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    They Do It With Mirrors: A Miss Marple Mystery
    They Do It With Mirrors: A Miss Marple Mystery
    They Do It With Mirrors: A Miss Marple Mystery
    Ebook238 pages3 hours

    They Do It With Mirrors: A Miss Marple Mystery

    By Agatha Christie

    3.5/5

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    In Agatha Christie’s They Do It with Mirrors, the indomitable Miss Marple investigates some rather deadly doings at a rehabilitation center for delinquents.

    Miss Marple senses danger when she visits a friend living in Stoneygates, a rehabilitation center for delinquents. Her fears are confirmed when someone shoots at the administrator. Although he is not injured, a mysterious visitor is less fortunate—shot dead simultaneously in another part of the building.

    Pure coincidence? Miss Marple thinks not, and must use all her cunning to solve the riddle of the stranger’s visit … and his murder.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMar 17, 2009
    ISBN9780061753879
    Author

    Agatha Christie

    Agatha Christie (1890–1976) is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the bestselling novelist of all time. The first recipient of the Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master Award, she published eighty mystery novels and many short story collections and created such iconic fictional detectives as Hercule Poirot, Miss Jane Marple, and Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. She is known around the world as the Queen of Crime.

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    Reviews for They Do It With Mirrors

    3.5/5

    707 ratings32 reviews

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    • 4/5
      At a reunion with a friend from her youth, Jane Marple learns that her friend is very worried about her sister, Carrie Louise, whom Miss Marple hasn’t seen in decades. Miss Marple agrees to accept an invitation to stay with Carrie Louise should she offer an invitation, and she soon finds herself ensconced at Stonygates, the estate where Carrie Louise and her third husband rehabilitate juvenile delinquents. Miss Marple’s presence isn’t enough to avert the murder of Carrie Louise’s stepson from her first marriage. The murder occurred while the household feared another was taking place in a locked room. One member of the household must have viewed the goings-on in the locked room as a distraction to cover the murder. But which one? The spoiled granddaughter, her sullen American husband, the daughter with a chip on her shoulder, one of the stepsons from the second marriage, or one of the many troubled inmates?I have a soft spot for this book since it was the first of Agatha Christie’s novels I read many years ago. Miss Marple uses excellent deductive reasoning in figuring out what must have happened. “They do it with mirrors.” Of course, there are also the village parallels that make Miss Marple such a discerning judge of character.
    • 3/5
      While I enjoyed this entry in the Miss Marple series, it was just "good" not great as some of Christie's are. Given Miss Marple's oft pronounced maxim of never believe anything anyone says without confirmation, she seemed to take Lewis Serrocold's statements at face value for far too long.
    • 3/5
      When Miss Marple's old school friend, Ruth, asks Miss Marple to check in on Ruth's sister, Carrie Louise, at her estate, Miss Marple is only too happy to comply. Upon arrival at Stonygates, Miss Marple must agree with Ruth that something odd is in the air at the estate beyond the strangeness that results from it also being home to an institute for delinquent boys and young men. When one of Carrie Louise's relatives is murdered, it becomes even clearer that something is afoot at Stonygates and it is up to Miss Marple to figure it out.Agatha Christie is always a reliably solid read and this entry in the Miss Marple series is no exception. However, I have to admit that it didn't knock my socks off quite the same way as the prior Miss Marple. I think some of the reason that I was underwhelmed was that I figured out who did it relatively early on and thus was deprived of the usual surprise. Nonetheless, an enjoyable read.
    • 4/5
      This was so very nearly a perfect score. But I found the fate of the criminal and his accomplice too much of an anticlimax. Having said that, this book was an absolute pleasure to read. The characters are memorable. Miss Jane Marple appears in it a lot. We know something new about her youth, but it's not much to go with. Carrie Louise and Ruth could have been temporary props that weren't significant in Miss Marple's past.There was a certain fluidity in the narrative that I didn't find in Marple stories till now. The best example of that were when Jane Marple was being introduced to the rambling household of Carrie Louise, and also during the interrogation scenes by Inspector Curry. The interviews were far from rambling themselves. It's curious how Inspector Curry at one instant has respect for Miss Marple, but when she has solved the case, and was beginning her explanations, he immediately thought she was batty. That was the one jarring inexplicable fact of the book.The character Gina is the one who gives out the usual, obligatory, and much awaited speech about life. Immediately after the speech, she is given a forceful kiss by Alex. The author makes Alex pay dearly by making him the one who realizes the truth about the murder, how the trick was accomplished. Alex I think, died needlessly. His death is barely given the decorum of the limelight. His needless death is glossed over. Nobody really says how or when was he killed.I was dreading the title of this book; 'They Do It With Mirrors'. There's an Hercule Poirot story that has a similar title and I feared this plot was to be a rehash. Good news; there's no actual mirror in the solution of the case. This book was a joy to read. I'm looking forward to the rest of the Marple stories with impatience.
    • 3/5
      Miss Marple was a bit more of a constant in this book than in others, which was quite nice -- I think it's best when the detective character is more of a character, like Philip Marlowe or Peter Wimsey, or whatever. In this book Miss Marple, and her childhood friend -- mostly her childhood friend, I think -- are the bigger attractions. The plot was, somehow, predictable -- either predictable to anyone, or just predictable because I'm getting far too used to Agatha Christie's writing and way of constructing a mystery.

