The Moving Finger (Miss Marple Mysteries)
by Agatha Christie
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Book Summary Information
Author: Agatha ChristieEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-11-01
ISBN: 0451201167
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Signet
Book Reviews of The Moving Finger (Miss Marple Mysteries)
Book Review: Anonymous Letters in Thrillers
Summary: 5 Stars
The use of anonymous letters is a plot device that used to be more popular in detective fiction than it is now. Other Christie mysteries used the idea of the anonymous letter (such as MURDER ON THE LINKS, one of the early Poirots.) THE MOVING FINGER is the culmination of Christie's thinking about this topic. Other Golden Age novels with this device include Carter Dickson's spooky NIGHT AT THE MOCKING WIDOW and, less successfully, Ellery Queen's THE SCARLET LETTERS. Clouzot's film LE CORBEAU, written around the same time as THE MOVIGN FINGER, is a wonderfully atmospheric thriller, and it has an American remake too. I suppose they're still making films about the anonymous letter, only now they're anonymous phone calls (like WHEN A STRANGER CALLS or even the "Scream" trilogy.)
Jerry Burton's a bit of a headcsse after seeing action with the RAF and doctors have ordered him to seek surcease from war in sleepy little Lymstock, where nothing has been known to happen for years, and the War seems very far away. With him as his nurse is his sister Joanna, a sophisticated young thing out of an Evelyn Waugh novel but a woman with a heart of gold and an eye for strays. Together the Burtons meet up with their fair share of village characters, most of them very well bred. The doctor, the lawyer, the minister, the banker and their wives and families. One among them, however, is an insanely calculating killer, and many villagers are receiving obscene anonymous letters which puts the whole village on edge.
Meanwhile, Jerry is seeing quite a bit of a young girl, Megan Hunter, who's quite a tomboy in manner, and seeing as though she just got out of school she's awfully young, but then again I suppose Jerry is pretty young too. Otherwise when you read about the romance that develops between Jerry and Megan there is a bit of pedophilia creeping in, or so it seems to modern eyes. Joanna finds her own romance with the town's kindly doctor, who hasn't seen a woman quite like Joanna, even up North.
The mystery is a corker. I've read the book several times and I can never guess who it is! Another thing that always surprises me is the (very late) entrance of Miss Marple. Once Marple gets to Lymstock, the book becomes a more or less conventional Miss Marple novel. I almost wish that Agatha Christie had left her out of the book entirely, for the story is so strong that Marple is very nearly a distraction!
Summary of The Moving Finger (Miss Marple Mysteries)
One of Agatha Christie?s personal favoritesWhen small-town gossip spreads as fast?and deadly?as venom, someone?s bound to end up dead. And, of course, they do. Calling Miss Marple...
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