Agatha Christie Lovers discussion

Originally published 1953. Features Miss Marple (#7).

A handful of grain is found in the pocket of a murdered businessman! Rex Fortescue, king of a financial empire, was sipping tea in his 'counting house' when he suffered an agonizing and sudden death. On later inspection, the pockets of the deceased were found to contain traces of cereals. Yet, it was the incident in the parlor which confirmed Jane Marple's suspicion that here she was looking at a case of crime by rhyme!

Previous discussion: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Hi all -
Am I the first one responding to the June Book of the Month?

I enjoyed the story - while the tv version hews pretty close to this, the original book has a lot of nice details. I was surprised, though, that Miss Marple doesn't enter the scene until Chap 13.

Agatha does a great job of juggling the characters, including multiple bad actors. What do others think of it?

I gave the book 4 stars. I have read it once only, but that might change. I read APFoR at a time when I liked Marple more than Poirot.

I finished it last week but forgot to check in here. Enjoyed it, and even guessed whodunnit though, of course, she kept a key piece of evidence until the last page.

I’ve noticed Miss Marple tends to make a late entrance in many of the books of that series, sometimes not until the midpoint or later.

"I’ve noticed Miss Marple tends to make a late entrance in many of the books"

Interesting point. Yes, here the scene is set, the characters are all introduced, the inspector is inspecting - and then Miss Marple appears.

I wonder if readers at the time were "Where is she?!" or if they trusted Agatha to bring her in - what's the phrase? - all in good time.

It’s a very good one. A particularly good ending.

A very good read!