Agatha Christie - Miss Marple – Miss Marple and Mystery - The Complete Short Stories

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

This collection first published 2008

Copyright © 2008 Agatha Christie Ltd

Agatha Christie asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library

The publishers would like to acknowledge the help of Karl Pike in the preparation of this volume .

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Source ISBN: 9780007284184

Ebook Edition © JULY 2011 ISBN: 9780007438976

Version: 2018-10-08

Stories featuring Miss Marple appear in bold

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Author’s Foreword to Miss Marple and the Thirteen Problems

1. The Actress

2. The Girl in the Train

3. While the Light Lasts

4. The Red Signal

5. The Mystery of the Blue Jar

6. Jane in Search of a Job

7. Mr Eastwood’s Adventure

8. Philomel Cottage

9. The Manhood of Edward Robinson

10. The Witness for the Prosecution

11. Wireless

12. Within a Wall

13. The Listerdale Mystery

14. The Fourth Man

15. The House of Dreams

16. S.O.S.

17. Magnolia Blossom

18. The Lonely God

19. The Rajah’s Emerald

20. Swan Song

21. The Last Séance

22. The Edge

23. The Tuesday Night Club

24. The Idol House of Astarte

25. Ingots of Gold

26. The Bloodstained Pavement

27. Motive v. Opportunity

28. The Thumb Mark of St Peter

29. A Fruitful Sunday

30. The Golden Ball

31. Accident

32. Next to a Dog

33. Sing a Song of Sixpence

34. The Blue Geranium

35. The Companion

36. The Four Suspects

37. A Christmas Tragedy

38. The Herb of Death

39. The Affair at the Bungalow

40. Manx Gold

41. Death by Drowning

42. The Hound of Death

43. The Gipsy

44. The Lamp

45. The Strange Case of Sir Arthur Carmichael

46. The Call of Wings

47. In a Glass Darkly

48. Miss Marple Tells a Story

49. Strange Jest

50. Tape-Measure Murder

51. The Case of the Caretaker

52. The Case of the Perfect Maid

53. Sanctuary

54. Greenshaw’s Folly

55. The Dressmaker’s Doll

Keep Reading

Appendix: Short Story Chronology

Also by the Author

Also in this Series

Agatha Christie: Miss Marple Omnibus

Agatha Christie: Miss Marple Omnibus

Agatha Christie: Miss Marple Omnibus

Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories

Also Available

Agatha Christie: The Mary Westmacott Collection

Agatha Christie: The Mary Westmacott Collection

About the Publisher

These problems were Miss Marple’s first introduction to the world of detective story readers. Miss Marple has some faint affinity with my own grandmother, also a pink and white pretty old lady who, although having led the most sheltered and Victorian of lives, nevertheless always appeared to be intimately acquainted with all the depths of human depravity. One could be made to feel incredibly naïve and credulous by her reproachful remark: ‘But did you believe what they said to you? You shouldn’t do that. I never do!’

I enjoyed writing the Miss Marple stories very much, conceived a great affection for my fluffy old lady, and hoped that she might be a success. She was. After the first six stories had appeared, six more were requested, Miss Marple had definitely come to stay.

She has appeared now in several books and also in a play – and actually rivals Hercule Poirot in popularity. I get about an equal number of letters, one lot saying: ‘I wish you would always have Miss Marple and not Poirot,’ and the other ‘I wish you would have Poirot and not Miss Marple.’ I myself incline to her side. I think, that she is at her best in the solving of short problems; they suit her more intimate style. Poirot, on the other hand, insists on a full length book to display his talents.

These Thirteen Problems contain, I consider, the real essence of Miss Marple for those who like her.

AGATHA CHRISTIE

Penguin edition, 1953

‘The Actress’ was first published as ‘A Trap for the Unwary’ in The Novel Magazine , May 1923.

The shabby man in the fourth row of the pit leant forward and stared incredulously at the stage. His shifty eyes narrowed furtively.

‘Nancy Taylor!’ he muttered. ‘By the Lord, little Nancy Taylor!’

His glance dropped to the programme in his hand. One name was printed in slightly larger type than the rest.

‘Olga Stormer! So that’s what she calls herself. Fancy yourself a star, don’t you, my lady? And you must be making a pretty little pot of money, too. Quite forgotten your name was ever Nancy Taylor, I daresay. I wonder now – I wonder now what you’d say if Jake Levitt should remind you of the fact?’

The curtain fell on the close of the first act. Hearty applause filled the auditorium. Olga Stormer, the great emotional actress, whose name in a few short years had become a household word, was adding yet another triumph to her list of successes as ‘Cora’, in The Avenging Angel .

Jake Levitt did not join in the clapping, but a slow, appreciative grin gradually distended his mouth. God! What luck! Just when he was on his beam-ends, too. She’d try to bluff it out, he supposed, but she couldn’t put it over on him . Properly worked, the thing was a gold-mine!

On the following morning the first workings of Jake Levitt’s gold-mine became apparent. In her drawing-room, with its red lacquer and black hangings, Olga Stormer read and re-read a letter thoughtfully. Her pale face, with its exquisitely mobile features, was a little more set than usual, and every now and then the grey-green eyes under the level brows steadily envisaged the middle distance, as though she contemplated the threat behind rather than the actual words of the letter.