Sailing in a Sea of Words

Book: The Moving Finger

Author: Agatha Christie

Genre: Mystery/Fiction

Summary: Lymstock is a town with more than its share of shameful secrets - a town where even a sudden outbreak of anonymous hate mail causes only a minor stir. But all that changes when one of the recipients, Mrs. Symmington, commits suicide. Her final note says "I can't go on," but Miss Marple questions the coroner's verdict of suicide. Soon nobody is sure of anyone - as secrets stop being shameful and start becoming deadly. -William Morrow, 2011 (Originally published in 1942).

Another great mystery by Dame Christie! And, surprisingly, I enjoyed the book more than the adaptation! This one was actually changed quite a bit in the adaptation - the adaptation decided to be more "modern", which is fine, but I think it took away from the spirit of Christie's work.

Moving on, Miss Marple stories definitely focus on the third party players rather than Miss Marple herself. She shows up again literally in the third act. My theory is that she's so darn smart that the book would only be thirty pages long. She's just that smart.

Jerry Burton, after a serious airplane accident, retires to Lymstock with his sister to recover. A series of anonymous letters welcomes them and soon spreads throughout the town. When one seems to hit its mark, the village is sent a buzzing. Jerry and Miss Marple have to solve the mystery before anyone else gets hurt.

This mystery may not be as exciting as other ones, but I still enjoyed it. It's more of an interesting character study than a dark, gritty murder mystery. If you want to see the quieter side of the mystery genre, this book is for you.

I give The Moving Finger an A+.

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Thanks for reading! I'm excited to begin a new "season" of reads!