An excellent collection of some of my favourite authors, all interpreting a theme in a unique way. A huge fan of this book - it'll sit on my shelves for years to come!

This was a really enjoyable tribute to Agatha Christie. It was a difficult ask for already successful authors to write in Christie's style but on the whole, this is a thoroughly entertaining book.

Agatha Christie’s novels were among the first crime books that I read and I always enjoyed them. I have read spin offs since that feature Hercule Poirot and this collection of short stories featuring Miss Jane Marple was one that I was looking forward to.
Despite it being years since I read about Miss Marple’s adventures these short stories made it feel like I read them more recently. They brought back memories of her and her friends and family. Her character, her ways of uncovering the truth and her friends and family were all present in many of the stories. The only thing I had trouble with at times was struggling to work out when they were set but much of that is probably because I can’t really remember if I ever did. It was just the past, in the mind of my teenage self.
I had only read four of the authors who feature before, a handful of others I had heard of but there were also others who were new to me. Surprisingly for me, I liked all of them equally and they were all similar to each other and from memory featured the same characters that Christie did. I felt at times that the authors must have worked together so that the reader felt that they were reading about the same characters. Either that, or they studied the original books religiously.
I love this idea of authors taking on other authors characters. It’s a way of bringing them into modern day, for those like me who read them years ago and highlighting them for those who may never have read them originally . I hope there will be more.

This was an interesting concept where twelve successful authors each penned a new mystery featuring the classic Miss Jane Marple, Agatha Christie's amateur detective! It felt hard for authors to write in the style of Agatha Christie whilst also maintaining their own voice/style slightly. The results were therefore mixed, but I enjoyed most of the stories. A short mystery story can be difficult to write to offer enough info on characters in such a short word count and sometimes the endings feel rushed but that's the format rather than any author errors. I would definitely recommend this a worth a read, especially if you enjoy Miss Marple stories. I believe there will be more from some of these writers!

This is a collection of twelve original short stories featuring Miss Marple. A great collection of which I enjoyed greatly.

This is a little treasure, and I was so happy when I received a copy of the ARC. I have bought a physical copy of the book as well. The books has nuggets of stories based on Christie's famous character Miss Marple. All the stories are well written, and my favourite one is written by Lucy Foley.

My rating for the book is 5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, for the copy of the ARC.

An enjoyable collection of Miss Marple mysteries. I really enjoyed the fact that although written by twelve different authors, the character of Miss Marple still shone through. Each of the stories delves into the way Jane Marple investigates the mystery in front of her and provides that snap shot of her thoughts and methods. A great collection of short stories.

Who doesn't love a classic Agatha Christie? The thought of twelve new stories was an exciting one and I was delighted to see this. However, I wanted to enjoy this much more than I did. The truth is that, as you might expect, the stories are very uneven in quality.



Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A delightful selection of stories. Each one as good as the last. It was amazing to see these authors capture the voice of Christie and I love how they made the Marple character come to life once again!

The mystery that opened the anthology has significant allusions to several Christie works. Additionally, it seemed to fit the original novels' timeless design extremely well.
From this point on, the writing becomes more creative as different authors place Marple in a variety of unusual settings, beginning with Manhattan and moving on to a rural town, a college, and Hong Kong.

However, the Ruth Ware Christmas collection stands out.
By the time Karen McManus arrives, our main character has been thrown into a YA scenario, which seems so strange.
I must admit that I like long books, and based on this list I'd love Lucy Foley or Ruth Ware to write a book similar to Sophie Hannah's newest Poriot mystery.

I’ll say, right at the start, I don’t tend to gravitate towards crime/murder mystery stories. There are some that I do enjoy, such as the relatively recent: The MaidThe Plot and The Cliff House. I think my brain just doesn’t work that way, and I can never decide if you’re supposed to try and work out what happened, or just let Miss Marple get on with it.

This new collection of stories is notable for being new stories, but also for the fact that all of the contemporary writers are women. The calibre is high, too, including Naomi Alderman, Kate Mosse and Jean Kwok.

The tales all tick along quite nicely, and I particularly enjoyed Ruth Ware’s festive ‘closed’ house mystery and Jean Kwok’s tale on a train bound for Shanghai. All of them include a journey, whether it’s to Italy, the US or just a walk around the corner to the nearby vicarage. Maybe that’s the point of the stories, it’s the journey, not the destination.

I found myself getting slightly frustrated at the neat resolutions of the story, the deus ex machina rolled in at the last minute, details which we couldn’t have known about as readers, and therefore couldn’t resolve it without Miss Marple. Again, maybe that’s the point - that we’ll never outsmart Miss M.

As a very novice CHristie reader, I am also aware that there are no doubt references and nods to other stories previously published - I missed these, but a keen reader will have no trouble picking up on them.

Recommended for, unsurprisingly, Christie fans but also people looking for an entry into that world - the bite size short stories are a great introduction.

I did not finish reading.

I just didn’t get into it. I flicked through and nothing grabbed me. It’s a shame because I am a big Agatha Christie fan.

Twelve writers. Twelve new stories. Not one of them as genuinely charming as a real Agatha Christie.

This was such an interesting read! I found myself so engrossed in the story, the characters had such incredible arcs, and I can't wait to follow this author's journey!

LOVED this - i'm a huge Christie and Marple fan so this was such a treat.

Eahc story was brilliant in its own way but Bardugo and Kwok's were my fave of the bunch. Fantastic, and a perfect addition for anyone who loves Christie and Marple.

Was so looking forward to reading this book and it did not disappoint. Each story was well crafted and tightly plotted.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely loved this, there weren't any stories I didn't enjoy, and each one thourally enticed me and kept me on my toes. Any fan of agatha christie would love this!

A real mixed bag but an interesting project, much like bringing Sherlock Holmes to the big screen or tv.
Confronted with a much-loved character, from a very distinct era, do you write in keeping or do you translate their spirit to a new time and/or location?
That was the challenge faced by these 12 authors and they interpreted the brief according to their own writing styles.
Some were really interesting versions of Marple (Naomi Alderman and Elly Griffiths), some were quite authentic (Lucy Foley and Leigh Bardugo) and some were rather leftfield (Dreda Say Mitchell and Alyssa Cole).
Narrators added a further dimension to the stories- most were familiar actors and gave quite robust performances. Some were very good (Ramon Tikaram and Miriam Margolyes) and some rather hammy (Alison Steadman and Cathy Tyson).
Stories varied from 1-star to 5-star but an interesting literary experiment.

Marple: Twelve New Stories is Marple for the modern age by some of the most talented authors around. 12 wonderful stories that remain faithful to the past while giving them an update to appeal to readers today. Absolutely wonderful collection.

I picked this up because however many new detective novels come out, nobody has ever really come close to Agatha Christie's Marple and Poirot. I did enjoy all the short stories and loved revisiting one of my favourite characters of all time through the yes of these different authors, especially Leigh Bardugo, Ruth Ware, Kate Mouse and Karen McManus who are among my favourite authors. None of the short stories quite stood upto the original or maybe that was because of the short story format which doesn't leave much room for proper plot or character development but I would nevertheless recommend this collection for all Miss Marple fans