A brand-new collection of short stories featuring the Queen of Mystery’s legendary detective Jane Marple, penned by twelve remarkable bestselling and acclaimed authors.

This collection of a dozen original short stories, all featuring Jane Marple, will introduce the character to a whole new generation. Each author reimagines Agatha Christie’s Marple through their own unique perspective while staying true to the hallmarks of a traditional mystery.

Naomi Alderman
Leigh Bardugo
Alyssa Cole
Lucy Foley
Elly Griffiths
Natalie Haynes
Jean Kwok
Val McDermid
Karen M. McManus
Dreda Say Mitchell
Kate Mosse
Ruth Ware

Miss Marple was first introduced to readers in a story Agatha Christie wrote for The Royal Magazine in 1927 and made her first appearance in a full-length novel in 1930’s The Murder at the Vicarage. It has been 45 years since Agatha Christie’s last Marple novel, Sleeping Murder, was published posthumously in 1976, and this collection of ingenious new stories by twelve Christie devotees will be a timely reminder why Jane Marple remains the most famous fictional female detective of all time. (Goodreads synopsis)

I grew up reading the classic detective stories. Sherlock Holmes being the obvious beginning but Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple were next in the running. As an adult I now own, or am in the process of purchasing, at least one copy of every Agatha Christie novel that I can find. I have even read Sophie Hannah’s continuation of Hercule Poirot. That said, I was excited for this colume of new Miss Marple mysteries.

Each author did a fairly good job of portraying Miss Marple and her “old maid” nuisances. They each made sure to describe her modesty but also her ability to relate what she has experienced with the current situation. Miss Marple didn’t just put clues together, she told an almost unrelateable tale that turned out to be the exact situation.

There are a couple of details that seem to stretch a bit, one even regards to Miss Marple’s age, but I don’t believe that takes away the magic of Agatha Christie’s detective.

Overall I rate this novel 4 out of 5 stars.

This was a delightful book. I love Agatha Christie’s carefully woven mysteries and Miss Marple is a favorite. It was lovely to see what current writers wrote within those parameters. It was like a box of very good mystery chocolates. Enjoy, I sure did.

A great original mystery collection by some of today’s top writers featuring Agatha Christie’s Jane Marple.

Marple: Twelve New Mysteries
by various authors
Sept. 13, 2022
William Morrow
A brand-new collection of short stories featuring the Queen of Mystery’s legendary detective Jane Marple, penned by twelve remarkable bestselling and acclaimed authors.

Thanks to the authors, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. This collection of a dozen original short stories, all featuring Jane Marple, will introduce the character to a whole new generation. Each author reimagines Agatha Christie’s Marple through their own unique perspective while staying true to the hallmarks of a traditional mystery.
Only three stories in this collection were worth reading. The ones that were fine enough to read were written by Jean Kwok, Val McDermid, and Karen M. McManus. The other nine didn’t even have a well-written or good enough mystery that made reading the story worth my time.

While some of the stories may have been “fine”, all this collection of stories did was prove that Miss Marple could only be written by Agatha Christie.
3 stars

England, New York City, Hong Kong, Italy - Twentieth Century

Miss Jane Marple hails from the small village of St. Mary Mead in the English countryside. She carries her knitting with her as she visits friends, neighbors, and also as she absorbs what she can at crime scenes. Miss Maple has the innate ability to delve through the flotsam and jetsam of a crime, and, eventually, surprise everyone with the logical, and correct outcome of just who did it and why.

The twelve stories in this new compendium of mysteries were written amazingly not by Agatha Christie, but by twelve different, and very talented authors. One would be hard pressed not to think that the mistress of mystery herself hadn't penned these intricate tales. From Miss Marple's hometown, to New York City, on a cruise in Hong Kong, and in Italy, the stories are intriguing, beautifully written, and, well, terrific mysteries.

For Agatha Christie fans, or for fans of just good mysteries, don't miss MARPLE: TWELVE NEW MYSTERIES.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this novel. I am rating this book based the stars due to lack of time to leave a full review.

OMG this was such a fun book. Twelve mystery writers tried their hand at writing a Miss Marple short story mystery and they succeeded. You'd think it was the Grande Dame herself writing the short stories. I hope there are more to come. These were delightful and mysterious.

This collection of Miss Marple stories was a fun, easy read that provided some much needed comfort. Miss Marple remains one of my favorite characters and the treatment by a variety of authors kept true to Christie's depiction. Highly recommended!

I should admit right away that I was highly skeptical about a collection of Miss Marple stories written by authors who are not Agatha Christie, and not even a contemporary of hers. By and large, I felt that most of the contributors got the tone all wrong. It feels as though their only familiarity with Miss Marple is through the television adaptations rather than the original stories themselves.
The last story in the collection, by Leigh Bardugo, was by far the best, in my opinion. I also though Karen McManus's story did very well on tone, although Miss Marple is not the one who actually solves the mystery, which was kind of a disappointment.
It is possible that someone unfamiliar with Miss Marple would enjoy these stories. However, my recommendation for anyone who has yet to know the pleasure of Miss Marple's company should instead find a copy of The Tuesday Club Murders/The Thirteen Problems and just go right to the original source.

A fun collection from top writers today continuing the stories of Miss Jane Marple. ARC from NetGalley.

I enjoyed the mysteries, but some authors were more successful than others in capturing the spirit of Miss Marple. Also, some of the settings were quite a stretch to shove Miss Marple in. Still, I would recommend it for Agatha Christie fans.

