"The Moving Finger", though, is an example of all these elements working, and how. When it works, it works, but too often the Marple books come across as glacially paced. The general technique of solving a Marple mystery – noticing the background inconsistencies in seemingly implacable facades of village elders – often means the mystery consists of a close reading of some blathering elderly folk. There’s a case to be made for Jane Marple as a fascinating detective – where her observational skills and taste for gossip can one-up the local constabulary – but much of the time she is a secondary figure in her own novels. The brutal poison pen letters with their filthy insinuations, the blackmail and murder, are at their peak here, with the duality perfectly conveyed through the arrival of our narrator and his sister – a London society couple – who struggle to interpret the difference between the sincere and malicious actions of their new neighbours, in a world with different social mores, hiding all sorts of dirty deeds. "The Moving Finger" has some issues - Maurice Disher’s contemporary Times review points out some flaws with the narrator’s voice – but it’s perhaps Christie’s best examination of the sinister undercurrent in these tiny hamlets. Poison pen letters devastate idyllic Lymstock, but they’re only the beginning…
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