Death by Drowning: a Miss Marple Short Story

Miss Marple #SS 13

by Agatha Christie

A young girl finds out she’s pregnant. They say she threw herself off a bridge. Suicide? Miss Marple is not so sure. She goes to her friend Sir Henry Clithering, former head of Scotland Yard, and convinces him to get involved. He notes that he generally wouldn't interfere with current matters but, since it's Miss Marple and he has experienced her talents previously, he agrees.

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

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

28 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1932

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

[Bobby Underwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

“If I were to tell you that I know because of a man called Peasegood leaving turnips instead of carrots when he came round with a cart and sold vegetables to my niece several years ago—”


Miss Marple is, in the above quote, attempting to explain to former Scotland Yard Inspector Clithering, how specialized knowledge has allowed her to deduce that a tragic village suicide was actually murder, and further, who murdered Rose.

It all begins with retired Inspector Clithering visiting Colonel Bantry and his wife Dolly, in St. Mary Mead. Dolly is distraught over the young village girl’s apparent suicide. Rose had thrown over the decent local boy Ellis for a newcomer, an architect named Sandford. Then she became pregnant. When she ends up dead in the water beneath a footbridge, everyone believes it’s suicide. Except, of course Miss Marple, and perhaps the police, who are quite naturally biased against the newcomer who is designing modern architecture in the small village of Mary Mead.

This leads to Miss Marple writing down the name of the person she is all but certain committed the crime, on a folded piece of paper, requesting Clithering use his reputation and position to tag along with the investigation before the inquest. This places Miss Marple off-stage, while at the same time bringing her front and center in the mind of the reader as Inspector Clithering joins the police in the questioning.

Death by Drowning is very good indeed. This story is the perfect example of why Agatha Christie herself felt that the Miss Marple stories worked so much better in short form, and were much more suited to Marple’s style of crime solving. Marple reflects upon past events and interactions in the village of St. Mary Mead which, on the surface, seem quite unrelated to events at hand. Except of course, in the very sharp mind of Miss Marple.

Who did shove young Rose off that footbridge, and why? The reason might be quite different from what you first conclude, and the murderer may be a great surprise in this terrific little short mystery story. The only thing which might have made this better is another page, with Miss Marple explaining in depth just how those turnips led her to “know” who murdered Rose, and why. Fun stuff.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A local girl, rumored to be pregnant by an out-of-town architect, is found drowned.
The locals assume it was suicide because her father is known to be an unreasonable man.



Sir Henry Clithering remembers Miss Marple from the Tuesday Night Club where a group of people gathered in a friend's house and told each other real-life mysteries.
Each time, Miss Marple correctly guessed whodunnit.
So when she comes to him with concerns that the girl's death isn't a suicide, he takes her seriously. But what confuses him further is that she is even more concerned that the wrong person not be hanged for her murder. She writes the murderer's name on a piece of paper and asks him to help her see that justice is done.

I thought Christie wrote some very good characters for this to be a short story. And of course, Miss Marple shines with her small-town wisdom and knowledge of people.

This can also be found in the short story collections The Thirteen Problems & A Deadly Affair.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Death by Drowning is the final story of the Tuesday Night Club. Quite some time has passed since the dinner party where the group last gathered. Miss Marple, Sir Henry Clithering, Dr Lloyd, Actress Jane Helier, Colonel Bantry and Mrs. Bantry have all gone their separate ways after sharing mysterious stories with each other. Miss Marple calls at Sir Henry's house one morning to relate a tale.....a story of a drowning case. Did a poor girl in trouble commit suicide? Or....did someone kill her?

This story is my favorite of the 13 stories featuring the Tuesday Night Club. The story is a bit more involved, and it's a bit more Christie-esque (Village gossip, several suspects, bit of sleuthing to get to the truth, a few red herrings....) than some of the shorter stories. A very nice close to this series of stories featuring Miss Marple. And, it shows that human nature, drama and problems are a bit different in modern society, but still very much the same. When an unmarried girl comes up pregnant, nosy people who ought to mind their own are still pretty quick to take up sides......the man is a pig, the girl is a slut, she's trying to trap a rich man, oh the poor guy who actually loves her being a dunce, etc etc That story still plays out much the same. And then.....if the poor girl is found dead.....all the usual suspects are still rounded up. Man accused of fathering the child. Man who was in the friend zone but loved her and would have married her, etc etc. Almost 100 years has gone by....but this story is still a familiar one in real life.

