The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side by Agatha Christie

 

Title:  The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side

Author:  Agatha Christie

Narrated by:  Emilia Fox

Publisher: HarperAudio

Length: Approximately 8 hours and 26 minutes

Source: Checked out with Libby through the Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

Do any “famous” people live in your neighborhood?  The children’s author, Patricia Polacco, lives in my hometown of Union City, Michigan.

I read The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side by Agatha Christie last month for #ReadChristie2024.  #ReadChristie2024 has a theme this year of through the decades.  January – March were books published by Agatha Christie in the 1920’s, April through June were books published by Agatha Christie in the 1930’s, July through September were books published by Agatha Christie in the 1940s and 1950s, and October through December were books published by Agatha Christie in the 1960s and 1970s.   The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side was published in 1962 and features Miss Marple. 

Movie star Marina Gregg has moved into Miss Marple’s neighborhood.  The neighborhood is excited when she holds a fundraiser for the local community.  Heather Badcock is excited to meet her idol and tell her a story, but she dies immediately afterwards.  As the murder is investigated it appears that Marina Gregg was the target.  Will Miss Marple solve this mystery?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This novel is firmly set-in post-war England.  St. Mary’s Mead is growing with new neighborhoods and a grocery story.  The new people have changed the make-up of the community.

·       I liked how Miss Marple is in her 80’s with a nurse and the nurse drives her crazy.  Miss Marple still wants to be about and about solving murder mysteries. 

·       The characters in the novel were great.

·       I was not sure how to feel when the novel had Miss Marple and another lady discussing Hollywood orgies.  That is something I never thought I’d hear Miss Marple talking about.  I think it was Christie’s attempt to make the novel more modern.

·       It was interesting how some of the Hollywood aspects are still true to life.  Marina, the star, has had many marriages.  She always wanted a child but was unable to have one.  She has heard that if you adopt a child, you may be more likely to have a child.  She adopted three children, and then abandoned them a few years later when she was pregnant with a biological child.  The adopted children were taken from their families, raised in privilege, paraded before the press, and then forgotten.  It was cruel.

·       I enjoyed this mystery and its twists and turns.  I thought I had this mystery solved, but I was wrong.

·       I loved the audiobook narrator, Emilia Fox.  She had a nice British accent and great character voices.

Overall, The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side was another great Agatha Christie mystery.