      Carrie Louise is a sweet character, and probably the best thing about this book. I felt like the background characters were less clearly drawn than in some of these books -- nothing like the background romance that's in The Moving Finger, for example.
    • 3/5
      Alright. She's done much better. None of the characters stand out which is unusual and (what I think goes hand in hand with that) there's no trace of the humour I've come to love in Christie's books. I knew who the murderer was as soon as the murder was committed and that never bothers me but since the characters are so bland there was nothing much left to enjoy. Still very readable but infinitely forgettable too.
    • 4/5
      Not my favourite Miss Marple, but still an enjoyable read.
    • 3/5
      I have said previously that sometimes Miss Marple gives me the creeps, but in this book I found her character very likable. I would say it is one of the better Miss Marple mysteries I've read, however, I'm only half finished with them! I enjoyed the ending as well.
    • 3/5
      At a delinquents’ home, Jane Marple investigates an unknown threat, at the behest of an old friend.

      Watching the Joan Hickson adaptation of "They Do It With Mirrors", I was struck by how many of the notable elements – the number of underage characters, the theatrical menace – struck me as rather un-Christie. Not surprisingly, reading the book shows that – as with many stories that venture outside characters she was familiar with – things begin to fall apart. "They Do It With Mirrors" is not a Marple highlight, but it’s an easy read. The strange setting – a country house doubling as an institution for troubled youths – is not very well realised, but the perennial upper-crust characters shine through in what is (intentionally or otherwise) a light examination of changing social mores.

      Miss Marple’s hawk-eyed, gossipy personality is – of course – perfect for an amateur detective. Far more than any of the other amateurs Christie offered over the years, Jane Marple’s ruthless cunning can ultimately unravel any thread of mystery. (Unlike Poirot, I don’t think she ever gets things wrong, which can, unfortunately, make the occasional climax – "A Pocket Full of Rye", notably – seem wantonly reckless.) However, these books can often lack anything regarding a thrill – one can’t help feeling that a more active detective might have provided this. It’s no surprise that the best of the Marple novels either unite her with a co-detective (officially or narratively) or at least see the spinster knuckle down on some true investigation. There’s nothing wrong with "They Do It With Mirrors", but it’s one of the least memorable Marples.

      [The U.S. title was "Murder with Mirrors". Perhaps they just wanted a title that assured you of the book's genre? Or perhaps, like me at eight years old, finding it on the library shelf, they found "they do it with mirrors" to be giggle-worthy. Puerile sort, perhaps?]

