An ordinary village A shocking announcement One morning the villagers of Chipping Cleghorn wake to find a strange notice in their papers: ‘A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30pm.’ Suspecting this is just a joke, they gather for some evening entertainment. Then a gunshot is heard. In desperation, the police turn to an old lady whose hobbies are gardening, gossiping – and solving murders. After all, old ladies know better than anyone exactly what goes on in quiet English villages… Never underestimate Miss Marple ‘The queen of jaw-dropping, heart-stopping twists.’Karen M. McManus ‘Establishes firmly her claim to the throne of detection. The plot is as ingenious as ever… the dialogue both wise and witty; while the suspense is maintained very skilfully until the final revelation.’A.A. Milne
CONTRIBUTORS: Agatha ChristieEAN: 9780008196554COUNTRY: United KingdomPAGES: WEIGHT: 200 gHEIGHT: 198 cm
Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary, Classic fiction: general and literary, Classic crime and mystery fiction, Crime and mystery: private investigator / amateur detectives, Crime and mystery: cosy mystery, Crime and mystery: women sleuths
‘Without a doubt, the greatest mystery writer of all time’ – Ragnar Jonasson
‘A hundred years after her first novel, and we are all still standing in her shadow’ – Andrew Taylor
‘She gives us an insight into human nature that few, if any, have surpassed’ – Susan Lewis
‘Dame Agatha has sold more books than all besides Shakespeare and the Bible’ – David Baldacci
‘All crime fiction writers around the globe owe Agatha Christie a massive debt’ – Peter James
‘Reading a perfectly plotted Agatha Christie is like crunching into a perfect apple: that pure, crisp, absolute satisfaction.’ – Tana French
Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and became, quite simply, the best-selling novelist in history. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, written towards the end of the First World War, introduced us to Hercule Poirot, who was to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. She is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 100 foreign countries. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 19 plays, and six novels under the name of Mary Westmacott.
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An ordinary village A shocking announcement One morning the villagers of Chipping Cleghorn wake to find a strange notice in their papers: ‘A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30pm.’ Suspecting this is just a joke, they gather for some evening entertainment. Then a gunshot is heard. In desperation, the police turn to an old lady whose hobbies are gardening, gossiping – and solving murders. After all, old ladies know better than anyone exactly what goes on in quiet English villages… Never underestimate Miss Marple ‘The queen of jaw-dropping, heart-stopping twists.’Karen M. McManus ‘Establishes firmly her claim to the throne of detection. The plot is as ingenious as ever… the dialogue both wise and witty; while the suspense is maintained very skilfully until the final revelation.’A.A. Milne
CONTRIBUTORS: Agatha ChristieEAN: 9780008196554COUNTRY: United KingdomPAGES: WEIGHT: 200 gHEIGHT: 198 cm
Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary, Classic fiction: general and literary, Classic crime and mystery fiction, Crime and mystery: private investigator / amateur detectives, Crime and mystery: cosy mystery, Crime and mystery: women sleuths
Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and became, quite simply, the best-selling novelist in history. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, written towards the end of the First World War, introduced us to Hercule Poirot, who was to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. She is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 100 foreign countries. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 19 plays, and six novels under the name of Mary Westmacott.
Mevrou Smit het Aronspoort toe gekom om vir haarself ’n nuwe lewe en identiteit te bewerk, nie om gewild te wees nie. “Daar is geen wag voor daai mond nie. Al die gedagtes wat in haar kop uitbroei, marsjeer soos mank soldate oor haar tong.” (p.16). Maar dit is juis daardie gedagtes wat al menige moord opgelos het, dit terwyl sy vir haarself streng reëls gestel het vir “goeie” gedrag en verbete daaraan werk om daarby te hou. Reëls soos om te oorleef en te luister na jou instinkte. “My derde reël is om nie my tyd te mors met retrospeksie nie” (p.78), verduidelik sy aan Dario wat in hierdie aflewering weer ’n hoopvolle draai kom maak. Die uitstekende skryfstyl van Elizabeth Wasserman verseker dat mevrou Smit konsekwent, sonder aansien des persoons, hou by haar reëls.
Ek moet bieg dat hierdie derde sage van mevrou Smit vir my ietwat stadig afgeskop het. Daar was nie juis dringendheid rondom die ontdekking van ’n dekade-oue menslike oorskot in die rivierbank nie. Maar wanneer daar ’n vars moord vermoed word, tel mevrou Smit se bloedhond instinkte spoed op. En die krisis na die einde toe is so spannend as wat ’n sogenaamde sagte krimi kan toelaat.
Ek sukkel deesdae toenemend met reekse. Ek vergeet die fynere detail van vorige boeke (ouderdom of té veel storielyne?) en dan sukkel my kop deurentyd om te onthou. Dus sou ek beslis beter gevaar het om die drie boeke agtereenvolgens te lees. Nuwe Mevrou Smit lesers wat nie noodwendig alles wil weet van haar vorige lewe en die voorafgaande avonture op Aronspoort nie, behoort suksesvol te kan volstaan met die intrige soos hier aangebied.