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Life and Times of Miss Marple

aznm 17 Aug 09 at 12:09 a.m. GMT

There's a good little Miss Jane Marple biography by Anne Hart, The Life and Times of Miss Jane Marple, 1985, Dodd, Mead and Company, New York.

Using Miss Marple novels and short stories, she's compiled a very nice background of Jane Marple and St. Mary Mead.

If you can find the book in a library, a used bookstore, or online, it'll be a fun read.  I've read it a few times just to refresh my memory of Jane's "life".  It's less than 200 pages, and not a difficult read at all.  Enjoy!

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Bunch_Marple 25 Jan 11 at 5:24 p.m. GMT

Funny, Im just reading her Poirot now! Great read

emilytrefusis 02 Nov 10 at 10:43 p.m. GMT

To me Poirot and Marple are a little bit like comic book characters who never grow older (except in Curtain). So it's a bit weird to me if someone writes their biography.

MissQuin 04 Feb 10 at 9:33 p.m. GMT

I love this book, its a short and light hearted guide to Marple, bringing to light some parts of Marple that I hadn't noticed. I got my copy of amamzon a few years ago. The Poirot was is excellent too.

aznm 19 Aug 09 at 10:37 p.m. GMT

I haven't read that story but I do remember someone talking about it.  Marple and Holmes, interesting.

ampman 17 Aug 09 at 1:26 p.m. GMT

I got this book from Amazon about 5 years ago.It's worth trying second hand book sites like Abe's Books to get a copy. Anne  Hart has made a good job of Miss Marple's life and about the only thing I disagreed with her about was placing her childhood in a cathedral close when Miss M often remarks that she has spent all her life in St Mary Mead.

I recently had a pleasant surprise whilst reading The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a collection of short stories written in the style of the original by various authors. One story, The Adventure of Hillerman Hall concerns a young lady who seeks out Sherlock Holmes in his retirement after the end of World War 1 and asks him to investigate the disappearence of her fiance. It  turns out that he is a con man who preys on naive and well off young ladies to separate them from their money. At the end she writes to thank Holmes and says that even though she knows the truth about her fiance she still loves him and will never marry. It finishes with Homes filing the case in his records under her name, Miss Jane Marple.

Frndorfoe 17 Aug 09 at 7:14 a.m. GMT

I've read Anne Hart's Poirot. It's like a biography of Hercule Poirot as if he were a real person. Quite entertaining it was. I am dying to read her Marple biography but unfortunately couldn't get a hold of it anywhere in my city.