The Case of the Caretaker: a Miss Marple Short Story

Miss Marple #SS 18

by Agatha Christie

Doctor Haydock, the resident GP of St. Mary Mead, hopes to cheer up Miss Marple as she recovers from the flu. He brings her a little story.

The tale revolves around the return of the prodigal son of Major Laxton, the devilishly handsome Harry Laxton. Harry, after leading a life of childish indiscretions and falling head over heels for the village tobacconist’s daughter, has made good and returned to lay claim to his tumbling childhood home and introduce the village to his beautiful new wife. But the villagers are prone to gossip about young Harry’s past, and one person in particular cannot forgive him for tearing down the old house. Will Miss Marple’s acumen be up to the task of resolving the story?

Librarian's note: this entry relates to the short story, The Case of the Caretaker. Collections and the other stories by the author are located elsewhere on Goodreads. The Miss Marple series includes twelve novels and 20 short stories. Entries for each of the short stories can be found by searching Goodreads for: a Miss Marple Short Story.

Genres: Mystery, Agatha Christie, Short Stories, Crime, Fiction, Classics, Mystery Thriller

40 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1942

About the author

Agatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.

Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Miss Marple, recovering from a bad bout of the flu, was feeling depressed.
I guess that's a thing?
Anyway, it took a lot out of her, and she'd started to fall into a funk. So her good friend and physician, Doctor Haydock, brings her a file with a case he recently had so she can solve the whodunnit.



The gist is that a ne'er-do-well young man finally makes good and comes triumphantly home to his village with a rich, lovely wife who adores him. But things start to go wrong for them from the start and end with the tragic whinny of a horse bucking its rider off and to their death.

Of course, Marple susses out what happened and why it happened.
And then she isn't so depressed.<--good job, doc!



Read as part of the short story collection A Deadly Affair & Three Blind Mice and Other Stories.

[Obsidian · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a cute short story! I love revisiting Miss Marple. I think I read this in a collection before, but it seemed to be longer in this version which was weird.

"The Case of the Caretaker" has Miss Marple getting over a nasty flu. She's down and out and being morose. Her friend and doctor, Doctor Haydock, invites her to read a story he is writing and wondering if she can figure out the whodunit. It's based on something real in the doctor's life.

I always go back to Christie since she can set a scene. We get to get into the heads of several characters via Doctor Haydock's story. Harry Laxton has returned home married after a somewhat scandalous past to St. Mary's Mead. Harry has torn down his old ancestral home and built something new and shiny. He also turfed out the former's caretaker's wife who keeps popping up like the Babadook and harasses his new wife. The doctor comes into play since his niece feels very protective of the Harry and his wife. When Harry's wife is thrown from the horse after the caretaker ambushes her again, Doctor Haydock asks Miss Marple what does she think.

Honestly I was surprised at the ending since I didn't see it coming. I just thought what Christie wanted me to think and of course re-read this since the clues are all there. I thought it was a clever story and loved how Miss Marple puts things together.

[Jack Heath · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars. Not a mystery in which there is a great deal of confusion as to whodunit. That is, if anything criminal has actually been done! There's the challenge to Miss Marple. She's got the flu. And feeling morose, "After all, I'm an old woman. Nobody wants me or cares about me." It first appeared in The Strand in 1941 and is #17 of the 20 in Miss Marple: the Complete Short Stories of 2011. Dr. Haydock wants to cheer her up and suggests a mental tonic. He gives her a puzzle to read, a literary effort of his. He states, "The facts of the story are true .. (but) the interpretation is up to you." A young man named Harry Laxton, who had always been in trouble when growing up, has returned from a sojourn in Africa with a lovely bride in tow. She's rich too. All the locals are astonished. Has he reformed? The couple purchase the derelict estate, Kingsdean House, where he grew up and proceed to reinvigorate the property. Is all well with the marriage? There's an old girlfriend. Harry's wife Louise now seems unhappy. Then something happens. What does Miss M make of it? Was it criminal? The doctor's tonic worked and Miss Marple flourishes once more. (De2020/Ja2026)

[Ashley Cael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read in complete short stories

[Kelly Furniss · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this very short book as I'm rattling to the end of my 2017 reading challenge and needed a few short stories to complete it so I was thrilled to find a Agatha Christie 40 page story.
A quick brisk Miss Marple case solved by her on her sick bed with flu when her Dr brings her a manuscript to read based on real life events that ends in death. The Dr has suspicions but Miss Marple glues the pieces together and solves the case. It made a refreshing change to the usual style of asking lots of questions, talking to many people, working with police and visiting crime scenes it was more like a jigsaw puzzle brought to her to keep her mind active because she was sick.
A refreshing change of direction and enjoyable book.

[Lovely Day · Rating 2 out of 5]

2⭐️

Found this one boring

[Madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

I like the way Agatha Christie presented the story.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story where Miss Marple has to do a pure bedside detection. But, as usual, she succeeds.
Only, the clues were laid a bit thick, perhaps for the sake of fair-play.
But it’s a good story, nevertheless.

