BOOK REVIEW – Sleeping Murder: Miss Marple’s Last Case

By Agatha Christie (Author), Stephanie Cole (Narrator), HarperAudio (Publisher)

An Audiobook Review, by Jackie Houchin

The last Miss Marple mystery is terrific. It is spooky, mystifying, and well laid out. It’s the story about a newly married couple who have bought a house in the English countryside.  Gwenda feels right from the first moment that she is “home” in the house.  When she experiences a frightning “vision” of a dead body in the house, and then later hears a famous quote that stirs memories, she is terrified that the place is haunted.
She and Giles, with the eventual help of the nosey, clever, Miss Marple, dig to discover the mystery. Who was the dead body Gwenda saw? What happened to it? Repeatedly Miss Marple and others tell them to “let sleeping murders lie” and leave it alone. It could be dangerous. They may learn something they wish they hadn’t. But the couple can’t seem to do that.
The death (murder?) is closer to Gwenda than she thinks, although it happened 19 years earlier. It tragically affects her entire family. Yes, they should have left it alone, for there are other deaths, and eventually the terrible knowledge of the truth.
I was positive that I knew who committed the crime (and why) at the 2/3 point in the story (Why didn’t Miss Marple SEE it?)  But alas, as in all the Agatha Christie mysteries, I was wrong. Really wrong.
It’s sad to think that this was the last Miss Marple mystery that Agatha Christie wrote. It was actually published posthumously after her death. Well, Marple’s last case is a hum-dinger!
I thoroughly enjoyed Stephanie Cole’s narration as well.
If you enjoyed this review, please share it with a friend, and I’d love to hear what you thought of it, or if you also have read the book, a comment! Thanks!

 

 

3 thoughts on “BOOK REVIEW – Sleeping Murder: Miss Marple’s Last Case

    • In the novel Sleeping Murder, Dillmouth is a seaside town
      in Devon, where Hillside House is located. Dillmouth is a 1930’s inspired Great Western Branch Line Terminus in ‘O’ Gauge. Although a fictional coastal town, taking its name from Agatha Christie’s “Sleeping Murder”, it actually depicts the two real stations of Alcester and Abbotsbury.

      Liked by 1 person

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