How lovely to be back in the company of Miss Marple.

A staunch favourite of mine and some of my most loved authors, I went into this with hope and I was not disappointed. Lots of brilliant stories all told with a nod to the great Agatha Christie.

Highly recommended.

With thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read and review.

I’m a huge Agatha Christie fan, and I adore Marple, so I was so looking forward to seeing what these modern day authors did with her.

As with all short story collections, some of these worked better than others. I thought some authors nailed the Marple-ness of Marple rather well, some wrote in a Christie-esque way, others went modern and almost recreated a new version of her… I think how much you’ll enjoy this collection depends on what you’re hoping to get out of it.

I actually though those that were the least ‘Marple-like’ were the stronger mysteries, and those that were busy trying to perfect Marple forgot to give her a solid puzzle to solve. But that said there is plenty to like here.

Not a perfect set by any means, and not Christie, but I had fun with it.

As with many short story collections by various authors, some are better than others and I only really enjoyed maybe three? I wasn’t that engaged with the others and I found it hard to get through sometimes.

In 1989 Queen released an album called The Miracle. They were the only band I would really listen to at that time in my life and I remember it clearly. At the same time I was on an Agatha Christie reading marathon. I had borrowed an Agatha Christie novel from my favourite aunt and it sparked my love for Poirot, Jane Marple, Tommy and Tuppence and all the other characters that crop up over the dozens of books. I remember those years very fondly.

Spin forward to 2022 and I am listening to a brand new Queen song (which had been left off The Miracle album by the band in 1989) and I am reading twelve new Miss Marple stories. Pinch me – I may be dreaming! Never would I have thought either of these things would have been possible.

As much as I enjoyed the new Queen single, reading Marple was the better of the two experiences.

If there is an Agatha Christie fan in your family then this book is an essential read for them – casts an eye towards Christmas here. I had a good look at the hardback copy before I posted my review and it is absolutely stunning – under the dust jacket are all the signatures of the contributing authors (in gold) which almost makes me want to display that on my shelves rather than the cover depicted above.

I have never found a collection of short stories where I have enjoyed every single story. In this collection of twelve Marple tales there are some contributions I enjoyed more than others and there was only one where was irked by the outcome. That’s a fantastic return for me as I don’t normally enjoy a short story collection. But in the case of Marple the continuity of the central character negated my normal frustration. I find a collection of individual (random) stories being too “bitty” to fully embrace for any length of time.

I’ve no intention to run through each of the stories and break down my thoughts on each – this review would run out of control if I tried that. What I will say is Jane Marple finds herself overseas in the theatres of USA, on a cruise ship and she frequently nips around the UK visiting friends and relatives or dining at University tables. Everywhere she goes those “twinkling blue eyes” see problems, upset and (most importantly) to the truth behind some shocking incidents. This is what we all wanted to see in these stories and fans will not be disappointed.

Not every case involves a murder, I did wonder if that would be the case, and it was pleasing to see not all the authors bumped off a character. Each story gives a good demonstration of the famous Jane Marple observation powers and more than once she will place herself in danger when a murderer realises this seemingly harmless old woman could expose their cleverly concealed criminal activites.

There is fun to be found in Marple – the idea of a second Murder at the Vicarage made me laugh out loud. The determination of Miss Marple and her friends to indulge in many a sherry (why not?) crops up in more than one tale. And there were many mentions of the nephew Raymond who seems to delight or frustrate in equal measure. While I am not sure if Marple would be a great introduction to the character – there are quite a few nods to the source material – for existing fans the opportuinty to read new stories featuring Jane Marple is an unexpected delight and I am extremely grateful to all the contributing authors for making that possible.

It was lovely to spend some time in the company of Miss Marple and to see what a great collection of modern authors decided to do with her. Several authors used the device of Miss Marple's nephew Raymond West inviting her on holiday or organising a trip for her, which did start to feel a little samey after a while. However, it was fun seeing Miss Marple in new environments, such as a Hong Kong cruise or an experimental New York theatre, and in slightly more modern periods than Christie wrote about. Some of the authors also chose to revisit characters and settings from the Christie stories. My favourite stories were probably those by Elly Griffiths and Kate Mosse, by they were all enjoyable and worth a read.

