I recently began reading a book entitled Agatha Christie – Marple. The book is a collection of short stories written by different authors, using the Ms. Marple character to explore a variety of scenarios. At the end of one investigation, Ms. Marple’s friend, Emmy, says to her:
“Well, Jane, you’ve only been here for twenty-four hours and already you’ve discovered two murders that no one else even realised were murders. And in Fishbourne, of all places!”
“You have lived a sheltered life, Emmy. But there is wickedness everywhere.” (p. 332)
This quotation captures perfectly what I feel is wrong with the book: there is no build up. The murders are well constructed, but there’s no time to analyze them and create theories before Ms. Marple has solved it, everyone cheers, and we move onto the next mystery. Additionally, evidence that could be used to solve the murder is either heavily emphasized or not mentioned at all. Multiple times throughout the book, Ms. Marple reminded the readers that there were, for example, two or three things that stuck out to her in a specific scene. This is unnecessary: anyone who started reading a murder mystery book would already be analyzing every sentence. It’s as if Ms. Marple turns towards the audience, sees they’re struggling to figure out the mystery, and decides she needs to slap them over the head with some evidence because they’re too stupid to figure it out.
One, two, three, four! 200 minimum words!