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By the Pricking of My Thumbs

(Contains spoilers!)

Det13jack 02 Jan 09 at 4:01 a.m. GMT

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What do you think of the ending or the book as a whole?

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de_misteri 15 Nov 11 at 5:30 a.m. GMT

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Tommy_A_Jones 24 Oct 11 at 11:38 a.m. GMT

Tommy is crustier in the book which isn't surprising as he is worried about Tuppence so that bit of the daptation was right in my view as Tommy was Bad-Tempered but that is all that can be said for the Adaptation IMHO

ananya2410 24 Oct 11 at 8:53 a.m. GMT

the title spooks u out.

the mystery of the house and tuppences will to know more make the book exciting

spanky64 07 Jun 11 at 5:36 a.m. GMT

Love the book, but was mortified to see the televised version was a marple with tommy and tuppence involved.  Its not like the book where tommy and tuppence in their later years and still in love, with tuppence of on an investigation because of a house shes seen on a train and a picture they have been left, by tommy's relative, and also seen on the wall before the relative died at the home she lived in.  

the televised version tuppence is a lush thomas is a rotten husband that shows her no love til the end, he quite horrible and disrespectful to her til the end.  she finds the pic in a box, and miss marples in it!!!!

I love miss marple but buy the pricking of my thumbs should have been left a pure tommy and tuppence and more like the book.  preferably with Francessca Annis and James Warwick playing them as in the good old days.

NightRayDuck 06 Apr 11 at 3:05 a.m. GMT

I haven't read "N or M", but I know that Albert (the butler) and Debra (the daughter) must have been in "N or M"... not sure who else might have seemed likely to be mentioned, perhaps Betty (the adopted daughter), Derek (or whatever his name, the son), or Mr. Carter, the "Chief" of the Intelligence department where Tommy used to work?

NightRayDuck 06 Apr 11 at 3:02 a.m. GMT

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VERY SERIOUS SPOILER for BY THE PRICKING OF MY THUMBS

About the plot and the ending and the title, I think it's all the same reason - "Mrs. Lancaster", being a serial killer who had sometimes been in the habit of killing children, has now got bored in environment without children, so she starts baiting new victims by saying creepy stuff about buried baby, and watching if the intended victim responds, and then the serial killer can feel quite justified in killing the intended victim, claiming sort of protecting herself from someone who would find out the truth and get her arrested and stopped in her killing spree and so on and so forth...

This serial killer speaks some nonsense, induces innocent people (ex. Tuppence) to follow up on the weird comments, and other mostly innocent people (ex. the former secretary Nellie) who have a habit of protecting "Mrs. Lancaster" end up committing rash acts of violence.

In "Macbeth", the three odd-looking old crones babbled so much on the road where Lord Macbeth was traveling, putting the idea into his head that he should, and deserved, to become king of the country right away. And when Lord Macbeth starts on his "campaign", other characters (ex. Lady Macbeth) start to decide on committing some crimes also.

Mr_Satterthwaite 16 Feb 11 at 11:28 a.m. GMT

I was expecting a character from N or M to be at least mentioned in this book. Was I mistaken to think so?

Enjoyed the book though :) 

Number3 25 Nov 10 at 1:32 p.m. GMT

I enjoyed "Pricking."  To me it was a good combination of T&T, thrillers, and a touch of espionage.  

In a response to what CK said about continuity.  Where and when you decided to read "Sleeping Murder" is your choice.  You can read it according to the publishing date or to when it was written. In doing that one has the choice to "pick" the last Marple.

knottyceltic 02 Oct 10 at 4:28 a.m. GMT

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I thoroughly enjoyed BTPOMT.  I read it in one day and the only negative thing I can say is that the life and death tussle between Tuppence and Mrs. Lancaster seemed at bit ferocious and far fetched considering their ages.  I love the title.  Miss Marple does refer to things/events as "wicked", there was a "witch" and wicked things do happen in this novel in the past AND in the future.