Death by Drowning was first published in 1931 in Nash's Pall Mall Magazine. All 13 of the stories featuring the Tuesday Night Club were gathered into novel form (The 13 Problems) in 1932. The stories (just like the earliest Hercule Poirot tales) were first published in magazines over a year or so. Then Christie added a few segues to tie the stories together a bit more and put them out as a book. Smart move. And the short little mysteries are a great intro to the character of Miss Marple.

I have been a huge fan of Agatha Christie since I was 9 and read my first Hercule Poirot novel. It was the first "adult'' book I ever read. Took me all summer to read the 5 paperbacks I bought at a garage sale. The stories were so good....but the print was so small that I had to use a bookmark to keep my place. I remember sitting at my mother's breakfast bar with the paperback and the family dictionary (a HUGE very heavy leather bound tome that I wasn't allowed to take down from the shelf. My father had to put it on the table for me. It was very old....and probably outweighed me. lol. Pre-internet memories!) I had to look up some of the words I came across as I read because I was only 9 and probably should have been reading Nancy Drew or somesuch.....but I was determined to read about the lovely Belgian detective with the fancy moustache. :) Memories! Over the years I read many of her novels and wanted to read all of her writing, but our small town had no bookshop. The local library didn't have many of her books. I couldn't even find a complete list of her writing! But now....as an adult with access to book stores whenever I want, all the kids raised but one, the internet at the ready.....I can research and find all of Christie's works and read them just for the simple joy of it! Finally!! I decided to read in publication order and am having the best time! I read a book....a story or two....go down whatever rabbit holes of research I feel like following.... Pure bliss!! The project will take me awhile....2020 is nearly done and I'm just now into the 1930s in the timeline of Christie's mystery writing. But I feel like I've made good progress...before now, I had never read any of Christie's short stories. And I enjoyed a couple of her books that I had never read -- The Big Four and The Blue Train.

I listened to an audio book version of this story read by Joan Hickson (she played Miss Marple on television from 1984-1992) while reading along in my hardback copy of Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories. I like to read the words while listening to the story....then I get the dialogue in the correct accent, the proper pronunciation of any French/foreign words, names or places, and for me, it's just more fun that way. :)

I'm going to ferret around on the internet and see if I can find any public domain copies of the magazines that first published Christie's early stories. I would love to see the cover art, advertisements, layout, her stories in their original format and other works from writers who were also included!! I know I would discover new-to-me mystery writers of the same era that showcased their characters in the same way! Always up for a golden age mystery story!

Moving on! The next novel is: The Mysterious Mr. Quin! The book is actually a collection of stories featuring Harley Quin, a detective with a bit of the supernatural about him. Can't wait! I have the audio book queued up on my phone already!

[Lovely Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️

My first miss Marple (I think)

A young, unmarried pregnant woman with two suitors, is found dead in the river. It is thought suicide at first but then miss Marple declares that the lady was murdered and she knows who did it

[Jack Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars. It looked so much like a suicide to the police and most other observers. That is, to everyone except Miss Marple. A young woman with two boyfriends, got pregnant by one of them. Will he do the honourable thing and marry her? But he's already engaged! Everyone's assumption is that, in response, she threw herself off a bridge into the fast running river. The 25 page short came out in 1931 in Nash's Pall Mall Magazine. It was in 1932's The Thirteen Problems, although I read it in Miss Marple: the Complete Short Stories of 2011. This one is set after the Tuesday Night Club gatherings but still involves Sir Henry Clithering. He's back in St. Mary Mead, and Miss M approaches him. Can he look into the apparent suicide of Rose Emmott? His response is to remind her that he has retired as head of Scotland Yard. Her idea is to incite Sir Henry to ask a few questions of the local police, Inspector Drewitt and Chief Constable Colonel Melchett. She gives him a name on a piece of paper - the person she suspects as Rose's murderer. His response? "Extraordinary." And, "I'm going to back my judgment - of you Miss Marple." Good thinking sir. (De2020/De2025)

