The Thirteen Problems (Miss Marple, #1)

Title: The Thirteen Problems (Miss Marple, #1)

Author: Agatha Christie

Published in: 1932

Date read: 4th April 2024

Score: 5/5

Genre: Classic, Mystery, Crime, Detective

Plot: (Warning, may contain spoilers):
"The Thirteen Problems," published in 1932, is a collection of short mystery stories by Agatha Christie, featuring Miss Jane Marple as the central sleuth. Unlike her typical novels, these stories are framed as a series of informal gatherings where a group of friends, including Miss Marple, take turns relating unsolved mysteries, with Miss Marple invariably being the one to deduce the truth.

The collection is primarily presented as discussions held by the Tuesday Night Club, a gathering of diverse individuals at Miss Marple's home in the village of St. Mary Mead. The members include:

• Miss Marple: The seemingly frail, elderly spinster who, despite her quiet demeanour, possesses an acute understanding of human nature derived from observing village life.
• Raymond West: Miss Marple's nephew, a novelist, often sceptical of her methods.
• Joyce Lemprière: A young artist.
• Sir Henry Clithering: A retired Commissioner of Scotland Yard.
• Dr. Pender: A clergyman.
• Mr. Petherick: A solicitor.

In each story, one member of the club presents a seemingly insoluble mystery, often a crime or strange event they personally witnessed or heard about. The others offer their theories, but it is always Miss Marple, by drawing parallels to events, characters, or "human nature" observed in her quiet village, who points out the crucial overlooked detail or psychological insight that reveals the solution.

The mysteries are varied in setting and type, ranging from apparent suicides, disappearances, and impossible crimes to complex deceptions and murders. Some notable "problems" include:

"The Thirteen Problems" (also known as "The Tuesday Night Club"): The inaugural meeting, where the group recounts various mysteries, including the poisoning of a curate's wife.
"The Idol House of Astarte": A mysterious death after a fancy-dress party, linked to an ancient curse.
"The Fourth Man": A puzzling story of a man's strange behaviour and death, with an unreliable narrator.
"A Christmas Tragedy": A story of an elderly couple, and suspicion of murder masked as natural death.
"Death by Drowning": A young servant girl's apparent suicide by drowning, which Miss Marple correctly identifies as murder due to her knowledge of village gossip and psychology.

A separate set of stories in the collection features other groupings, like a dinner party where Colonel Bantry and Dolly Bantry (from "The Body in the Library") are present, and the "Reading of the Will" mystery.

The collection highlights Miss Marple's unique detective methodology: her vast, albeit indirectly gained, knowledge of the dark impulses and motivations that lie beneath the surface of polite society. She rarely leaves her armchair, solving crimes through intuition, keen observation, and an unparalleled understanding of human weakness and cunning. "The Thirteen Problems" is a charming and ingenious showcase of Miss Marple's early brilliance and Christie's mastery of the short mystery form.

Comments:
I had been looking forward to reading my first Miss Marple and I loved it. I was particularly impressed with the teasing nature of these short stories so that she could prove her ability over and over again in a very demure way.

Books that we've read by Agatha Christie (8):
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot, #1) (1920), The Secret Adversary (Tommy and Tuppence Mysteries, #1) (1922), The Murder on the Links (Hercule Poirot #2) (1923), The Man in the Brown Suit (Colonel Race, #1) (1924), The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Hercule Poirot, #4) (1926), The Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple #1) (1930), The Thirteen Problems (Miss Marple, #1) (1932), And Then There Were None (1939)