      Marple ranking: 10th out of 14
    • 3/5
      He purely loves Agatha Christie, personally she's okay, but... Miss Marple though - I do like the way that lady thinks.
    • 5/5
      Working my way through all of Christie’s Miss Marple books, I hit two fantastic installments in a row, including this. In Murder with Mirrors (or, They Do It With Mirrors) Miss Marple appears before anyone has actually died!Jane’s friend Ruth asks her to go and visit Ruth’s sister Carrie Louise because she feels sure there is something wrong in her household. Miss Marple takes her intuition seriously and heads to Stonygates, Carrie Louise’s home, where they have set up a foundation to help juvenile offenders escape a life of crime. Jane also meets Carrie Louise’s family: friend and companion Jolly, husband Lewis, daughter Mildred, step sons Alex and Steven and granddaughter Gina with her husband Walter. It isn’t long after arriving that Carrie’s other stepson Christian, on the board for the foundation, arrives unexpectedly – and is promptly murdered. Was he there on foundation business? Was it something to do with Carrie Louise’s health? There were couple things about this mystery that I really loved. First, Miss Marple is actually part of the story right and is involved from beginning to end. In previous books, I felt like she just showed up toward the end just to “solve” the mystery. Here, she is seeing everything unfold so her deductions gave the reader more. Also, this something of a locked door mystery, which I’m a fan of. Just about everyone has motive, but at the time of the murder they were all listening outside a door as Lewis had a violent confrontation with Edgar Lawson, one of the offenders. It’s possible one or more suspects could have slipped out, but how and why is where the fun begins. I thought the ultimate conclusion was excellent. The culprit made perfect sense – if you were paying attention!
    • 5/5
      Another pearl from Agatha Christie. As is generally the case, much better than the movie, although Joan Hickson does an excellent job as Miss Marple. Highly recommend this book to Agatha Christie fans.
    • 4/5
      A family running a psychiatric "Reform College" for juvenile offenders is thrown into a tizzy when a visiting trustee is murdered in his room, the head of the family & reform college is "attacked" by one of his "patients" behind closed doors with the family listening, and the matriarch is seemingly being poisoned.

      Two more murders take place; one of the stepsons & a youthful offender who both seem to know something they shouldn't...

      Before any of this happens Miss Marple is sent down by Ruth van Rydock (an former school chum) to make sure that their mutual former school chum, Carrie Louise (Matriarch) is safe... When Ruth last stayed w/ Carrie Louise there had been a sense of impending trouble brewing.

      The family was a definitely odd group of people, being mostly adopted: with the natural daughter being a sour, jealous woman; the Italian dramatic granddaughter being from an adopted mother (whose grandmother was a convicted murderess) & her unhappy husband (a simple man from the mid-west u.s.); an older stepson by Carrie Louise's first marriage; two other stepsons from a second marriage both in love w/ the granddaughter and wanting to marry her; and the newly arrived out-of-place ranting young man suffering from persecution & delusional syndrome.

      I liked the mystery and the story (a twist on the locked door conundrum), but I didn't take too much to the characters, so I knocked this down a star.

