerry a bit of difficult to gel with as the voice of the story, especially when there are so many fabulous female characters whose heads I want to be inside - particularly Joanna, Aimée Griffith, the uptight Miss Barton, and Miss Marple's friend Maud Dane Calthrop (the reverend's wife). In addition, for a Miss Marple mystery, she makes a very late entrance. She is as sharp as ever, but there are not many scenes in which you can enjoy her genius - although her reasoning, when she finally arrives, shows great insight into human nature, as you would expect.

This is my March choice for the #ReadChristie2023 challenge, exploring anger as a motive. I alternated reading the book and listening to the audio book narrated by Richard E. Grant. I am still not sure about how I feel about Grant as a narrator for Miss Marple, as his intonation is a little on the soft side, and his Miss Marple sounds a bit unhinged, but my goodness I loved his rendition of Aimée Griffith!

The Moving Finger is available to buy now in multiple formats.

About the author:

Born in Torquay in 1890, Agatha Christie began writing during the First World War and wrote over 100 novels, plays and short story collections. 

She was still writing to great acclaim until her death, and her books have now sold over a billion copies in English and another billion in over 100 foreign languages. Yet Agatha Christie was always a very private person, and though Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple became household names, the Queen of Crime was a complete enigma to all but her closest friends.