[Agla]

Miss Marple is poorly so her doctor gives her a mystery to solve in the form of a written narrative. She obviously solves it and it cures her "depression" to use her mind. Nice mystery

[B.A. Malisch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a charming little formulaic mystery. It took a minute to capture my attention.

It also used a word I had never seen or heard before, which almost never happens. The word was acidulated. I had to look it up, which amused me.

Pages: 40

[Shahd · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be honest I’m not a miss Marple fan and I only read it because it’s too short and wanted to get out of a reading slump but this is just a simplified short version of Endless night.
The same greedy, rich but want to be richer husband and the naive, helplessly in love, very very rich wife who is murdered because she is stupid and trusts a man😂
There is also a wicked gipsy old woman who threatens the-oh-so-soft-hearted wife and frightens her to get of the property or she will be cursed. Like??? Ok
So yeah a short version of Endless Night.

[Sameer Shakya · Rating 2 out of 5]

After you've read a few Christie books, you begin to notice a pattern. I give that it is a short story but after just the first 2 pages I could predict where it was going.


Now this book is exactly the same as Endless Night and I though Endless Night was a little similar to Death on the Nile. So what I am saying is, maybe I am done being surprised by a Christie book..

This does not mean I will stop reading them and I hope there are still a few that has something new to offer.

[Douwke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leuke sidestory van Miss Marple! Echt een leuk gegeven dat het gaat om een manuscript!

[Librarian Jessie (BibliophileRoses) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, Quick, and enjoyable Agatha Christie take for those looking for quick points in challenges

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting short story; more reminiscent of the original mysteries of ‘The Tuesday Night Club’ since Miss Marple has no direct involvement other than commentating. Reading a manuscript rather than listening to the tale. The end is the same however, she discerns the crucial elements that perhaps turns an accident into murder.

It strikingly similar to “Endless Night” in both concept and solution but in this condensed form it is punchy, sharp and impactful. While in the longer story the tension builds, the sense of impending danger and unease develop incrementally.

Both demonstrate the skill and ability in Christie’s work and the weaving of intrigue and menace into everyday life.

I particularly liked Miss Marple in the aftermath of flu being down and wondering if death would be a comfort. This is commonly known as ‘man-flu’ and it is pleasing that the great author allowed these traits to assail her protagonist.

Available to purchase separately or within a collection of stories - See “Miss Marple’s Final Cases”. I’m just grateful modern publishing and interest in Miss Marple exists today that I could read it for myself.

[mairiachi · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I might be more generous if I hadn't already read Endless Night. Not anything to rave about, but nice in a slogging, boring kind of way.

Read Murder of Roger Ackroyd first, then Endless Night, and then Case of the Caretaker, because they all have similar plot lines, but varying degrees of interesting story building, and Roger Ackroyd is by far the best of the three.

[Lou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird and funny... I haven't decided it yet..

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miss Marple is my favorite

Miss Marple doesn't fall for handsome young men's shenanigans. That's one of the things I like about her. None of this "boys will be boys."

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miss Marple is unwell/ down in the dumps. The village doctor brings her the perfect tonic.

[Maya Ch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miss Marple’s one and only medicine - solving a crime. Very contained short story, brought to her by her doctor while recovering from an illness and feeling depressed. Good doctor knows what cure patient needs! And we are in a treat as well as Miss Marple.

[As You Wish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m starting to feel like almost every murder in this short story collection is a domestic murder. Why are people so possessive of other people? Why can’t they let someone who has moved on live their life? I like the doctor himself and how he thought of this prescription for Miss Marple.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A man with a wayward past comes home to claim his inheritance with a new bride in tow. She is convinced that the old caretaker of the house has put a curse on them. She then dies after being thrown from her horse. Miss marple figures out that the man paid the caretaker to harass his wife and that her death was really from poison, administered by her husband, and not the fall from the horse.

[Fflur Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

A clever little short story. Christie's writing is always good and this was no exception. Because of the really short nature of it I did feel like I didn't quite have time to get into it and decipher the plot.
However it was a good book to end my 2020 reading challenge.

[Faith Gathigia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice and brief read. I kept zoning out while reading it but the interesting plot kept me glued long enough to finish it, and I'm glad I did. I hope to read more of Christie's work.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miss Marple is my favorite. I can’t believe I’ve never read this one.

[Joop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leuk verhaal maar minder qua plot.

[Daria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basically an early version of Endless Night

[Mike Lisanke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's a succinct whodunit where Miss Marple need not be asked twice; she know it's the hubby who has an old flame in town with a caretaker taking a dislike to the new wife.

[Lizzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love her work

This is a short story. It is so perfect. Quick and easy. simple, something easy to read an Agatha Christie story.

[Namra · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot is appealing. However, the conclusion is too abrupt and with no investigation (my favourite part) at all.

Miss Marple solves it from her bed and just by intuition (or because she is a superhuman), without any clues or evidences. She makes it look like the solution was too obvious, but I don't think you could just know, or guess, such a well-planned plan just like this.