Selfie and Marple

I wasn't going to be bothered to post again today, but Sue sent me a new selfie, so . . .

First, she mistakenly sent one of just her: not that it was a terrible mistake, but she had meant to send the duo selfie.

Here's the together one.

After more or less neglecting reading for some time, I have been on a bit of a tear. I have read 6 novels lately and have begun my 7th.

Two have been inexpensive or even free, self-published, offerings from Kindle. You take you chance, but it's an inexpensive chance, and I liked both well enough. One was a modern mystery set in Scotland and the other an historical fiction set in about 12th century Wales. The Scotland one could have done with tighter editing or proofreading in a few spots, but it was fine overall, and I would read more of the series. The Wales one was a little more polished, and I would read more of that series too.

However, as reported earlier, I have read more of Agatha Christie, particularly looking for Miss Marple, whom I don't always find. This is just a little report — not book reports as such but just how much Marple was included.

In fact, I would have trouble doing an actual book report even if I so wanted, not only because I don't want to, but because I am incapable. After watching two tv series and now reading 4 of the same plots in novel form, I must tell you that they all run together.

I am sure it is partly a short-term memory issue. I would probably have trouble remembering five consecutive words. But then I am not presidential material.

I already reported on The Secret of Chimneys and how, despite it being an episode in both tv series, Marple wasn't in the book. At all. Not even a little bit. Television simply inserted Miss Marple into another Agatha Christie whodunit. Aside from that, though, the basic plot was similar.

I thought the same lack was unfolding in The Moving Finger, which is really a novella. I read on and on, as much as I can claim that in a shorter work, without any appearance of Marple. She didn't appear until near the end and then really in only a few brief almost cameo appearances. She was there to unravel the whys and whatnots in the denouement, however.

Nemesis, however, was fully Marple and she was also quite important in The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side although she wasn't quite as dominant as in Nemesis. She still, however, had an important place in the plot. On the other hand, much of Crack'd would switch between Maple and the sleuthing of the detective. By this time in her life, Marple was older and getting a little more housebound, so it made sense to have someone other than Jane to do the wandering and questioning.

In both Nemesis and Mirror Crack'd, the novels had a few more details or connections than did the television versions. In Nemesis, the dying man, actually the dead man [sic], who sent her on the errand was the same rich man who helped her back in the Caribbean case.

Then, Mirror Crack'd used the same house as in the earlier Body in the Library, but just a decade or so later. And the lady of the house in the Body in the Library was still living adjacent to her former mansion having had to sell it to make ends meet.

Both of these connections, as insignificant as they might be, were satisfying touches.

There is no question that in my reading I pictured the original Miss Marple, Joan Hickson, or at least close to her and not the other Marples of the newer series. She was made to be Marple and suited the role to the proverbial T.

I plan to read more of Agatha and have just borrowed 4 more tomes from the library. I have just begun the first, and I am pretty sure that it won't be a Marple story. I don't think it was picked up and Marple-ized in the tv series either. I don't mind, however.

I must run. It is 7:15, and the cat is most grieved with me for not feeding her yet, so I must hie downstairs and do my duty.