“Marple: 12 New Stories” is a collection of short stories, written in the style of Agatha Christie, but by 12 very modern writers.

Those authors include; Naomi Alderman, Ruth Ware, Lucy Foley, Val McDermid, Karen M. McManus, and Kate Mosse, amongst others.

I read every Christie I could get my hands on as a kid; all the old dusty copies from the library, and I of course, watched the tv adaptations.

I’ve always loved Marple in particular, as she’s such an unassuming character. An elderly woman living in a small sleepy village, who always outwits both the police, and the killer to solve the murder! Love her.

Some of the stories here were excellent, and felt like a real return to Miss Marple. Others less so, but that’s always the way with collections by different authors like this.

If you’re a Christie fan, I think you’ll enjoy this, and it’ll make a fab Christmas gift for lots of people this year!

With thanks to @netgalley and @harpercollinsuk for the opportunity to read “Marple: Twelve New Stories”.

This is an interesting collection of short stories based on the original Miss Marple series written in the Agatha Christie. However, these have been written in her style (mostly) by current crime writing authors.

I felt this was a bit of a mixed bag for me. My favourite was the first short story - Even in small places by Lucy Foley, and I really enjoyed this. Others that I enjoyed were Miss Marple takes Manhattan by Alyssa Cole and Miss Marple's Christmas by Ruth Ware. I think I have suggested previously that Lucy Foley seemed to be the new Agatha Christie, and this really reminded me of borrowing my Mum's books and reading a few as a child.

It was also one of those books, you can read alongside others, so I'd read one story, then take a break and go back a few days later.

A couple of the authors seemed to miss the mark completely for me - If I was to base my rating on my three favs, alone, it would be a lot higher, but as I have to take into account the whole book. I think I'd rank it as a 3 to 3.5.

Definitely an enjoyable read, but some parts more than others. Thanks to Harper Collins Harper Fiction for the opportunity to read and review

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for granting my wish for this ARC and this review is written voluntarily by me.

In my opinion, it is really tough to write a review especially on short stories collections because it is hard to decide which one is my favourite. It is understandable for me that it will be tough for authors to write stories of Miss Marple up to Agatha Christie’s standard. In general, for this collection, it is an enjoyable read because I do enjoy the interpretation of Miss Marple from these authors and I enjoy the variety. From my reading, the story that really reminds me of Agatha Christie is the one by Ruth Ware. Other stories that I enjoy are stories by Lucy Foley, Jean Kwok, Elly Griffiths, Dreda Say Mitchell and Kate Mosse. In my opinion, this collection is good to introduce Miss Marple to new readers, and it makes me want to read Miss Marple’s stories after reading it.

As an Agatha Christie fan, it was intriguing to see this book featuring twelve new Miss Marple stories, each written by a different author, and I was keen to see how they would rise to the challenge. The result is an enjoyable read. Some seem truer to the character of Miss Marple and to Agatha Christie's style than others, but that is to be expected, and I enjoyed the variety. I particularly appreciated the stories by Ruth Ware, Jean Kwok and Karen McManus. Definitely worth a read if you're looking for more of Miss Marple!

I think this book is one that everyone will enjoy and there is alot of authors that people will be familiar with. I actually bought the physical edition aswell as I needed to have it on my bookshelf.

My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins publishing for the opportunity to review this book.
What an amazing book. Not only do you get to read new stories about the queen of detection but it's by the cream of the crop when it comes to writing crime novel royalty.
A must for Miss Marple fans.

I don't know a lot about Miss Marple and this was a perfect introduction to her - there are typical grand country house mysteries, plus one in New York that I really liked, and a YA one by Karen M McManus that I loved! This one involved Jane's granddaughter and was lovely. An excellent anthology!

I'm a big Agatha Christie geek and was a bit concerned about reading this as I am quite often disappointed by new authors continuing a well loved book or series ( Scarlet, Moriarty to name a few) but on the whole I really enjoyed this and thought most of the authors, who are obviously all Agatha fans, did brilliantly but there were one of two I felt a bit let down by, but I will not be churlish enough to name them, especially one of the very well known crime writers!

