The Moving Finger

 The Moving Finger (1942) by Agatha Christie

Jerry Burton heads to the quiet countryside for a bit of rest and relaxation after a flying accident. His doctor insists that it will do him good to "[t]ake an interest in local politics, get excited about village gossip, absorb all the local scandal. Small beer--that the prescription for you. Absolute rest and quiet." Jerry and his sister Joanna rent a house called Little Furze in the village of Lymstock. But local scandal winds up being anything but "small beer." A spate of vicious poison pen letters, which started before the Burtons arrived, attack them as well--suggesting that Joanna is really Jerry's fancy piece and not his sister at all. The nasty insinuations are bad enough, but when one letter leads to the apparent suicide of a prominent lawyer's wife it becomes more serious. 

And...more serious yet when a maid from the lawyer's house calls up Partridge, the housekeeper at Little Furze, asking to come and talk over something that's been bothering her. But she never arrives and later is found stuffed in a closet under the staircase at the lawyer's residence--stabbed to death. The murder investigation makes little headway until the vicar's wife calls in an old friend--Miss Jane Marple.

Even though Miss Marple doesn't put in an appearance until the last third (or so) of the book, this is a highly enjoyable read. I really like the characters of Jerry and Joanna Burton, Dr. Griffith, and Megan. Jerry has a way of picking up the important clues, even if he doesn't quite know what to do with them. But as soon as he shares them with Miss Marple--she does. The atmosphere of the village is perfect. Christie captures the small town tendency of knowing everyone elses's business so well and manages to instill a deep feeling of evil underneath the cozy countryside. An interesting study of character in the 1940s. ★★★★

First line: I have often recalled the morning when the first of the anonymous letters came.

Last line: "That," I said, "is Joanna's little joke."

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Deaths = 6 (four natural; one drug overdose; one stabbed)