    • 4/5
      Wealthy school friend Ruth asks Miss Marple to go visit Ruth's sister Carol Anne. Also wealthy and currently married to a man determined to find a cure for criminal behavior in young men, Carol Anne has always been rather dreamy and aloof, yet she is surrounded by people who adore her. At any time there is her housekeeper, granddaughter, two step sons and various troubled young men hanging about the house, all trying to make Carol Anne comfortable and happy, even when Carol Anne's former step son, staying over just one night, winds up dead. I place this one right in the middle of the pack of Christies. Unusual plot, yet with that beautiful yet callous young woman who seems to worm her way through so many Christies.
    • 5/5
      Nice, neat little Miss Marple mystery. Miss Marple is asked by an old friend from her school days to check up on the friend's sister, who is now a remarried widow, living at her estate. Her second husband has turned the estate into an institution for the rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents. But, something odd and sinister seems to lurk, not in the dormitories, but in the manor house itself. When a trustee of the institution is murdered while staying in the house, Miss Marple's detective skills come into play to catch the murderer before he or she strikes again.
    • 4/5
      An old school friend asks Miss Marple to visit her sister, about whom she's quite worried. When Miss Marple arrives at Stonygates, a country house with a young offenders institution attached, she is thrown into the complicated relationships of an extended family, and it isn't long before a murder is committed. Luckily, Miss Marple is at hand to prevent a possible miscarriage of justice from being carried out.I agree with one or two other reviewers that the solution was quite easy to spot, especially if one is familiar with the way Agatha Christie's mind works. It is true that she does quite well to throw in false clues and red herrings so that I wavered in my resolution more than once. Not all of the plot line is convincing, but as ever Ms Christie's novels and stories prove a diverting read that exercises those *little grey cells*.
    • 4/5
      Classic Ms. Marple -- what's not to love?
    • 3/5
      Miss Marple goes to spend a few days with her old friend Carrie Louise, at the request of old friend's sister who is worried that something sinister is happening without being able to pin down why she feels that way. Carrie Louise's first husband set up a "good works" institution in the grounds of his estate prior to his death, which is currently being used to rehabilitate young criminals, and her third and current husband Lewis is one of the trustees of the institution. Several members of the rather complex family structure live with them, which means there are several people with a financial interest in murdering Carrie Louise. Then, of course, there are the juvenile delinquents. However, when murder happens, it's with a twist. Lewis's young assistant has a mental breakdown and has a confrontation with Lewis which climaxes with the young man shooting at him but missing, and at the same time her step-son from her first marriage is murdered elsewhere in the house by a shot which initially goes unnoticed in the immediate aftermath of the altercation between Lewis and his assistant.Lewis tells the police that earlier that day the murder victim had told him in confidence that someone was trying to poison Carrie Louise -- an obvious motive for someone to seize the opportunity to silence him while everyone was distracted, and an urgent reason for the police to find the killer before anyone else dies. It's up to Miss Marple to unpick the tangle of motives and opportunity at Stonygates.I worked out who and how almost immediately -- but so excellent was the misdirection that I thought that I must be mistaken. As usual with Christie, once you do know what happened a lot of tiny details suddenly click neatly into place.One thing I did notice was that Christie through Miss Marple has a lot to say about excusing criminal behaviour because someone had a problem childhood. It's not a problem for me, since it's in character for Miss Marple anyway, but I did feel that it was the author's viewpoint as well as the character's, and for some readers it might feel a bit too much like being lectured. But I enjoyed this book a lot -- and when you finally know the answer, the motivation feels right for that character.
    • 4/5
      This is one of Christie's shorter novels at just over 200 pages, but it's tauter than some, and the setting is slightly more unusual - a reform home for young criminals. This is the first Miss Marple novel I have read, and she played a less prominent role than Poirot does, advising on the sidelines but not taking part in the setpiece interview scenes with the cast of suspects as does the Belgian. She is dismissed as a slightly dotty old lady by some of the younger characters, who think she can never have been young ("To youth it seems very odd to think that age was once young and pigtailed and struggled with decimals and English literature."), but naturally she later gains the respect of all. The ending was quite dramatic and unexpected (to me, anyway). One minor point that has struck me in this and a couple of her other novels is the characters in each of them who are dismissive of Italian people in general as liars who are prone to violence, which is a bit odd.
    • 3/5
      Miss Marple is visiting a old friend when a murder is committed. Each member of the household (naturally) falls under suspicion. I felt the truth, when finally revealed, a little forced and unlikely but the book was well-written and enjoyable anyway.
    • 2/5
      Jane Marple’s childhood friend and schoolmate, Ruth, expresses her concern about her sister, Carrie Louise, and asks Miss Marple to go for a visit and try to find out what is happening. Carrie Louise has always been rather idealistic and she hasn’t had much luck with her marriages, though she has been left with considerable wealth and a large country estate. Miss Marple arrives to find that Carrie Louise’s current husband has helped her turn the estate into a home for delinquent boys, with a large staff of doctors, therapists and teachers. Her daughter, granddaughter and two stepsons are also currently at the estate. Her former brother-in-law, Christian Gulbrandsen, who is a director of the trust that funds the estate, arrives unexpectedly to confer with her husband, Lewis Serrocold. Before they can meet with the other directors, however, Gulbrandsen is murdered and someone has tried to poison Carrie Louise. Just what is going on?

      I love Agatha Christie and have enjoyed other Miss Marple mysteries, but this one misses the mark. It is far too convoluted, and yet very slow going despite everything that is happening. There is the central murder; the evidence of poisoning; a clearly unhinged paranoid patient who apparently is trusted enough to be Lewis Serrocold’s assistant; a possible love triangle between Carrie Louise’s granddaughter, her angry American husband, and at least one (if not both) of Carrie’s stepsons; and a juvenile delinquent who is a master lock picker and claims to have witnessed something important on one of his nocturnal jaunts away from the dormitory.