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Det var en riktigt intressant historia. Jag kom på vem det var innan det skrevs ut, men det var först efter att alla hade förhörts. Rekommenderar den varmt.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miss Marple drags Sir Henry into the investigation of a girl’s drowning. It is originally thought that she committed suicide because she was pregnant and the man from London, Stanford, who got her into trouble was not going to marry her as he was already engaged to a woman back in London. The autopsy shows bruising on the girls arms, indicating that the was pushed, which makes it murder. Miss Marple tells Sir Henry that she knows who did it but she can’t prove it. She writes the name on a piece of paper and tells Sir Henry to try to find evidence. The police want to arrest Stanford, who has no alibi. Sir Henry convinces them to interview her local boyfriend, Joe Ellis, who rents a room from Mrs. Bartlett. She tells them that they were both at home that night, Joe was fixing shelves in the kitchen. The boy who discovered the body said he thought Joe was on the bridge because he heard him whistling, but he could not see him in the mist. He only saw two men pushing a wheelbarrow on the bridge. When Sir Henry reports to Miss Marple, she says that it wasn’t two men and a wheelbarrow, it was Joe and Mrs. Bartlett and her laundry basket because Mrs. Bartlett always delivers laundry on Friday nights. Sir Henry gets Mrs. Bartlett to confess that she convinced Joe to lie about the alibi because she feared that the police would suspect him when really all along she wanted the alibi for herself.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of course since the arrival of ebooks one can now buy many of Agatha Christie’s short stories individually, such pieces were originally part of a larger collection.
But even at 99p it makes more sense to buy a larger volume of her works; especially if the price is reduced. This story was in Autumn Chills, containing twelve various works by this celebrated author, including two Miss Marple episodes of which Death By Drowning is one.

This is clearly a Miss Marple tale; ‘ “I know human nature” said Miss Marple’.
An old friend, an ex-Commissioner of Scotland Yard is staying in St Mary Mead, Miss Marple approaches him to avoid a miscarriage of justice and an innocent person being hanged.

I love the idea that she shares her suspicions by writing the name of the guilty party she has deduced on a piece of paper. Thereafter she asked the esteemed retired police officer to take an interest in the case. Working alongside the local constabulary she hopes he will reach the same conclusion as her. The difficulty being there is no evidence to support her opinion other than her knowledge of human nature.

Even in such a short offering, Christie is able to compound the mystery by adding one final twist. We as readers have no idea of the name she has written, but we have some idea. How wrong we might be, we bow to Miss Marple’s astute observations - this is why we love these stories.

[Cecilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ska helt klart läsa böckerna om Miss Marple mycket snart. Underbart roliga och svåra som en nöt att knäcka.

[Catherine Vamianaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading it

[Amina (ⴰⵎⵉⵏⴰ) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Umm, it was kinda interesting, I didn't know who did it but I did know who didn't do it, I'd have loved miss Marple to explain how she came to that conclusion because Sir. Henry wasn't that persuasive, anyway, a detective story is always welcome :)

[itchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

eponymous-ey sentence:
p12: "...What difference does that make to Rose drowning herself?"

What better way to cap things off with a live case?

Read as part of the collection The Thirteen Problems.

[Verba Non Res · Rating 2 out of 5]

Este es el último de los trece problemas de Miss Marple, e incluye la única investigación de todo el libro que vemos desarrollarse en paralelo a la narración en lugar de recibirla en diferido. Es el salto de Miss Marple, de las tibias salas de estar de la campiña británica, al mundo real en el que tiene lugar el crimen. Lo lamentable, quizás, es que no sea ella quien lleve a cabo la investigación en sí, en parte porque su inteligencia le permite deducir lo ocurrido sin hacer ningún trabajo de campo. Además, la solución le llega, como a veces ocurre en estos relatos, mágicamente; no por razonamiento, sino más bien por su a menudo invocada familiaridad con el alma humana, y la analogía con algún caso menor que experimentó en su vida pueblerina (aunque ni siquiera esa analogía está explicitada en este caso).

Cuento #13 de Los trece problemas

Anterior: “The Affair at the Bungalow”

[Hellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in the lovely edition published by the Swedish Novellix as part of the Agatha Christie quartet published in September '15.

My ranking for the 4 of them:
1. The Blue Geranium (Den blå pelargonen)
2. Dead by Drowning (Döden i floden)
3. The Horses of Diomedes (Diomedes hästar)
4. The Unbreakable Alibi (Ett vattentätt alibi)

I enjoyed all of them in the little snack size they came in and I will return to Agatha Christie's short stories, which make the perfect nightcap for someone like me who sometimes has trouble putting her mind to rest in the evening. However, I still prefer Christie's novels. It seems tricky fitting her formula in a mere 30 pages, and some of the things that make her special to me didn't make it to this size. In her novels there are often hints that can help you with figuring out who committed the crime for yourself, which didn't happen in these shorts (which I guess makes sense). The other thing was that the crimes appeared to have to be more far-fetched than usual to make the story interesting, while it's usually some interaction between the characters that make the showdowns so interesting.

