Marple: Twelve New Mysteries
Marple: Twelve New Mysteries
by Naomi Alderman, Leigh Bardugo, Alyssa Cole, Lucy Foley, Elly Griffith, Natalie Haynes, Jean Kwok, Val McDermid, Karen M. McManus, Dreda Say Mitchell, Kate Mosse, and Ruth Ware with characters written and developed by Agatha Christie
Publisher: William Morrow
Some people knew things, and Miss Marple, she knew murder. —Alyssa Cole’s Miss Marple Takes Manhattan
If you or someone you know is a huge Agatha Christie fan, Marple: Twelve New Mysteries is soooooooo good! Typically, I’m not a fan of continuing an author’s work past their lives (save wrapping up their final unfinished pieces). So I was a bit dubious when I saw this project announced. Then I saw the list of authors involved and knew it was in good hands. (I have previously read work by 9 of the 12.) Each short story is between 20-35 pages and make for great bite-sized pieces so you can read them between activities or as breaks from other books. Shout out to those involved in developing the story titles. They are spot on for Christie novels.
- Evil in Small Places by Lucy Foley
- The Second Murder at the Vicarage by Val McDermid
- Miss Marple Takes Manhattan by Alyssa Cole
- The Unraveling by Natalie Haynes
- Miss Marple’s Christmas by Ruth Ware
- The Open Mind by Naomi Alderman
- The Jade Empress by Jean Kwok
- A Deadly Wedding Day by Dreda Say Mitchell
- Murder at the Villa Rosa by Elly Griffiths
- The Murdering Sort by Karen M. McManus
- The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse
- The Disappearance by Leigh Bardugo
Each short story did such a great job of incorporating Marple, but a special nod is in order to A Deadly Wedding Day by Dreda Say Mitchell. Not only did she nail Marple’s voice and character, but the story also includes Miss Bella who works with Miss Marple to solve the case. It was a wonderful dynamic and the overall story just really felt spot on to Christie’s mysteries while still maintaining Say Mitchell’s author style. I found Elly Griffiths and Alyssa Cole to also hit the balance of Marple and their own author voice with great success. Alyssa Cole’s novel When No One Is Watching still makes me jumpy when I think about it. So perfect to have Cole write a Marple story based in Manhattan. This story, and a few others, also feature Jane’s nephew Raymond. All the little nods to Marple’s family, St. Mary Mead, and callbacks to other Christie mysteries gave a nostalgic feel to all twelve of the short stories.
Again, absolutely LOVED this collection and can’t recommend it enough. It has earned a very rare I’M KEEPING IT place on my bookshelves.
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