      Christie has proved that she is more than capable of juggling many storylines to build suspense and thwart the reader’s efforts to figure out the solution before the author chooses to reveal it. But rather than tight plotting with twists and turns, this novel’s storyline seemed to just meander without purpose (other than to fill pages). The final reveal was done in the form of a letter, neatly tying up all loose ends in a couple of paragraphs rather than giving us the confrontation and reveal in real time. I had been bored for much of the book and was glad it was over, but I felt that I hadn’t read a Christie novel at all, but something written by a less-skilled author to imitate the Queen of Crime.
    • 4/5
      Yet another kookie, silly, fun Miss Marple mystery by Christie.There becomes a comforting sameness in these after a bit but thatdoes nothing to destroy the enjoyment of the story.In this one a family member is shot at a private rehabilitation center andMiss Marple must get to the bottom of it. Which she does with herusual aplomb.Again I recommend it and gave it 3 1/2 stars out of 5.
    • 5/5
      Could hardly fault this - straightforward good crime novel, with dollops of rather brilliantly observed character. I'd forgotten how spot-on AC could be. Of course it's all done, well, with mirrors, and smoke, and the denouement is the sort of huge surprise that's so surprising you should have guessed who, if not why; but crisply done. A Miss Marple story, btw.
    • 2/5
      My wife reads Agatha Christie. Loves them, actually. Me, I think 'And Then There Were None' and 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd' are two of the greatest detective novels ever penned, but every other time I've tried a Christie I've been left a little cold.Still, I thought I'd give 'Mirrors' a go, and I liked the setting, a couple of the characters, but I guessed the murderer as the murder was taking place and spent the rest of the book thinking I had been well and truly fooled, tricked into suspecting the wrong person, only to discover that there was no twist, I was right all along.Which was a shame.The killer was the only person it COULD be.After experiencing the breathtaking revelations of the aforementioned classics, at the end of 'Mirrors' I just kind of shrugged and said 'Huh.'If this was an early Ellery Queen novel there would be a Challenge to the Reader that would say, simply: I challenge the reader to NOT solve this one.
    • 3/5
      After a plea from a worried sister, Jane Marple arrives at Stonygates to investigate into the affairs of an old school chum, Carrie Louise. Her sister doesn’t know exactly what is going on, but feels that something is very wrong at this country estate. It doesn’t take Jane long to realize she is right. With murder and poisonings happening around her, she is very worried indeed.They Do It With Mirrors is a solid offering from Agatha Christie that I enjoyed, but found a little plodding and predictable. Both the setting and the cast of characters were rather unbelievable and the book in whole felt rather dated. Usually as you read an Agatha Christie you get a strong sense of the enjoyment and relish she takes in her work, but that was missing in this book.If you are a fan of Miss Christie’s work, then I would say go ahead with this book. But if you are a first time reader I would suggest starting somewhere else.
    • 3/5
      Nice little problem for Miss Marple. Maybe not one of her best but when you know what happened it's fun to watch the misdirection!
    • 5/5
      I have a serious soft spot for this Miss Marple mystery. Our twinkly sleuth is planted in a group home for juvenile delinquents to investigate what's up with her old school friend Carrie Louise, who's married to the head of the school. The mystery itself here is nothing special -- it's a variation on a closed-room job -- but what's interesting is Christie's other not-so-hidden agenda. That is, much of the book is a kind of satire on modern methods of criminal rehabilitation. It's fascinating how many of the tedious tropes of contemporary educational/psychological theory are already in the crosshairs here, especially the assumption that self-esteem is sacred. Christie has no time whatever for this, and lets the reader know in numerous ways . . . .
    • 4/5
      An old friend of Miss Marples and a murder at Stony Gates school.
    • 3/5
      I listened to this, so once or twice when it seemed to me that things had got out of sync, it might have been me and not being able to flick back, rather than Agatha Christie actually getting it wrong. At more than one point, I felt sure that at least a day had gone by, but maybe that was me. It's possible I have either read this before or seen it on the TV, but I got the murderer correct. Right at the point the Police appear and Miss Marple says "I think they call it misdirection"; at that point I knew who, but not exactly the how of it. It's set in a large house, part of which is used by the philanthropic owners as an institute for reforming young criminals, there's a complex and somewhat unhealthy family dynamic, with a number of possible suspects for the crime. That, when coupled with a suspected poisoning, causes a long list of suspects. And the list seems to get longer, not shorter, as the murder progresses. As is usual the obvious suspect is not, the truth lies somewhere else and there's a certain amount of water muddying that goes on before it all gets sorted out. The end is slightly unexpected and mildly unsatisfactory, I do prefer the law to get their man.
    • 3/5
      Miss Marple is not my favorite detective, as she bungles into a solution to a crime. In this mystery, Miss Marple draws upon a magic trick that she witnessed as a child. The use of mirrors provides Miss Marple with the explanation needed to solve the crime. So many characters that could have committed the crime and what a fabulous style of painting a negative picture of certain characters. The ending gives a pleasant surprise in all the nefarious acts against Carrie Louise and her family.

    Book preview

    They Do It With Mirrors - Agatha Christie

    One

    Mrs. Van Rydock moved a little back from the mirror and sighed.

    Well, that’ll have to do, she murmured.

    Think it’s all right, Jane?

