Book Review: They Do It With Mirrors by Agatha Christie (1952)

They Do It With Mirrors

Author: Agatha Christie

Year: 1952

My Rating: ★★★

Read for The Classics Club and The Agatha Christie Project.

Miss Marple senses danger when she visits a friend living in Stoneygates, a rehabilitation center for delinquents. Her fears are confirmed when someone shoots at the administrator. Although he is not injured, a mysterious visitor is less fortunate; shot dead simultaneously in another part of the building.

Pure coincidence? Miss Marple thinks not, and must use all her cunning to solve the riddle of the stranger's visit … and his murder.

I am honestly torn between a 3 and a 4-star rating for this book. It's very good, very entertaining, but I feel that it lagged a little bit, right in the last quarter of the story, as if it should have reached its conclusion long ago. And that might be because it took quite a long while to even reach the beginning of the mystery, that is, the first murder. Not that I expected the scene to open and there would be a dead body, but still, taking 76 pages to get there felt a bit excessive.

I'm also not a bit sure why in the world the 2nd and 3rd murders happened. They just smack you upside the head about 20 pages before the book's end. What's up with that?

It might just be me remembering the Joan Hickson episode of the series, but I actually guessed the mystery! And, knowing myself, it's ridiculous to think that my memory is that long. My memory is like a sieve, it only catches bigger things, and lets the smaller things like a tv episode I watched a decade ago slide on through. So I don't think I remembered, but I am very surprised that I guessed the conclusion, and guessed right.

I think I will stick with 3 stars, for both of the above reasons. Jane Marple is a delight, as always, with her remarkable ability to solve mysteries based on the people she knows in St. Mary Mead and their every day, dramatic lives. She makes her village sound like Downton Abbey what with all the dramatic goings-on.

Also, yes, there are some terms that today will be considered offensive, but were not in Agatha Christie's time. I, personally, wasn't offended, so let's leave it at that.