What a huge challenge for any crime writer - to write a new Miss Marple story! To write a credible story in the style of the great Agatha Christie is an extremely high bar for which to aim.

Luckily for us, twelve fabulous female authors were prepared to take on that challenge, and the result is 'Marple'.

What's really striking is how differently the brief has been interpreted by each of the writers - and it makes for a fascinating collection, albeit one that is slightly curious in places. Miss Marple is - of course - the centre of each of them, but very little else features consistently. St Mary Mead crops up occasionally - but Miss Marple is also sent on various excursions to stumble across crime scenes, including Manhattan, a cruise ship called 'The Jade Empress' and the Amalfi Coast. Similarly, Raymond West and Dolly Bantry may be old friends for Christie fans, but there is a whole cast of new character too.

Being a long-term Marple fan, I particularly loved the stories that were closest to Christie's own originals - fiendish puzzles and dastardly crimes unpicked by a very observant elderly woman with a tendency to make bizarre comments. To outsiders, she seems to have only a tenuous grip on reality - but to those in the know, her slight battiness conceals a razor-sharp mind.

Indeed, there were several of the stories where I forgot that I was reading a Christie-a-like because the writers got the character or the setting or the tone absolutely right. My favourites were Lucy Foley's story about murder in a small village (not St Mary Mead for once - where the body count is probably on a par with Midsomer!), Elly Griffith's tale of mystery in an Italian villa and Val McDermid's take on a second murder in the vicarage. That said, all the writers have a jolly good go at an original Marple story and I genuinely found something I loved in each of them.

If you love Miss Marple already, it's an absolute no-brainer that you need to add this to your collection. It would definitely be more enjoyable if you're already familiar with the character and her ways, although I do think this stands up as a decent collection of crime stories in its own right too. 'Marple' is an absolute joy and should be at the top of many wish lists this Christmas.

A fantastic collection of stories from some of my auto-buy authors. Each one has me hooked, and I flew through the stories. I even discovered some new authors that I enjoyed!

I am (like pretty much everybody, really) a huge Agatha Christie fan and I adore Miss Marple, so I approached this collection of twelve new stories with an open mind.
The only writers I have heard of in this volume are Val McDermid, Kate Mosse and Elly Griffiths, and they deliver stories that are probably the best in the book. Some of the authors capture the essence of Miss Marple perfectly, others don’t; overall, though, this is an enjoyable collection of new mysteries for the sleuthing septuagenarian.

A really enjoyable read for me, I liked that the stories where by different authors so you knew one would be completely unique. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advance copy, I will definitely be recommending.

Review – Marple
October 6, 2022CategoriesARC reviewsARC, Blogtober, featured, ReviewLeave a Commenton Review – Marple

Title: Marple: Twelve New Stories

Author: Various

Release Date: 15/9/2022

4.5 stars
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
I received a free eARC copy from ,via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

From Goodreads: A brand new collection of short stories featuring the Queen of Crime’s legendary detective Jane Marple, penned by twelve remarkable bestselling and acclaimed authors.

This collection of twelve original short stories, all featuring Jane Marple, will introduce the character to a whole new generation. Each author reimagines Agatha Christie’s Marple through their own unique perspective while staying true to the hallmarks of a traditional mystery.

Miss Marple was first introduced to readers in a story Christie wrote for The Royal Magazine in 1927 and made her first appearance in a full-length novel in 1930’s The Murder at the Vicarage. It has been 45 years since Agatha Christie’s last Marple novel, Sleeping Murder, was published posthumously in 1976, and this collection of ingenious new stories by twelve Christie devotees will be a timely reminder why Jane Marple remains the most famous fictional female detective of all time.

My Thoughts
I have made my love for Agatha Christie’s writing very clear. I love nothing more than cuddling up with a Poirot or a Marple. One of my favourite of Christies work is 13 Problems a collection of Marple short stories, so when this was offered up I just knew I had to read it.

It is a must read for Christie fans. While every writer in the collection has there own twist and flare they all stay true to the classic Marple stories which made this a complete joy to read. For example, Val McDermid’s story takes us back to the Vicarage where we first met Marple to investigate yet another murder. While Karen M. McManus’s adds a YA spin where we get introduced to Newphew Raymond’s Daughter who seems to take after her great aunt. Leigh Bardugo takes us back to where the Body in the Library was found but this time there is no body in sight.

I really loved the range of these stories. Some take Marple to New York of Hong Kong, others are set around St. Mary Mead, or other small English visitors. Some have Marple encountering new and interesting characters, while others bring back old friends such as Cherry, Sir Henry Clithering and Dolly Bantry. We get to see Marple put her mind to all sorts of scenarios.

