The Mirror Crack'd
by
Agatha Christie

Pocket, December 1964, 208 pp.
ISBN: 0-671-41357-0

Genre: Detective/Mystery
Subgenre: Amateur Sleuth
Reviewed: 6/14/1999

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Excerpt

Blackmail . . . or the Wrong Number?

”Certainly not suicide,” said Miss Marple decisively. “She wasn’t the type.”

”You think she was the sort of person who might have butted into something without knowing what she was doing?”

”And without realizing that it was a dangerous thing to do,” Miss Marple added.

”You don’t think she was blackmailing someone?”

”Oh, no,” Miss Marple said. “She’d never have done anything of that kind…”

”Well?”

”I just wondered if it might have been the wrong murder,” Miss Marple said thoughtfully.

Synopsis

Jane Marple lives in her aging house in St. Mary Mead, England. She is annoyed that her age, around 80, is not letting her get around the way she used to be able to do. Her companion, Miss Knight, takes care of Miss Marple’s wants and needs, but is an extremely annoying woman.

The movie star, Marina Gregg, has moved into Gossington Hall with her latest husband, Jason Rudd, the director. During a party at Gossington Hall, Heather Badcock, who had just greeted the movie star, drinks a daiquiri and dies of poisoning.

Chief-Inspector Craddock of Scotland Yard is assigned the case. He has no qualms about visiting his aunt, Miss Marple, and getting her scoop on the murder, since she always seems to know what is going on when a murder is committed. Could Arthur Badcock, the husband of the murdered woman, have committed the murder? If so, what is the motive? The evidence does not point to him.

Then threatening letters to Marina Gregg are produced by Marina and it is then assumed that the murdered accidentally killed the wrong woman. As more letters appear and just as things are starting to fall into place for Craddock, two of his main suspects turn up dead. Guess that there is only one thing to do…get Miss Marple involved.

The Mirror Crack'd is a Jane Marple murder mystery written by Agatha Christie. It takes place near the end of Jane Marple’s life. The story actually revolves more around Inspector Craddock then it does around Miss Marple, since she is somewhat confined to her house.

Review

Like most Agatha Chrisite books, you never know until the end who the murderer is. Oh sure, you may guess, like I did, but I didn’t know why? There are quite a few characters in the book that you only hear from once or twice.

Like most Agatha Christie books, there is a list of characters in the front of the book with a brief description of each. I always find this extremely helpful to remember who everyone is. The book is a little slow in the beginning. It takes over 40 pages to get to the murder.

When it finally happens, thing start to roll. Not fast, but at a pleasant pace, like most of her books.

I found that I enjoyed reading The Mirror Crack'd and the end really kept me going. I just had to know who did it and why!

I rated this book a 7½ out of 10.