Sleeping Murder

The book came in perfect condition and was delivered way earlier that ETA.

Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is one of the bestselling authors of all time, whose books have sold about 2 billion copies in many different languages. ‘Sleeping Murder’ was published posthumously in 1976 and is Christie’s last novel featuring Miss Marple.The plot is highly ingenious. Twenty-one-year-old Gwenda Reed arrives in England from New Zealand to search for a house for herself and her new husband. She eventually finds a house in Dillmouth, described as a ‘still charming seaside resort.’ She appears to have faint but very accurate memories associated with the house, which is surprising as she believes that she had never been to England earlier; but later it turns out that she had lived in the same house with her father and stepmother when she was a small child. However, while watching a play in London she is reminded of something far more ominous – “I was back there – on the stairs, looking down on the hall through the banisters, and I saw her lying there. Sprawled out, dead…”Gwenda feels compelled to find out more about this murder which seems to have taken place in the front hall of their new home. Enter Miss Jane Marple, the deceptively simple amateur sleuth who lives in a small village, who is distantly related to Gwenda’s husband Giles. There are many twists and turns in the story, with a typically large cast of characters who share their own recollections, notwithstanding the passage of time.There are many eloquent yet delightfully concise descriptions in this book. For instance, Mrs Hengrave is described as “a tall melancholy woman with a cold in the head.” According to her nephew Raymond, Miss Marple is a “… perfect Period Piece. Victorian to the core. All her dressing tables have their legs swathed in chintz.”Both ‘Sleeping Murder’ featuring Miss Marple and ‘Curtain’ featuring Hercule Poirot are believed to have been written between 1939 and 1942, amidst Christie’s most productive period. As Lucy Worsely says in her recent biography of Agatha Christie, these two books were “… stockpiled for the future. They were stored in a bank vault, insured against destruction, and given by deed of gift to Rosalind and Max,” referring to the author’s daughter and husband respectively. However, there is an important difference between these two books. ‘Curtain’ is obviously Hercule Poirot’s last case because he dies at the end of that novel – even though the plot appears highly anachronistic if the events are supposed to take place in 1975 (see my review on this site). On the other hand, ‘Sleeping Murder’ is set in the 1940s and it makes no pretence of being set in the 1970s when it was actually published. This is one of Christie’s best books featuring Miss Marple. Undoubtedly Five Stars!Note: Just as connoisseurs of music might prefer the authenticity of LPs compared to the soulless perfection of digital sound, those who love old books will appreciate the hard-bound facsimile of the first edition.

This is one of Agatha Christie greats. It was worth buying and owning.

Un bon llibre per distreure's i aprendre anglès

Agatha Christie ist mit Fug und Recht "The acknowledged queen of detective fiction" (Zitat: Observer)! Das Buch war so spannend, dass ich es kaum aus der Hand legen konnte. Gute Geschichten sind eben zeitlos (Erstveröffentlichung 1976).

I have ordered all 14 books by Agatha Christie, that Harper Collins published. They all came looking a little rough - which I can excuse due to transport and packaging - but this one in particular had a ripped cover. It's not something a bit of tape can't temporarily fix, but it just doesn't look great and I'm expecting a higher quality, that can withstand possible damages inflicted by transport. Perhaps that's something to consider for the future :)