    Miss Marple eyed the Lanvanelli creation appraisingly.

    It seems to me a very beautiful gown, she said.

    The gown’s all right, said Mrs. Van Rydock and sighed.

    Take it off, Stephanie, she said.

    The elderly maid with the grey hair and the small pinched mouth, eased the gown carefully up over Mrs. Van Rydock’s up-stretched arms.

    Mrs. Van Rydock stood in front of the glass in her peach satin slip. She was exquisitely corseted. Her still shapely legs were encased in fine nylon stockings. Her face, beneath a layer of cosmetics and constantly toned up by massage, appeared almost girlish at a slight distance. Her hair was less grey than tending to hydrangea blue and was perfectly set. It was practically impossible when looking at Mrs. Van Rydock, to imagine what she would be like in a natural state. Everything that money could do had been done for her—reinforced by diet, massage, and constant exercises.

    Ruth Van Rydock looked humorously at her friend.

    Do you think most people would guess, Jane, that you and I are practically the same age?

    Miss Marple responded loyally.

    Not for a moment, I’m sure, she said reassuringly. "I’m afraid, you know, that I look every minute of my age!"

    Miss Marple was white-haired, with a soft pink-and-white wrinkled face and innocent china blue eyes. She looked a very sweet old lady. Nobody would have called Mrs. Van Rydock a sweet old lady.

    I guess you do, Jane, said Mrs. Van Rydock. She grinned suddenly, And so do I. Only not in the same way. ‘Wonderful how that old hag keeps her figure.’ That’s what they say of me. But they know I’m an old hag all right! And, my God, do I feel like one!

    She dropped heavily onto the satin, quilted chair.

    That’s all right, Stephanie, she said. You can go.

    Stephanie gathered up the dress and went out.

    Good old Stephanie, said Ruth Van Rydock. She’s been with me for over thirty years now. She’s the only woman who knows what I really look like! Jane, I want to talk to you.

    Miss Marple leant forward a little. Her face took on a receptive expression. She looked, somehow, an incongruous figure in the ornate bedroom of the expensive hotel suite. She was dressed in rather dowdy black, carried a large shopping bag, and looked every inch a lady.

    I’m worried, Jane. About Carrie Louise.

    Carrie Louise? Miss Marple repeated the name musingly. The sound of it took her a long way back.

    The pensionnat in Florence. Herself, the pink and white English girl from a Cathedral close. The two Martin girls, Americans, exciting to the English girl because of their quaint ways of speech and their forthright manner and vitality. Ruth, tall, eager, on top of the world, Carrie Louise, small, dainty, wistful.

    When did you see her last, Jane?

    Oh! not for many many years. It must be twenty-five at least. Of course, we still send cards at Christmas.

    Such an odd thing, friendship! She, young Jane Marple, and the two Americans. Their ways diverging almost at once, and yet the old affection persisting; occasional letters, remembrances at Christmas. Strange that Ruth whose home—or rather homes—had been in America should be the sister whom she had seen the more often of the two. No, perhaps not strange. Like most Americans of her class, Ruth had been cosmopolitan. Every year or two she had come over to Europe, rushing from London to Paris, on to the Riviera, and back again, and always keen to snatch a few moments wherever she was, with her old friends. There had been many meetings like this one. In Claridge’s, or the Savoy, or the Berkeley, or the Dorchester. A recherché meal, affectionate reminiscences, and a hurried and affectionate good-bye. Ruth had never had time to visit St. Mary Mead. Miss Marple had not, indeed, ever expected it. Everyone’s life has a tempo. Ruth’s was presto whereas Miss Marple’s was content to be adagio.

    So it was American Ruth whom she had seen most of, whereas Carrie Louise who lived in England, she had not now seen for over twenty years. Odd, but quite natural, because when one lives in the same country there is no need to arrange meetings with old friends. One assumes that, sooner or later, one will see them without contrivance. Only, if you move in different spheres, that does not happen. The paths of Jane Marple and Carrie Louise did not cross. It was as simple as that.

    Why are you worried about Carrie Louise, Ruth? asked Miss Marple.

    In a way that’s what worries me most! I just don’t know.

    She’s not ill?

    She’s very delicate—always has been. I wouldn’t say she’d been any worse than usual—considering that she’s getting on just as we all are.

    Unhappy?

    "Oh no."

    No, it wouldn’t be that, thought Miss Marple. It would be difficult to imagine Carrie Louise unhappy—and yet there were times in her life when she must have been. Only—the picture did not come clearly. Bewildered—yes—incredulous—yes—but violent grief—no.

