PhoenixFalls - , reviewed on 8/16/2009 + 185 more book reviews

I always enjoy Miss Marple mysteries, but I must say I resented her for not telling me what happened with the picked shrimp. I was waiting for them to make their appearance the entire collection, and they never did.

This collection of short stories also has some issues. First, the short story is simply not the proper format for a mystery -- there is only time to lay out the facts, and either the reader immediately spots the essential clue and is bored the rest of the time, or the reader doesn't and is completely taken by surprise. In this case, I spotted nearly all of the clues as soon as they were mentioned, so the mysteries weren't very hard.

Second, there were some formatting challenges to this collection which I don't think were quite dealt with properly. The first six stories take place sequentially at a dinner party; then the next six stories take place sequentially at a dinner party a year later; then the final story takes place some indetermined time later than that. Knowing that now, I see clearly how that is demarcated in the text, but without some larger formatting help (for instance, the first six stories in a part one, the next six in a part two, then the final in an epilogue or something similar) I was thrown when the jumps happened.

But those challenges aside, I can't dislike an Agatha Christie novel (or collection of stories) so I have to give this three stars.

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