I have been in a bit of a reading slump, taking well over a week to finish a book. Luckily, Krysta has been reviewing Miss Marple mysteries over at PagesUnbound and her reviews made me realise that it was time for some Christie. So when I had the opportunity, I popped into my local library and borrowed the only Miss Marple/Christie book there that I hadn’t read (the Christies are always on loan in the smaller libraries).

They Do It With Mirrors has Miss Marple going to the rescue of a friend. At the start of the book, Ruth, a longtime and wealthy friend of Miss Marple’s is worried about her sister, Carrie Louise. Miss Marple agrees to go visit Carrie Louise under the guise of needing charity. Sadly, Ruth was right to feel uneasy, as Carrie Louise’s stepson is killed during a surprise visit to the mansion. With the house turned into a rehabilitation home for wayward youths, there are many suspects but Miss Marple and the police suspect that the killer is someone closer to home.

As expected, this was a fun and quick read! Christie introduces a cast of characters here, with my favourites being the unworldly Carrie Louise and her charming granddaughter, Gina. Carrie Louise is a bit too innocent to believe, but it’s fun to see how everyone is so protective of her. Gina’s young and tempestuous and fun to read, even if she is rather selfish at times.

It was also interesting to see how the police acknowledged Miss Marple’s skill in solving murders. I didn’t think they were that present in the book, but it was nice to see that the police also have their own network in which they apparently trade information about an old lady who sees the truth in a murder.

[Possible spoilers ahead] Given that this is a Christie novel, the violence is dialled down to the minimum possible. There is technically more than one murder, but the last few murders are barely lingered upon. They are needed for the plot, but there are no salacious details. Likewise, the climax of the book where the murderer is confronted is skipped over almost entirely, and all we hear is a recounting of the incident. It’s fairly distant and reminded of how skillfully Christie takes the ‘messiness’ out of murder.

Overall, this was a fun Miss Marple book. I’ve long been a Poirot fan and neglected the Miss Marple mysteries, but this means that I now have more unread books from Christie.