Usually with short story collections like this there are stories a love and those I don’t but I genuinely enjoyed every story in this collection. I had some favourites like Val McDrimid’s which felt the most traditionally Christie. I loved the bitter sweetness to Leigh Bardugo’s tale. Lucy Foley’s story was a great opening act to the collection as a whole.

Making allowances for the genre, these were decent mysteries, but no more of a 'wet the appetite' for the Real thing.

Marple

I wanted to like it…but on the whole - I didn’t. It wasn’t the worst, but as a huge Agatha Christie fan I didn’t have the highest of expectations. Some of the short stories were very good and the authors did a good job capturing the essence of Jane Marple. However some were really very strange and hard to get into. I must stress I am not a fan of other ‘Agatha Christie Style’ books as a rule so I may not be the best judge of this book. I imagine if you aren’t a huge fan of Miss Marple or of Christie’s short stories then these short stories will I’m sure keep you entertained.
Some interesting stories, but it missed the mark for me.

I wanted to love this. I wanted to get that cosy crime feeling of reading a Marple story for the very first time. Unfortunately, I did not get this at all.
Pleas don't get me wrong - the writing was amazing and I would have expected nothing less from the writers, but it just didn't hit the spot for me.

The Marple-isms that I wanted just weren't quite there and I wasn't the biggest fan of some of the plots that were included in the short stories - especially Miss Marple in New York!

Not for me, but I can guarantee that there will be plenty of Agatha Christie fans out that there would love it. Also, I think it is a brilliant starting point to get those that have never read Agatha Christie to start reading her collections!

This is a varied and interesting selection of short stories by a broad array of fantastic writers. However - personally - I was not a big fan of the format/premise. I prefer longer murder mysteries, giving the plot a chance to build and gain tension. I would definitely recommend to any Agatha Christie fan however!

I love this collection of short stories, I’ve tried short stories before and I’ve felt like the stories are too short and I’ve wanted the stories to be a lot longer. These are the perfect length and each story is rounded off perfectly. Agatha Christie is one of my favourite authors so it has been great to read new Marple stories, and what a fantastic group of authors to write each new tale. I especially loved the stories which visited previous Marple characters like The Murder at the Vicarage.

The authors were all clearly fans of Miss Jane Marple because they caught the tone and warmth of the stories very well . Not everyone can plot like Christie! But this is a fun tribute

Firstly, as an Agatha Christie fan I find it encouraging to see that - following Sophie Hannah's Poirot books - another of her strongest characters can embark on new adventures in print thanks to the efforts of talented present day writers. The backgrounds and influences here are thankfully very varied, as are the locales in which the stories are set, something that is very much appreciated.

My only issue isn't so much with the writing as it is with the format. I admittedly hadn't read many of Christie's short stories before picking up this anthology and, around halfway through the book, I have realised that for me a murder mystery benefits massively from a longer narrative over which I can build more of an investment in the characters and circumstances. Some of these stories are short enough to hold me back from that thrilling feeling of desperately wanting to know the outcome, which isn't at all a comment on the excellent work of the writers themselves, and most likely a reflection of my own naivety when picking up this book!

On the whole, I'd say these stories offer a well crafted escape and return to Christie's iconic character - they are perfect for a busy week, or any other time when you may not have chance to read more regularly, as few if any of the stories would take more than 30 minutes to read from start to finish. If you have more time though, I would strongly recommend investing it in a longer mystery with more chance for investment and guessing before you reach the end. Hopefully, as a reward for their excellent work in such short narratives, some of the writers from this book will be offered the chance to write longer Marple stories of their own in the future - that is something I would love to read!

I really enjoyed this collaboration of such fantastic authors for these short stories. I felt as though they really did do Agatha Christie justice! Every story was different and unique in it's own way.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Marple : twelve new stories
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I went into reading this collection of stories really excited . I’ve always loved tales of miss marple and Hercule Poirot but sadly I think this was a bit of a short story overload for my brain.
I adored the first story the most and was thinking perfection , this is exactly what I need. But I found if I read more than two stories a day I was getting jumbled with the story from before.
If you are looking for a book to read a short story a day and then crack on with your life’s then this is the perfect book for you. I prefer to read a little more than this book selflimited me to (if that makes sense) so I found I had to read a story at night before I went to bed and throughout the day read a different book.
It also can be quite a jumble as each story is from a different author which in one way is great as it keeps the stories very different with their own unique writing styles but on another way it can be very hard to adjust to if like me you want to read more than one story in a sitting.
Overall though, although very varied and unique I did enjoy and would recommend! Especially perfect murder mystery tidbits for those cosy fall evenings !

