I must have read this as a teenager in Devon during the 1970s but the fact that it was so obviously set down the road on the edge of Dartmoor completely passed me by at the time. I did see Agatha Christie in her garden at Greenway while on a boat trip down the river Dart from Totnes around that time - she was pointed out by the man on the public address system causing the whole party to swing round and stare in unison - but I was more concerned by the fact that my mother had somehow mixed up my French exchange student's packed lunch with mine forcing me to dine off his pate sandwiches, for which I had not at that time acquired a taste, while he tucked into my cheese and tomatoes with evident relish. Still, I beat him at tennis later on. So I'd read The Moving Finger before and decided to read it again because I liked the cover of my Fontana paperback with the pestle and glass by Tom Adams which is laden with menace. Had I remembered the identity of the murderer? No. So it's safe to read these books every 40 years or so. The plot is ingenious, a grown-ups version of Enid Blyton's Mystery of the Spiteful Letters in which I'm sure I did spot the culprit (the only character who was new to the series but I may be mistaken).TMF is quite a short book - only 160 pages and can be read in an afternoon. I learn that he American version is even shorter. Apparently the book was serialised in the USA a year before it was published in book form in the UK (1943) and the abridged version is still the only one available in the States due to The Wartime Official Secrets Act. The US version lacks the classified detail of the first chapters of the UK version and also some entire characters are missing from the US book. The background to Mr Burton's flying injury in a training accident and the subsequent loss of a leg and his testicles is completely absent as is the whole Chinese bouncing bomb interlude over which Miss Marple made such a fuss insisting on trying to knit a cover. Frankly I prefer the shorter version and it may have been that American wartime readers were not ready for the narrator's lack of stiff upper lip and resolve regarding his impotence. (Are you sure about this? Ed)
I guess I'm getting frustrated with Agatha Christie and her "Miss Marple" series. "The Moving Finger" is the third in that series. I have no idea why. "Why what," you ask? Well, why it's called a "Miss Marple Mystery," I answer. There is no reference to Miss Marple until the end of Chapter 9 (about 69% of the way through the book -- and note that the book ends where my Kindle says 93% complete since there's the usual filler at the end). She makes her first appearance in the next chapter where she says a handful of sentences of no special import and then disappears until about 80% through where she makes a couple of more pronouncements. Then, she's done (except for her recounting what really happened at the end). But, wait, there's more. Not only is there no Marple here, the book isn't even written in same style or tone as the previous two books: it's written from the perspective of an outsider, has no common characters, and is in a different village (town). About the only thing in common with the previous books (specifically, "The Murder at the Vicarage") is that reading it feels like nothing more than living through the petty backbiting and gossiping of a small town. If the writing hadn't been technically decent (though I cringed at the "character" of the protagonist), I'd have rated it lower. But, even though I'm not happy with the Marpleness of the book, I guess I'll be charitable and rate it at an OK 3 stars out of 5.The novels featuring Miss Marple are:1. The Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple Mysteries)2. The Body in the Library (Miss Marple Mysteries)3. The Moving Finger: A Miss Marple Mystery (Miss Marple Mysteries)4. A Murder Is Announced: A Miss Marple Mystery (Miss Marple Mysteries)5. They Do It With Mirrors: A Miss Marple Mystery (Miss Marple Mysteries)6. A Pocket Full of Rye: A Miss Marple Mystery (Miss Marple Mysteries)7. 4:50 from Paddington (Miss Marple Mysteries)8. The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (Miss Marple Mysteries)9. A Caribbean Mystery (Miss Marple Mysteries)10. At Bertram's Hotel (Miss Marple Mysteries)11. Nemesis: A Miss Marple Mystery (Miss Marple Mysteries)12. Sleeping Murder (Miss Marple Mysteries)
You know what, everybody? When I started obsessively reading Agatha Christie/Miss Marple books about about a month ago, I was embarrassed. I knew you people would look down your noses at me for reading "Mystery novels." The kindest thing you might have said was, "Oh, well, Teater is in a beach reading phase -- hope he's back to the classics by September." More likely, you would have wondered what happened to me -- maybe some sort of swimming accident that deprived my brain of oxygen just long enough to make me vague on the details? Or maybe being a career boy was just making it too hard for me to do "meaningful reading." Anyway, I hid myself away inside the pleasure reading closet and enjoyed myself, but always afraid you would find out. Well, I am afraid no more. None other than Joan Acocella -- that's right, Joan f*%#ing Acocella -- has written an essay about Agatha Christie in the New Yorker -- that's right, the New f*%#ing Yorker. Yeah, only Joan Accocella, only one of New York's leading intellectuals and critics. Only a beloved writer for one of America's most reliable intellectual leisure publications. So, for all of you who would have made fun, and sported your ridicule in my direction: eat it! I am apparently on the crest of critical opinion. I communion with tomorrow's Zeitgeist. Pretty soon you'll all be reading Agatha Christie novels while you're sipping your damn lattes! And I want you to remember, I was there first.
—Duncan
It was a nice story alright but not a good detective story. There was a shade of excitement in the background but it's not much audible. There isn't much detection in the normal sense. But I liked the love story of Megan and Burton. It was sweet romance. And Miss Marple appears almost to the end of the story,and not much importance is given to her. So this book seems to have been developed more like a normal story than as a thriller. It seems to be something Agatha Christie has been doing in many of her works,now that I think about it. Altogether a good story,a wonderful read.
—Viji Sarath (Bookish endeavors)
Lovely reread. This is listed as a Ms. Marple story, but she plays a minimal role and doesn't even appear until the last 30 pages.I really enjoyed the narrator, Jerry Burton. He was wounded during World War II and is recovering. His doctor told him to go rest in a quiet English village where little happens. The village that Jerry and his sister decide to live in is not a quiet village. Instead, there are a series of poison pen letter being sent to various citizens. This is followed up by a suicide and then a murder.While all these mysterious events are taking place, Jerry falls in love and then has to wonder if his new love might be the letter writer. The love interest is sweet and innocent. I enjoyed the book immensely. I was sure of the murderer all the way through the book, but I was wrong. Great job, Agatha!
—☯Emily
