Description
Book SynopsisSleuthing Miss Marple mirrors the structure and playful analytic style of a detective novel. Beginning at the ‘scene of the crime’, this investigation places Agatha Christie and the clue-puzzle in historical context, casting light on the methods, the motives, and, in a sense, the alibis that underpin Christie’s crime fiction. In keeping with the clue-puzzle analytical method devised for this book, each chapter builds towards a conclusion that delivers a surprising intellectual payoff.
This enquiry is unapologetically textual in approach. It constructs a rigorous evidence base drawn from the Marple short stories and novels, and presents a useful interpretation of crime fiction scholarship. This provides a foundation for original literary analyses that reveal Christie’s engagements with gender roles and genre rules, and the sleights of hand that they conceal. Christie’s modus operandi is uncovered, as are the narrative strategies and literary devices that she deployed to ambush unwary readers. Crucially, this investigation shows how Christie’s ingenious methods made it possible for an elderly spinster to get away with solving murder. Sleuthing Miss Marple will be invaluable for students and researchers of crime fiction, twentieth-century literature, and creative writing.
Trade Review‘With Agatha Christie studies on the rise, it is high time attention turned to Miss Marple. Desirée Prideaux’s fresh look at the archetypal spinster sleuth sheds much-needed light on one of the twentieth century’s most popular and misunderstood fictional characters.’ J.C. Bernthal, author of Queering Agatha Christie
‘Desirée Prideaux’s Sleuthing Miss Marple is a phenomenally rich and original addition to Agatha Christie studies… Prideaux breaks new ground and sheds new light on a familiar and much-loved character who, as Prideaux demonstrates, contains depths never before explored to such an extent. The end result is an enlightening and enjoyable lesson in never underestimating a woman—or the writer who created her.’ Rachel Schaffer, Clues
‘Showcase[s] some interesting and thought-provoking ideas, which encourage you to return to the original stories for a re-read with a different way of looking at them.’ Kate Jackson, Crossing Examining Crime
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. The Scene of the Crime: Social and Cultural Background, Gender Politics, and Christie in Context
2. Establishing Means: The Clue-Puzzle, Genre ‘Rules’, and Christie’s Modus Operandi
3. Solving The Thirteen Problems: A Fresh Analysis of the Inceptive Miss Marple Mysteries
4. ‘I’ve no doubt I am quite wrong’: Spinsterly Camouflage and Deceptive Reassurance in the Marple Novels
5. Marple and Agency: The Female Detective, the Feminine Heroic, and Appropriating the Gaze
6. Heroic Women: The Ironic Femme Fatale, Comic Vindication of the 'Dotty' Old Lady, and Marple’s Female Assistants
7. Breathless Men: The Comic Male Characters of the Marple Mysteries
8. Christie’s ‘Rational Women’ and Common-Sense Dispersal of the Gothic
9. ‘Breathless Men’: Gothic Limitations on Masculine Agency
Dénouement