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my independent honest review

With such a wide range of authors, I think there will be at least one story here that will appeal to everyone.

A delightful set of short Miss Marple mysteries, each one as individual as the author that wrote it.

After watching the Agatha Christie documentary with Alan Carr I was reminded how much I enjoy her books. This book was featured on the programme and I was delighted to get a copy to review. Thanks to Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for my copy.

Twelve popular authors have written their own short story featuring the famous Miss Marple. Some of the stories are more traditional but there is one where Marple is in New York. Personally, I preferred the stories set in the village of St Mary Mead, more in keeping with the traditional Marple stories.

I expected to read this quickly as I often find short stories are good to pick up and read when you have some spare time. I found a lot of the stories didn’t really hold my interest and I wasn’t encouraged to pick up the book, hence why it took longer than expected to read it. Unfortunately, I felt the stories were more miss than hit, and I only enjoyed a few of them out of the twelve.

This book wasn’t for me and I wouldn’t recommend it, I’ll stick to the original Marple mysteries.

2.5 stars rounded to 2.

An interesting idea and some of the stories work better than others.
Some stories stick more closely to Christies origanl style and stories more than others too.
I enjoyed the Val McDermid story and thought the Karen McManus story has potential for a spin off

Marple: Twelve New Stories is a collection of twelve short stories starring Agatha Christie’s Miss Jane Marple, written by twelve present-day female crime writers. Many achieve Christie’s style for these stories, and those by Elly Griffiths and Leigh Bardugo are especially good.

In this collection, Miss Marple solves another Murder At The Vicarage, goes shopping in Manhattan, almost regrets being the guest of an acquaintance, solves a murder where no one dies, is set up as a murderer’s alibi, and catches a pearl thief.

She also learns to waltz, practices tai chi, teams up with a sleuth from London’s Caribbean community, vacations in Italy, takes a ship to Hong Kong, talks someone out of a killing, solves a murder at a remove, takes a trip to the seaside, and ends up being an accessory after the fact.

Cases include too many confessors for the murder of a pig herder, an under-gardener is wrongly accused, an old coffin is opened, a steward impersonated, a murderer committing unwitting suicide, a missing son, missing jewels and a drowned botanist.

Murder methods or weapons include knives, a frayed electrical cable, poison mushrooms, a gun, an arrow, drugs, poisonous bark, leaves and fruit, Chinese herbal medicines, poisoned pills, soil in a cut, poisoned whiskey, and a brass kettle. These are very readable little doses of Miss Marple that Agatha Christie herself might have written. Recommended.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harper Collins UK.

First off the disclaimer. I like Agatha Christie books however I'm not a purist. I have no problem with reimagined plots, new stories etc. I'd like to think Christie would be good with it too. After all her stories live on in various ways whilst many of her contemporaries vanished by the wayside. But I get some people are clutching their pearls in horror.

But they are wrong.

Sorry but it's simple as that. Is it as good as Christies works? No, after all you can never better the original. But are these stories good? Yes, very good! They are very faithful to the legend of Miss Marple and most importantly very respectful. It was like meeting an old friend you never expected to see again. Delightful.

Such a great idea, marvellously put together. Miss Marple is a crime classic and Agatha Christie is perhaps 'not to be messed with' but I found this collection of stories from a wide variety of female authors a superb read.
It was tiring for Jane Marple though. She travelled far from St Mary Mead in her genteel English countryside to the Caribbean, Manhattan, Italy and back again to a truly shocking reveal with her best friend Dolly Bantry in her own back garden.
A high calibre of plotting and characterisation took each story to enjoyable and often tricky twists in plots. But the classic Marple traits were retained. Poison, jealousy, gardens, locked rooms and undeniable raft of suspects through which to trawl for our deadly murderer. And even a story where the murderer was fictional!
All authors had updated the tales using clever introductions of contemporary issues but not jarring the appropriateness of the setting and time line to seem absurdly modern.
I didn't have a favourite which I think is good as each story had its own elements to differ from others. Each raised a nice line in characters in which to immerse oneself within the story - the good, the bad- rarely the ugly and of course a smattering of 'staff' who burrow away in the background but are often intrinsic to the plot.
It was good to see a variety of styles but that Jane Marple remained classical who she is. Old and wily, her knitting in hand but her mind sharp and clear.
Thoroughly good read.