They all did it
Jul. 17th, 2023 09:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qatsiBook Review: Marple - Twelve New Mysteries, by Lucy Foley, Val McDermid, Alyssa Cole, Natalie Haynes, Ruth Ware, Naomi Alderman, Jean Kwok, Dreda Say Mitchell, Elly Griffiths, Karen M McManus, Kate Mosse and Leigh Bardugo
I think I had been aware of this previously, when it showed up as a recommendation on Libby, so I took the opportunity to borrow it. My expectations were modest, just hoping that it wouldn't be a flop. In fact I think most of the stories were quite successful, although a couple fell flat for me (The Murdering Sort and The Disappearance, in different ways). Some follow variations on a well-trodden theme (Val McDermid's The Second Murder at the Vicarage), or play on stories of Christie's other characters (Ruth Ware's Miss Marple's Christmas); some use the canon as a jumping-off point (Dreda Say Mitchell's A Deadly Wedding Day follows threads from Miss Marple's Caribbean adventure; Leigh Bardugo's The Disappearance visits Gossington Hall again in a rather different light), but beyond the link of her nephew Raymond - who does feel cumulatively over-used here - others branch out into relatively unknown territory (Alyssa Cole's Miss Marple Takes Manhattan, Jean Kwok's The Jade Empress). The globetrotting in particular could have gone horribly wrong, but in fact it fits the bill rather well.
I think I had been aware of this previously, when it showed up as a recommendation on Libby, so I took the opportunity to borrow it. My expectations were modest, just hoping that it wouldn't be a flop. In fact I think most of the stories were quite successful, although a couple fell flat for me (The Murdering Sort and The Disappearance, in different ways). Some follow variations on a well-trodden theme (Val McDermid's The Second Murder at the Vicarage), or play on stories of Christie's other characters (Ruth Ware's Miss Marple's Christmas); some use the canon as a jumping-off point (Dreda Say Mitchell's A Deadly Wedding Day follows threads from Miss Marple's Caribbean adventure; Leigh Bardugo's The Disappearance visits Gossington Hall again in a rather different light), but beyond the link of her nephew Raymond - who does feel cumulatively over-used here - others branch out into relatively unknown territory (Alyssa Cole's Miss Marple Takes Manhattan, Jean Kwok's The Jade Empress). The globetrotting in particular could have gone horribly wrong, but in fact it fits the bill rather well.