Marple: Twelve New Stories

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

A high 4 stars. Overall, a really amazing and fun time!

This is such a great collection! So many very typical Miss Marple stories! From an assortment of female mystery, crime and thriller writers who are taking a stab at writing a Miss Marple story.

The stories are all versions of very classic mystery tropes and plots. Most of the set-ups could easily be found in a Christie. It's brilliant.
Because many of the stories just seem so familiar, this anthology feels very cosy, even if the topics of the mysteries obviously aren't. Familiar and cosy in the best way!

Many of the stories use Raymond, Marple's nephew, as the reason for Miss Marple to show up in certain places! It's kind of hilarious.

I do wish more stories had been set between the wars and not so many in the 60s/70s. But that's just a personal preference.
Also, some authors, especially the American ones, didn't get the tone and language quite right. Their stories just felt off to me. They didn't fit into a Miss Marple anthology or feel like Miss Marple stories. But most of those were still fun, little mysteries nonetheless!

Most stories were just so much fun to read!

Individual ratings of the short stories:

Evil in Small Places by Lucy Foley - 4 stars
(Fun. And typically Miss Marple!)

The Second Murder at the Vicarage by Val McDermid - 4 stars
(Nicely written and a good time! Typical St Mary Mead!)

Miss Marple Takes Manhattan by Alyssa Cole - 2 stars
(This just felt wrong for a Marple story. The writing and setting were off and it was a bit boring.)

The Unravelling by Natalie Haynes - 4 stars
(Fun! Typical murder mystery! And I liked the writing.)

Miss Marple's Christmas by Ruth Ware - 5 stars
(Personal favourite! Felt the most like a GAD mystery!)

The Open Mind by Naomi Alderman - 3.5 stars
(Great, just slightly the wrong tone for a Marple story. Has too many, different things happening for a short story. Would make a great full-length novel. With a sleuth who isn't Miss Marple.)

The Jade Empress by Jean Kwok - 2 stars
(Just didn't work. Felt more like a possible Poirot setting than a Marple one. No idea when this was set, which didn't help the historical elements. I didn't enjoy the writing style. Miss Marple didn't read like Miss Marple.)

A Deadly Wedding Day by Dreda Say Mitchell - 3 stars
(Fun mystery. But not Marple-y enough. Too much internal dialogue and a second sleuth who isn't just “the plucky, but slightly clueless, helper”. Should have been its own book, without Miss Marple!)

Murder at the Villa Rosa by Elly Griffiths - 5 stars
(Third favourite. Really great version of a 1st person POV in a GAD-style mystery!)

The Murdering Sort by Karen M. McManus - 3 stars
(Really good mystery. But not a Marple story. Writing and setting felt slightly wrong. Was like expecting “Phryne Fisher” but ending up with a teenage version of “Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries”.)

The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse - 4 stars
(A lot of fun and a very typical Miss Marple story with nice writing!)

The Disappearance by Leigh Bardugo - 5 stars
(Second favourite. Writing was great and very funny. Felt like a classic mystery. Amazing version of a St Mary Mead story.)