2022 detective fiction anthology. Twelve modern authors present their
takes on Miss Marple. No editor is credited.
These are all fairly "straight" stories: there's nothing here
dealing with Jane Marple's hypothetical adventurous youth, for
example, or the idea beloved of parodists that she actually committed
all the murders herself. The end of the book gives a clue: with no
shame at all there's a list of books "also by Agatha Christie", so
presumably one of the jobs of this anthology—as well as the usual one
of introducing unfamiliar authors—is to introduce Miss Marple to
readers who have been ignoring the old books. (Agatha Christie's
copyright doesn't expire until 2046, so there's plenty of time to sell
new editions.)
"Evil in Small Places" (Lucy Foley) has background disorder (perhaps
loosely inspired by the Lewes Bonfire Societies?), but mostly it's
about the Mysterious Woman getting stabbed. Foley manages a welcome
new twist on an old trick. I will probably look for more by Foley.
"The Second Murder at the Vicarage" (Val McDermid) tries perhaps too
hard to bring in references to other Christie stories (in a way that
Christie herself, wanting the reader to be able to start at any point,
mostly didn't), but even so it's quite enjoyable. Why would anyone
murder a housemaid? I've already been lured into McDermid by Past
Lying.
"Miss Marple Takes Manhattan" (Alyssa Cole) is one of the
farthest-flung stories here, and works surprisingly well: Miss Marple
is in New York, and always knows just that bit more than her nephew
Raymond. I've enjoyed some of Cole's romances but this doesn't really
persuade me to look for more.
"The Unravelling" (Natalie Haynes) has an unexpected confrontation in
a village, which Miss Marple fairly straightforwardly solves. It's all
rather downbeat.
"Miss Marple's Christmas" (Ruth Ware) is the only real country house
mystery here, with clearly nouveau-riche guests and valuable earrings
going missing. It's fun but again straightforward.
"The Open Mind" (Naomi Alderman) is very 1970s, with sexual predation,
drugs, and an academic turned TV personality, but when the predator
dies and his victim barely survives her overdose, who could have done
it? There's no shortage of reasons. I suspect from the potted bio that
Alderman writes litfic rather than mystery, though.
"The Jade Empress" (Jean Kwok) puts Miss Marple on a ship to Hong
Kong, and while I have absolutely no objection to turning down
Christie's tendency to racism this goes quite far the other way. Solid
story, though.
"A Deadly Wedding Day" (Dreda Say Mitchell) does a similar thing with
people from the island of St Honoré (A Caribbean Mystery), though
Mitchell is perhaps too interested in her own sleuth. And it clangs a
bit. I mean, by all means insert a historical reference:
"[…] or they will vanish like that golden eagle everyone made such a
fuss over."
But don't then rub it in:
Miss Bella nodded at the reference to the now notorious Goldie, who
had recently escaped from London Zoo and remained at large for
thirteen days.
"Murder at the Villa Rosa" (Elly Griffiths) is a bit of a change of
pace: a writer considers how to kill off the series hero he's come to
hate, and runs into a variety of murders-in-waiting at a remote hotel.
Rather fun.
"The Murdering Sort" (Karen M. McManus) has Raymond's granddaughter on
Cape Cod, with great-great-aunt Jane visiting but mostly in the
background. There's a solid conventional setup, but a very obvious
false lead, and while the ending is technically valid it feels perhaps
a little facile. Interesting, nonetheless.
"The Mystery of the Acid Soil" (Kate Mosse) is very much in the
authentic style but for me tripped over a technical point: someone has
to stay alive to provide the happy ending, but it would have made
vastly more sense for the murderer to dispose of them earlier. Still
enjoyable though, and extra points for tagging in Miss Marple's time
at the pensionnat in Florence (They Do It With Mirrors).
"The Disappearance" (Leigh Bardugo) strays farthest from the array of
available Miss Marple templates, but manages to make it work. I gather
Bardugo mostly writes YA fantasy, but even with that disadvantage I
may give her a try.
Nothing stunning here, but no utter failures either, and several
authors whom I'll look into further.