The Christie estate has chosen to follow its resurrection of Poirot with twelve new Marple stories by twelve new female authors. That’s one fewer than Miss Marple’s original short story collection: The Thirteen Problems. It seems a deliberate echo of the original but the lack of the extra story isn’t the only way the reader might feel this collection falls a little short. Whilst all are easy to read and entertaining, none of the stories ever quite reach the level of the mistress of crime herself.

It is, perhaps, a little unfair to expect plotting of quite the skill Christie routinely displayed from most authors, but none of these stories display anything close to her ability. One or two do their best to recreate the Christie formula and reuse some of her favourite tropes and twists. Those familiar with them at all will spot them rather too easily, however, when they appear - Christie’s great skill was always in disguising these things. Others provide a perfectly satisfactory mystery, but one without the delicacy or ingenuity of the originals. Again, a careful reader is likely to guess the central revelations or have fingered the guilty party before the final explanation.

Disappointingly, Val McDemid’s story has the opposite problem - the solution practically unguessable due to a lack of any real information provided about the eventual culprit. Her story, The Second Murder at the Vicarage, is beautifully written, however, and captures the tone of the originals. Too many fail to. A number by American authors miss the mark quite badly. Christie would never have put Americanisms into the mouths of her British characters - the solution to one of her mysteries included the distinction between calling ‘long distance’ and making a ‘trunk call’ - or got the linguistic cues of the English class system, an ever constant presence in the original stories whether you like it or not, wrong - Christie’s Miss Marple called others ‘my dear’ but not ‘love’. Others miss the correct background in other ways: tying themselves too closely a particular date in a way the originals studiously avoided is a repeated problem.

Pick of the bunch is Kate Moss’s story. The background is excellent: deftly drawn and feels appropriate to the character and her world. There is even room for a reference to characters in one of the original stories. The mystery is engaging. The solution, if not one that shocks, is pleasing and relies on the sort of detail that again fits the character and the story. Other efforts worthy of mention are Jean Kwok’s adventure on a steam ship to China and the amusing Murder at the Villa Rosa. These are enough to remind me of why Miss Marple remains my favourite of Christie detectives.

Perhaps the greatest praise for this collection is that I am looking forward to rereading Marple stories I haven’t looked at for years.

A collection of short stories inspired by Christie's sleuth Jane Marple, written by modern crime writers. There is a mix of the old fashioned Christie type storues and ones with more of a modern day twist. Some characters from the original novels appear but there is also a raft of new characters.
I don't normally enjoy short stories as I often feel I'm just getting into them as they come to an end but did like the fact that I could dip in and out of these.
An enjoyable collection of short stories thst will bring Jane Marple to the attention of a new generation of readers.

Ever since her first appearance in a short story in 1927, Miss Jane Marple has been one of fiction’s most well-loved detectives. Now, 46 years since Agatha Christie’s final Marple book, Sleeping Murder, was published posthumously, a group of bestselling authors have contributed to a new collection featuring the legendary detective, bringing her to a brand new audience.

Writing a new story about one the world’s most well-known and loved detectives is always going to be a big ask and, as expected, the twelve short stories are a mixed bag. It is hard not to compare these tales to the originals and while some authors have stuck very much to the language and setting of the originals, some have definitely veered away from the quaint St. Mary Mead, putting Miss Marple in places you may not expect to find her.

The stories I enjoyed the most tended to be the more traditional tales, ones that would not feel out of place alongside the likes of The Body in the Library or A Murder is Announced. It was Val McDermid’s offering, The Second Murder at the Vicarage, therefore, that was one of the standout reads for me. I also enjoyed A Deadly Wedding Day by Dreda Say Mitchell, where Miss Marple teams up with another sleuth to solve a murder. Both of these books transported me back to the world of Agatha Christie.

Elly Griffiths is one of my favourite authors and her story did not disappoint. A very different take on the traditional Christie, no murder is committed in The Murder at the Villa Rosa but we still see Miss Marple exercising her superior brain power to solve a mystery with a twist.

There is definitely something here for everyone whether fans of old or those just beginning to explore the world of Agatha Christie.

A good collection of short stories by some of the biggest names. I enjoyed dipping in and out whenever I was between novels and wanted something shorter. My only slight problem was I never quite got invested enough in each story before it was over and a new one began.