[mairiachi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Random fact: Sandford, the one originally suspected in Death By Drowning, is the same name as the brother of Mrs. Eccles who got killed in the short story Sanctuary.

2.5 stars. Did not guess the murderer, but not three stars because honestly there just aren't enough characters in short stories for things to get too confusing.

[Aca · Rating 4 out of 5]

❤

A beautiful set of stories. I like Miss Marple's way of solving crimes, it's so unique.

I listen to audiobook narrated by Joan Hickson, who portrayed Miss Marple in movies, so it was an amazing experience.

❤

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant

This very short story is Christie at her best. A young girl commits suicide, but did she? Miss Marple knows for sure. A brilliant conclusion.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a bit of an unusual one, collected as it is with the rest of the Tuesday Club murder stories, as it relates a case that's ongoing, rather than one that happened in the past. A young woman kills herself, or so everyone thinks, but Miss Marple has her suspicions, and ropes in a retired Scotland Yard detective to prove it. She writes down the name of the person she thinks is responsible, and gives it to the detective, but although the reader can surmise that Miss Marple is indeed correct, we don't get know what the name is until the end of the story. Even so, I'd picked the murderer. It doesn't happen often, but when they turned up on the page I thought "You are exactly the sort that Miss Marple would finger for this" and lo, it turns out I was right.

Which lets me end this particular collection on a rather smug note.

[As You Wish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again Miss Marple has it figured out before anyone else has taken a second look at things. I really quite liked this format, where she gave someone else her answer on a paper, so we were left wondering who the culprit was as we watched Sir Henry question everyone involved. Very creative.

[Jakob Hessius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Den här var lite gullig och kul!

[Chari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clever set up but not enough Miss Marple.

[a ☕︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

clocked the murderer and the motivation. who am i, miss marple?

[Agnes Fridell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rätt trevlig kort novell i typisk Agatha Christie stil om obesvarad kärlek och mystisk död.

[Wen · Rating 2 out of 5]

too short

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a separate volume of short stories also under this title but as I had read all the stories except this one in other collections, I am going with the solo story. There was originally 13 (if I recall correctly) Miss Marple books plus a volume of short stories. Time & transatlantic publishing rights have created a lot of overlap: very confusing!
This tale was also used for a modern television adaption but it may have been used as the basis for a series episode (Midsomer Murders?) as I can’t find a reference to it anywhere.

[Mike Lisanke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story and a wonderful setup. As Miss Marple acquits one man who she detects is innocent and another who's too dull to conceive the crime in favor of the kindly woman at a nearby house who took in the innocent years ago and was in love. fascinating even if too well contrived.

[Milton. · Rating 4 out of 5]

En invecklad historia med många misstänkta och ett bra slut med oväntade vändningar. Bra bra. Älskar Miss Marples lilla visit med Sir Henry, det gjorde allt så mycket mer spännande än om Henry hade löst allt själv. Bra och underhållande!

[Sofie Strömvall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Real rating: 3,5 stars

Sv: Vilket knepigt fall. Jag önskar vi hade fått en utförligare förklaring till hur Miss Marple kunde lista ut allt det där. Annars gillar jag idén med en kvinnligt ogift detektiv. Jag har gått från att inte vara särskild intresserad av Agatha Christie till att få mersmak på Miss Marple. Det får minsann bli en hel roman om henne snart, tycker jag.

Eng: What a tricky case. I wish we had a more extensive explanation to how Miss Marple could have figured all that out. Otherwise I like the idea with a female maiden detective. I have gone from not being that interested of Agatha Christie to wanting more of Miss Marple. Surely I'll read a whole novel about her soon.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final of the Thirteen Problems brings us again to the Bantrys, where Sir Henry Clithering is staying. Miss Marple pays a visit to talk to Sir Henry and asks for his help in finding the murderer of a girl that drowned. She gives him a note with the person's name she thinks committed the crime, but she has no evidence.
Sir Henry accompanies the local police in their investigation, and although it first did not look like Miss Marple was right, it eventually turns out that she was.

Enjoyable finishing story to the Thirteen Problems, this time not a told story as the previous twelve. Including four characters from the previous short stories, it fits well into the series.