MissQuin 15 Feb 10 at 3:08 p.m. GMT

When I first began read Chrisite novels this is one of the first I came across. Sadly I never got more a few chapters into it. I found it dull, so gave up. I was looking for something more lively at the time. But years later it was on TV, which got my interest back. I decided to re-read it. By then I already knew the murderer, but the book was a good one. I wish I'd stuck with it the first time.

I like the title "By the pricking of my thumbs" I regonised it right away as Macbeth. But this books not really about witchcraft, but is about evil. It does have a creepy feel to it.

I haven't ever read any other of T&T other books. I believe this one isnt in the same style as the early books?

Tommy_A_Jones 02 Oct 09 at 4:56 p.m. GMT

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Tommy_A_Jones

Tommy's elderly relation has died and leaves them a picture and an old lady at the Home where |Tommy'sw Aren't was says she killed someone and Tuppence goes to try and Identify the house in the Picture and Disscover tthe truth (Or something like that) I liked it at first but I I thought it had a week finish)

Lone_Wolf 25 Jan 09 at 6:16 a.m. GMT

That is the only AC book which left me so confused, I can't properly remember the plot.

GKCfan 23 Jan 09 at 8:28 p.m. GMT

I believe that Christie wrote "Sleeping Murder" in the 1940's, when she worried that she would not survive the war and wanted a couple of spare novels saved in vaults so that her heirs could have a nice little legacy. The killer does make a fun cameo appearance in that book, and I believe that the killer also has a quick appearance in one more book- I think it's "The Pale Horse." The appearance is just one more clue that "Sleeping Murder" is set long before the publication date of 1976, since Colonel Bantry is also alive, since he was dead in "The Mirror Crack'd."

hobbit 21 Jan 09 at 4:01 p.m. GMT

I very much enjoyed the ending - it felt genuinely creepy and certainly kept me hooked! Overall though I would not be quite so generous in scoring the book. I think I would give it perhaps a seven.

It's a little while since I last read BTPOMT, but I seem to remember thinking that the book lacked any sort of focus: either thematically or in terms of plot. It seemed to me, as with many Tommy and Tuppence books, to be more of a string of events than an actual novel. I also found the plot involving the diamonds very uninvolving, and was glad it was cut out of the recent re-make (or re-write as one might more accurately call it).

However there were many aspects of the novel that I did enjoy. I agree with you Det13jack that the idea of the child behind the fireplace was a very creepy idea, and the recent adaptation did at least keep the novel's original chilling tone. Also the painting and cottage were very colourful ideas, that helped make it one of AC's more memorable stories.

The Shakespearean reference (by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes) seemed an odd little addition: it felt to me rather like it had just been thrown in at the last minute, in the absence of any other decent title. The only literary parallel I can think of between the two works is the murderer's suicide at the end (somewhat akin to the demise of Lady Macbeth, in the way it happens 'off-stage' so to speak and is built up to by the character's mental disintergration). That said the title is still excellent, and I can see why AC chose it 100%.

On the subject of the murderer, I actually felt this killer was extremely well-written and very psychologically interesting. A very full character, with whom I actually had quite a bit of sympathy towards the end. It's a nice little fact that this character also made a brief little 'cameo' in Sleeping Murder, which I assume Christie wrote later in her career.

Hobbit

Tommy_A_Jones 06 Jan 09 at 1:37 p.m. GMT

I thought the ending was scrappy and weak and ruined what was otherwise a good book although not the best I have read with Tommy and Tuppence who are 2 of my favourite Christie Characters.

Det13jack 02 Jan 09 at 4:06 a.m. GMT

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I think the book as as whole was excellent. I thought the idea of a child's body hidden in a fireplace was rather creepy and sinister. I also liked the ending where the murderer tries to poison Tuppence and then commits suicide. I think on a scale of 1-10 I would give this a 9.