What a delightful new collection! I'm usually mixed on new authors continuing previous ones -- I love Parker and can't stand his take on Chandler, and similarly have never been impressed by the otherwise-fantastic Ace Atkins's take on Parker -- but these work really well. We've got a mix of stories trying to offer a "classic" Marple feel (i.e., could have been written by Christie) along with a few that do things that wouldn't be an option back then. There's a range of time periods (though all in "proper" Marple canon -- no MM in Space here), offering some nice opportunities to branch out.

There was only one story that really fell flat (a 1970-era one involving a drug overdose whose solution was as muddy as the writing), although I will note that a LOT of the authors went to the Raymond West well a lot, understandable since there aren't a lot of recurring characters other than Marple's nephew, but it does get a bit grating (this is on the editors, not the writers, of course)..

Highlights include Alyssa Cole's story of Marple in NYC, in which almost every sentence is perfect and the plot ties into the Red Scare and US politics nicely; Val McDermid's story, the only true sequel to another work (Murder in the Vicarage, in this case); Leigh Bardugo's look at a potential Marple heir; and Jean Kwok's story set on a cruise ship and highlighting the impact of imperialism in a way Christie never could. But most of the stories are well worth reading (I mean, it's Elly Griffiths and Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley, for god's sake).

Obviously, you have to both like the Marple stories and also be okay with seeing how others take it on to really enjoy these, but this definitely feels closer to some of the better Sherlockian collections than some of the quickly-licensed crap that's out there (even though I assume the eventual expiration of the copyright is a factor in getting this published).

There were a few stories in this collection that fell flat for me, but overwhelmingly these talented authors accurately and enjoyably capture the essence of Agatha Christie's Marple in a way that readers will love.

Marple: Twelve New Mysteries, is a terrific book of short mystery stories. Starting with a story by the grande dame of mysteries - Ms. Christie herself, the stories that follow are written by women authors - all of whom owe a debt to Christie her self.

Short stories are particularly good for busy readers who can read a story in a short time span. Or for the reader who wants to luxuriate in the world of female mystery writers -- each of whom can be delved in for their full length novels.

Enjoyable~

Miss Marple is an amazing character!!! These stories are great! These stories would make Agatha Christie proud!

It was wonderful visiting with Miss Marple again. Each of these writers brings something old and something new to Christie's doughty heroine. I particularly enjoyed the updated introduction of Black and Asian characters as fully realized people, unlike the undifferentiated ciphers Christie populated her original stories with, when she bothered to include people of color at all. Miss Marple goes on a cruise, she visits New York City, she champions the National Health Service, and through it all she is a observant and shrewd as ever. Recommended for fans of Sophie Hannah.

Like many young readers of my generation, I cut my mystery reading teeth on the Encyclopedia Brown stories and voluminous output of the Stratemeyer Syndicate. But in 8th grade, the English teacher assigned "And Then There None" to our class, and I was hooked. I could be found in the mystery aisle of the local bookstore, looking for Christie books to fill out my collection.

So, it was some trepidation that I read this book. On the whole, I was pleased. The writers abide by the "Fair Play" rules of mystery writing; the clues are there, if you're sharp enough to spot them. Many of the stories feature poisons, as is only right and proper. Alibis are shaky things that readers should view with suspicion. The writers seemed to have a good grasp of Miss Marple's voice - the turns of phrase and the nattering stories about the people of her tiny village, stories that turn out to be quite relevant to the crime in question. Wickedness is everywhere, as Miss Marple would explain. Be it an English country village, a cruise ship to Hong Kong, or a very off-off-Broadway theater in New York, Miss Marple can cut through to the heart of things. Personally, I would have liked for more of the stories to be set in the between wars era, than the post WWII era that most of the authors chose. But that is a matter of taste, not a criticism.

If you love classic British mysteries, I think you will enjoy this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. This was a delightful compendium and wonderful glimpse into how 12 different authors tackle the Miss Marple legacy. All felt like beautifully done tributes to not only the character but also to Agatha Christie. I've read novels by about half of these authors and it was fun to see glimpses of their style peek through each story. I enjoyed this so much that I decided to back and reread the Miss Marple series!

Agatha Christie has long been acknowledged as the Mother of Mystery Fiction, and I discovered her early in my reading life. I was delighted when I learned, through the incomparable Elly Griffiths, that a new collection of stories featuring Christie’s Miss Marple and written by contemporary authors was due to be published this year. I was even more delighted to find it available through Netgalley.

These stories equal or, dare I say it, even surpass the original Marple stories in cleverness and boldness while still staying true to the little old lady with the steel-trap mind created by Christie so long ago. It is clear the authors have a fondness for Aunt Jane and a familiarity with her stories. Fans will find comforting nods to the original cast of characters, with nephew Raymond West making several appearances, fast friend Dolly Bantry, and, of course, Sir Henry Clithering. Jane travels in these stories - to China, London, Italy, and even New York City - but she is never far from St. Mary Mead in her mind.

The writing is exquisite in every single story. Typically in short story collections there are the shining stars, the just-okay, and the duds. Here, every story shines with beautiful language, clever plotting, and careful homage paid to Dame Christie’s original work. It would be hard to pick a favorite story, but Leah Bardugo - HOLY SMOKES - loved the twist in her story.

This is just a lovely, lovely reading experience, like getting a long hug from an old friend. This is one I’ll buy in hardcover and add to my bookshelves.

I love Miss Marple and Agatha Christie, so I expected to really enjoy this collection. It is a good read, but the stories are a bit flat. It's not the fault of the authors, all of whom are great. I think it's just that Agatha Christie has a certain something that can't be copied.