    Mrs. Van Rydock’s words came appositely.

    Carrie Louise, she said, "has always lived right out of this world. She doesn’t know what it’s like. Maybe it’s that that worries me."

    Her circumstances, began Miss Marple, then stopped, shaking her head. No, she said.

    No, it’s she herself, said Ruth Van Rydock. Carrie Louise was always the one of us who had ideals. Of course, it was the fashion when we were young to have ideals—we all had them, it was the proper thing for young girls. You were going to nurse lepers, Jane, and I was going to be a nun. One gets over all that nonsense. Marriage, I suppose one might say, knocks it out of one. Still, take it by and large, I haven’t done badly out of marriage.

    Miss Marple thought that Ruth was expressing it mildly. Ruth had been married three times, each time to an extremely wealthy man, and the resultant divorces had increased her bank balance without in the least souring her disposition.

    Of course, said Mrs. Van Rydock, I’ve always been tough. Things don’t get me down. I’ve not expected too much of life and certainly not expected too much of men—and I’ve done very well out of it—and no hard feelings. Tommy and I are still excellent friends, and Julius often asks me my opinion about the market. Her face darkened. "I believe that’s what worries me about Carrie Louise—she’s always had a tendency, you know, to marry cranks."

    Cranks?

    People with ideals. Carrie Louise was always a pushover for ideals. There she was, as pretty as they make them, just seventeen and listening with her eyes as big as saucers to old Gulbrandsen holding forth about his plans for the human race. Over fifty, and she married him, a widower with a family of grown-up children—all because of his philanthropic ideas. She used to sit listening to him spellbound. Just like Desdemona and Othello. Only fortunately there was no Iago about to mess things up—and anyway Gulbrandsen wasn’t black. He was a Swede or a Norwegian or something.

    Miss Marple nodded thoughtfully. The name of Gulbrandsen had an international significance. A man who with shrewd business acumen and perfect honesty had built up a fortune so colossal that really philanthropy had been the only solution to the disposal of it. The name still held significance. The Gulbrandsen Trust, the Gulbrandsen Research Fellowships, the Gulbrandsen Administrative Almshouses, and best known of all the vast educational College for the sons of working men.

    She didn’t marry him for his money, you know, said Ruth, I should have if I’d married him at all. But not Carrie Louise. I don’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t died when she was thirty-two. Thirty-two’s a very nice age for a widow. She’s got experience, but she’s still adaptable.

    The spinster listening to her, nodded gently whilst her mind reviewed, tentatively, widows she had known in the village of St. Mary Mead.

    "I was really happiest about Carrie Louise when she was married to Johnnie Restarick. Of course, he married her for her money—or if not exactly that, at any rate he wouldn’t have married her if she hadn’t had any. Johnnie was a selfish pleasure-loving lazy hound, but that’s so much safer than a crank. All Johnnie wanted was to live soft. He wanted Carrie Louise to go to the best dressmakers and have yachts and cars and enjoy herself with him. That kind of man is so very safe. Give him comfort and luxury and he’ll purr like a cat and be absolutely charming to you. I never took that scene designing and theatrical stuff of his very seriously. But Carrie Louise was thrilled by it—saw it all as Art with a capital A and really forced him back into those surroundings and then that dreadful Yugoslavian woman got hold of him and just swept him off with her. He didn’t really want to go. If Carrie Louise had waited and been sensible, he would have come back to her."

    Did she care very much? asked Miss Marple.

    "That’s the funny thing. I don’t really believe she did. She was absolutely sweet about it all—but then she would be. She is sweet. Quite anxious to divorce him so that he and that creature could get married. And offering to give those two boys of his by his first marriage a home with her because it would be more settled for them. So there poor Johnnie was—he had to marry the woman and she led him an awful six months and then drove him over a precipice in a car in a fit of rage. They said it was an accident, but I think it was just temper!"

    Mrs. Van Rydock paused, took up a mirror and gazed at her face searchingly. She picked up her eyebrow tweezers and pulled out a hair.

    And what does Carrie Louise do next but marry this man Lewis Serrocold. Another crank! Another man with ideals! Oh I don’t say he isn’t devoted to her—I think he is—but he’s bitten by that same bug of wanting to improve everybody’s lives for them. And really, you know, nobody can do that but yourself.

    I wonder, said Miss Marple.

