Mission Marple Book Club discussion

This my first read of Sleeping Murder and it was... MAGICAL. I just loved this and am so thankful I get to end my rereading of the novels on such a high note

I'm going to be a bit of a wet blanket here (well - a slightly damp,but still generally comfortable blanket) and say that the first few chapters are superb and really pull you in. Beyond that,the comparatively few suspects means that (rather like 'Mirror') Christie needs to play her misdirection card a little too often. On my first read,I picked up on this - but was reluctant to consider the only other character,as that would have meant going into darker territory than I thought Christie would have been comfortable going - but she surprised me! (Maybe that was the reason she held the book back from publication..?)

I finished this final novel for Mission Marple over the weekend and am so happy to say that it lived up to my memories and expectations. I really enjoyed myself with this one. I will say I have enjoyed the entire project, but my enjoyment during Sleeping Murder was probably the highest since A Pocket Full of Rye.

This is definitely a 40's novel, and sits perfectly after The Moving Finger. I have realised that I really enjoy Christie when she goes a bit gothic, as she has in this novel. In fact I often find Christie is better in these types of stories when it comes to making things spooky, than she is in her actual supernatural stories. The set up is wonderfully eerie! Just the phrase "monkey's paws" can still send a shiver down my spine haha. I thought the growing strain and hysteria in Gwenda was really nicely done. And the house really comes alive as a character in its own right too.

I was so happy to have spent a little bit of time in St Mary Mead too, which I hadn't remembered, and we get to see the Bantrys, yay! There is another subtle connection to some other Christie novels in this book too, specifically the start of Chapter 10. This appears in some form or other as well in (view spoiler)[The Pale Horse and By the Pricking of My Thumbs (hide spoiler)]. I must believe that this had to have been based off an experience Christie had actually had or had heard about, it's so specific and vivid.

I also enjoyed Miss Marple's role in the story overall, she doesn't so much tell Gwenda and Giles what is going on as to nudge them in the right direction. And what a hero she was at the end! ;).

As far as themes go in the novel, I thought it was really interesting to delve into the idea of how a victim can not only be physically destroyed, but also have her reputation destroyed after death. Helen is not at all the type of person she has been remembered as by many, ie as a kind of heartless nymphomaniac, but instead has had her reputation sullied by her own half-brother. It's so creepy! And is there an indication of an incestuous desire there? Like I said, it's such a gothic little story!

Went by way too fast, I really enjoyed it. Am sad to be coming to the end of this reading challenge!

I thoroughly enjoyed my re-read of this one, devoured it in one day! The first part is so much fun, following Gwenda as she arrives in England and finds the house, etc. Things have certainly changed a lot since the forties - a seven bedroom house is "not too big" (just average I guess. 😉)
There are co incidences galore, but the novel is just so charming, I don't care. It also gets so complicated at one point that I remember when I first read it I started making notes to try to get my head around it. But Christie irons it all out beautifully in the end as usual. One of my favourites, and a real treat to read as the final novel of Mission Marple.

Really good entry in the Miss Marple canon. Lots of red herrings but enough breadcrumbs to lead you to the correct solution. Good character work and a lot of reflections on happy/unhappy marriages.