To introduce Jane Marple to a new generation of fans. Marple takes twelve of the contemporary, acclaimed authors. Allowing each of them to give their twist on Agatha Christie’s famous supersleuth. A collection of Twelve short stories featuring Marple and other popular characters from Christie’s work.
As this is a collection of short stories, obviously, I preferred some stories to others. In fact, I even found some storylines predictable. But overall, I loved this book. I am a fan of Jane Marple, having read all the original books, so I was excited about the release of this new collection. Highlights of me included introducing Marple’s great-great niece Nicole (in Karen McManus’ The Murdering Sort). Jane’s adventure on the boat in Jade Empress (Jean Kwok’s story). And the friendship between Miss Marple and Miss Bella in A Deadly Wedding Day, by Dreda, Say Mitchell.
This is a book for new and old fans alike. It will serve as an introduction to Jane Marple for new fans. For old fans like me, the stories are packed with easter eggs to Christie’s original work. In the form of familiar characters, locations, and even past mysteries. Whilst this book did not introduce me to the world of Jane Marple, it did introduce me to several new authors!

What an absolute Christie-filled joy this book was, thank you for letting me read an ARC. Twelve perfectly formed short stories by a selection of authors each at the top of their game, The twelve stories were all different in their tone and approach, but essentially truthful to Christie's spirit and the voice of Miss Marple. I really enjoyed the Ruth Ware Christmas story, with the limited cast of suspects in the hunt for a missing string of priceless pearls; and the international feel of some of the stories, as Miss Marple went to New York and Hong Kong, was wonderfully done too.
Ive always been more of a poirot fan than Miss Marple, but this book may well have been the one to open my eyes to the world of St Mary in the Mead and Miss Marple's inimitable sleuthing!

Evil in Small Places by Lucy Foley
The book opener took a while to get into, but I enjoyed it once I got a feel for the story. It has an unexpected twist, yet is still a classic murder mystery with a good cast of characters. It's surprisingly well-fleshed out for only a short story!

The Second Murder at the Vicarage by Val McDermid
This story has a good, promising start. Unfortunately, though, it only goes downhill from there and rushes towards the end. This is a real shame because it has such a strong opening.

Miss Marple Takes Manhattan by Alyssa Cole
Unique with an unexpected twist! Loved the setting in New York; made for a fresh take on a classic character away from her usual setting. I also loved the accuracy of the characterisation. Everyone views Miss Marple as an elderly, frail and incompetent lady and they make decisions on her behalf. They try to make her a supporting character in her own life and that's the sad reality for so many elderly people today. A beautifully poignant portrayal.

The Unravelling by Natalie Haynes
Sadly I didn't find this one very memorable. It was a short and sweet classic case of mistaken identity. A great bitesize read.

Miss Marple's Christmas by Ruth Ware
This story is a bit convoluted. The main plot is okay, but I felt that there were too many threads pulling in different directions. There are a lot of red herrings and a few interesting characters I'd love to have seen explored further.

The Open Mind by Naomi Alderman
This was enjoyable but a bit far-fetched for my liking. It features lots of intriguing characters but they sadly aren't explored enough to really make a memorable impression.

The Jade Empress by Jean Kwok
An intriguing premise, interesting characters, and gloriously romantic visions of the bygone splendour of cruise ships at that time. A good read with lots of twists and turns - especially for a short story!

A Deadly Wedding Day by Dreda Say Mitchell
This story didn't seem very plausible or believable so sadly fell a bit flat. There was too much going on and the characters weren't fleshed out enough to make me invested.

Murder at the Villa Rosa by Elly Griffiths
It was really nice to break things up and have a story not written in first person by Miss Marple for a change. A beautiful setting with great descriptions, and the villa sounds sublime! There are lots of intriguing subplots too which would have been nice to be explored in more detail were this not a short story.

The Murdering Sort by Karen M. McManus
I struggled to get into it. An intriguing premise again but sadly I just didn't find it as engaging as some of the other stories.

The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse
Twists and turns aplenty, plus an intriguing cast of characters who were all well-fleshed out despite the shortness of the story.

The Disappearance by Leigh Bardugo
The final story in the anthology sucks you in right from the start. Great story, great plot, great characters. Excellently written with a shocking twist - this is definitely my favourite story from the book!