Beloved detective fiction writer Agatha Christie’s great grandson, James Pritchard, recently confirmed that a new TV adaptation of Miss Marple is underway. He stated that Marple’s character had been “underestimated” and needed to return for the modern audiences. Miss Marple made her first appearance in a short story titled The Tuesday Night Club in 1927, and later in the full-length novel, The Murder at the Vicarage in 1930. We’re curious to see how the character evolves in its modern sensibilities almost a century after its first publication.

Meanwhile, here are our recommendations, if you’re looking for an introduction to Christie’s detective of St Mary Mead.

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4.50 from Paddington: As Mrs McGillicuddy looks out of the train window, she sees a man in a big coat grabbing a woman by her throat in the first-class carriage of the parallel train passing by. After reporting what she witnessed to the ticket collector, she takes the case to her friend at St Mary Mead, the sharp and shrewd Miss Marple, the only one who would believe her. When no ‘body’ is found in the train, the case becomes curiouser. Miss Marple devises a plan to visit “the terrain of the crime”. She must find out who was murdered, who committed the crime, and how the body went missing from the 4.50 train from Paddington. If you’re a first-time Marple reader, this is a great place to start.
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