    "Only, of course, there’s a fashion in these things, just like there is in clothes. (My dear, have you seen what Christian Dior is trying to make us wear in the way of skirts?) Where was I? Oh yes, fashion. Well, there’s a fashion in philanthropy too. It used to be education in Gulbrandsen’s day. But that’s out of date now. The State has stepped in. Everyone expects education as a matter of right—and doesn’t think much of it when they get it! Juvenile delinquency—that’s what is the rage nowadays. All these young criminals and potential criminals. Everyone’s mad about them. You should see Lewis Serrocold’s eyes sparkle behind those thick glasses of his. Crazy with enthusiasm! One of those men of enormous willpower who like living on a banana and a piece of toast and put all their energies into a cause. And Carrie Louise eats it up—just as she always did. But I don’t like it, Jane. They’ve had meetings of the trustees and the whole place has been turned over to this new idea. It’s a training establishment now for these juvenile criminals, complete with psychiatrists and psychologists and all the rest of it. There Lewis and Carrie Louise are, living there, surrounded by these boys—who aren’t perhaps quite normal. And the place stiff with occupational therapists and teachers and enthusiasts, half of them quite mad. Cranks, all the lot of them, and my little Carrie Louise in the middle of it all!"

    She paused—and stared helplessly at Miss Marple.

    Miss Marple said in a faintly puzzled voice:

    But you haven’t told me yet, Ruth, what you are really afraid of.

    "I tell you, I don’t know! And that’s what worries me. I’ve just been down there—for a flying visit. And I felt all along that there was something wrong. In the atmosphere—in the house—I know I’m not mistaken. I’m sensitive to atmosphere, always have been. Did I ever tell you how I urged Julius to sell out of Amalgamated Cereals before the crash came? And wasn’t I right? Yes, something is wrong down there. But I don’t know why or what—if it’s these dreadful young jailbirds—or if it’s nearer home. I can’t say what it is. There’s Lewis just living for his ideas and not noticing anything else, and Carrie Louise, bless her, never seeing or hearing or thinking anything except what’s a lovely sight, or a lovely sound, or a lovely thought. It’s sweet but it isn’t practical. There is such a thing as evil—and I want you, Jane, to go down there right away and find out just exactly what’s the matter."

    Me? exclaimed Miss Marple. Why me?

    Because you’ve got a nose for that sort of thing. You always had. You’ve always been a sweet innocent looking creature, Jane, and all the time underneath nothing has ever surprised you, you always believe the worst.

    The worst is so often true, murmured Miss Marple.

    Why you have such a poor idea of human nature, I can’t think—living in that sweet peaceful village of yours, so old world and pure.

    You have never lived in a village, Ruth. The things that go on in a pure peaceful village would probably surprise you.

    "Oh I daresay. My point is that they don’t surprise you. So you will go down to Stonygates and find out what’s wrong, won’t you?"

    But, Ruth dear, that would be a most difficult thing to do.

    No, it wouldn’t. I’ve thought it all out. If you won’t be absolutely mad at me, I’ve prepared the ground already.

    Mrs. Van Rydock paused, eyed Miss Marple rather uneasily, lighted a cigarette, and plunged rather nervously into explanation.

    You’ll admit, I’m sure, that things have been difficult in this country since the war, for people with small fixed incomes—for people like you, that is to say, Jane.

    Oh yes, indeed. But for the kindness, the really great kindness of my nephew Raymond, I don’t know really where I should be.

    Never mind your nephew, said Mrs. Van Rydock. "Carrie Louise knows nothing about your nephew—or if she does, she knows him as a writer and has no idea that he’s your nephew. The point, as I put it to Carrie Louise, is that it’s just too bad about dear Jane. Really sometimes hardly enough to eat, and of course far too proud ever to appeal to old friends. One couldn’t, I said, suggest money—but a nice long rest in lovely surroundings, with an old friend and with plenty of nourishing food, and no cares or worries— Ruth Van Rydock paused and then added defiantly, Now go on—be mad at me if you want to be."

    Miss Marple opened her china blue eyes in gentle surprise.

    But why should I be mad at you, Ruth? A very ingenious and plausible approach. I’m sure Carrie Louise responded.

    She’s writing to you. You’ll find the letter when you get back. Honestly, Jane, you don’t feel that I’ve taken an unpardonable liberty? You won’t mind—

    She hesitated and Miss Marple put her thoughts deftly into words.

    "Going to Stonygates as an object of charity—more or less under

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