::READERS REVIEWS::

Agatha Christie would be FURIOUS about the edition I read - Although this is a great book--if you like Agatha Christie for fun, pastime reading--this edition infuriated me. One of the key clues to solving this slowly building, engaging mystery came in the form of an occasionally and purposefully misspelled word. (I won't say anymore!!!) I caught the misspellings as I was reading the book, and yet I overlooked them because the book had several egregious typos in it--leaving me to assume that the misspellings were typos too!!!

WRONG!

When, at the end of the book, I discovered the importance of some of the misspellings I felt cheated!!!

This goes to show you how important copyeditors can be. Granted, not the most glamorous job, but if they do it wrong...erg!!!

Oh...the edition I read: Paperback with a purple cover, Pocket Books (Simon and Schuster)--though it doesn't say the year. The cover art is copyrighted 1987, and it looks like the book is the 31st edition (??). Definitely avoid this one!!

A game of "murder" leads to a young man's death - I thought some of the back story was slightly interesting, but the investigator characters seemed under defined. A few details of the story placed it in the 1950s, but I really didn't feel engrossed in the plot. I think it was a so-so read.

One of Miss Marple's best... - One of my favorite Miss Marple novels so far. She really is a sweet old dear, but amazingly shrewd. The plot was complex, suspenseful, and interesting. I had no idea who the murderer was until the end. The whole plot is attention grabbing and creepy - I like that.

WILL SOMEONE LET THE WOMAN SPEAK? - What "improvements" have been made for the Signet edition? There are already major differences in punctuation, word choices, and scene breaks between the original Collins and Dodd Mead editions of this novel. There are further differences between the Dodd Mead editions republished by Random House/Avenel and the Dodd Mead editions republished by Simon & Shuster/Pocket. There are further additions still in the Bantam, Berkley, and Black Dog & Leventhal editions. For every publishing house putting out her works, there seem to be a new batch of editors altering Agatha Christie's words and the sound of her voice. What's the matter with these publishers? Whose voice do they think we want to hear when we sit down to a novel by Agatha Christie? And what will she sound like twenty years from now? It's frightening that her estate has failed to see the importance of guarding her words as she wrote them. Please tell me I'm not the only one here who senses that a crime has been committed.

Cold blood and old secrets... - This was my first Miss Marple mystery but by no means my first Christie book. I have enjoyed the different way in which the sharp mind worked over Hercule Poirot's genius but truth be told, Miss Marple as good as she was didn't appear in the book too often. This was also the time I figured out who the murderer was, more likely because I have read a lot of Agatha and knew her to be a trickster when it came to fooling the reader but also partially due to clues given out fairly this time. The final answer made total sense and there were a few things that were twisted and few truths were new to me but overall it all came together , so those who pay attention can figure it out.

Murder is announced - in deed it is, in a local Gazette that everyone reads in Chipping Cleghorn. When everyone assumes it's some sort of a party they get a huge surprise that a murder does take place and one of the attendees is somehow responsible. I will not give anything else away but the story has a great setting and there are tons of clues. I felt like a grand detective reading all the accounts and enjoyed the old-fashioned talk and mannerisms. The house of Letitia Blacklock has been violated and her closest friends, neighbors and family members are the only ones who could have dipped their fingers in the dark pool of death. Miss Marple enters the book and shines some light on interesting family relations and past that wants to be forgotten with a few unlucky turns for some of the members of the party. When more deaths happen the police know they must act quickly or there won't be anyone left.

The only problem I had with the book was the amount of characters; my head was spinning and I was dizzy trying to gather them all up in my mind. The names were also similar and long some making me a bit batty but overall I enjoyed the book and loved the cozy setting marred with chilling death hiding in the dark corridors of the Blacklock house. I do recommend this but it left me with a bit of a headache at the end and I was anticipating the ending to finally come and bring my brain some relief. Murder is nasty business and Christie knew how to work it to her advantage.

- Kasia S.

Cold blood and old secrets... - This was my first Miss Marple mystery but by no means my first Christie book. I have enjoyed the different way in which the sharp mind worked over Hercule Poirot's genius but truth be told, Miss Marple as good as she was didn't appear in the book too often. This was also the time I figured out who the murderer was, more likely because I have read a lot of Agatha and knew her to be a trickster when it came to fooling the reader but also partially due to clues given out fairly this time. The final answer made total sense and there were a few things that were twisted and few truths were new to me but overall it all came together , so those who pay attention can figure it out.

Murder is announced - in deed it is, in a local Gazette that everyone reads in Chipping Cleghorn. When everyone assumes it's some sort of a party they get a huge surprise that a murder does take place and one of the attendees is somehow responsible. I will not give anything else away but the story has a great setting and there are tons of clues. I felt like a grand detective reading all the accounts and enjoyed the old-fashioned talk and mannerisms. The house of Letitia Blacklock has been violated and her closest friends, neighbors and family members are the only ones who could have dipped their fingers in the dark pool of death. Miss Marple enters the book and shines some light on interesting family relations and past that wants to be forgotten with a few unlucky turns for some of the members of the party. When more deaths happen the police know they must act quickly or there won't be anyone left.

The only problem I had with the book was the amount of characters; my head was spinning and I was dizzy trying to gather them all up in my mind. The names were also similar and long some making me a bit batty but overall I enjoyed the book and loved the cozy setting marred with chilling death hiding in the dark corridors of the Blacklock house. I do recommend this but it left me with a bit of a headache at the end and I was anticipating the ending to finally come and bring my brain some relief. Murder is nasty business and Christie knew how to work it to her advantage.

- Kasia S.

A very funny mystery, in which Christie mocks rural villagers - In what I am learning must be typical Agatha Christie fashion, the solution to this mystery is ludicrous, but this time I enjoyed the ride to get there. Christie is still mind-bogglingly classist and xenophobic as she paints rural villagers and foreigners as silly and ignorant, but at least she plays that for comedy this time instead of making it an assumption in a serious piece. There are some laugh out loud moments when poor daffy Dora speaks, and Christie maintains a generally humorous tone throughout, aside from the tension of the murder mystery. The scenario is a complicated one - a mysterious classified ad announces a murder, and when some curious villagers arrive at the scene with the intention of role playing a murder mystery game, someone ends up a corpse on the floor. After some secret identity subplots and complicated probate matters are drawn out (sometimes relevant to the solution, sometimes not), the murderer (whose identity I guessed pretty early in the story) is revealed, along with a motive (which I find preposterous and far too elaborate).

This is not classic literature by any stretch of the imagination, but it is an amusing little tale that makes for an enjoyable afternoon, and I recommend it for mystery fans with good attitudes and low expectations.