Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire

The Moving Finger – Agatha Christie

My very first Agatha Christie!  Well, not really, I read Murder on the Orient Express in High School and HATED it.  Swore of the whole mystery genre because of my bad experience with that one book.   I have since developed an enjoyment  of mysteries so decided to try another Agatha Christie, she is after all the queen of mystery! 

Also recently I discovered that Agatha Christie was British!  That makes her more interesting to me now, however, after reading the 1st few pages of The Moving Finger, I realized why my high school self had a hard time with the Orient Express.  There were a lot of British phrases and language structure and words that I’m sure I didn’t understand then.   Also, the book was written in the 1940s, I’m sure that played a part in my lack of understanding back then. 

The Moving Finger was a quick read – only 200 pages!  And I enjoyed it immensely!  I can’t wait to read more!  I loved the glimpse of British country life!  I loved how Miss Marple swooped in at the end and solved the whole thing!  It was billed as a “Miss Marple Mystery” however Miss Marple doesn’t appear until the last 40 pages and not even as a major character then.  

The story is about some nasty  anonymous letters being sent to various people in the village – the letters were written in “classic mystery” style – letters cut from the pages of a book and glued together.  What I’m wondering is, was that as much of convention then or was this the 1st time that technique had appeared in literature?