A Pocket Full of Rye, Agatha Christie

The Book

Miss Marple is back at it.  Although she shows up a bit late in this book. 

Poor Rex Fortescue, one of his secretaries can't make tea properly. As far as we know, this is the largest problem in Rex's life, or what remains of it. To correct this problem, Rex has hired Miss Grosvenor to be his secretary. It might be said that the cool, calm, collected, 30 something, blonde Miss Grosvenor has been hired because Rex has a type. She is very like his second wife, Adele, who is much younger than he. It is Miss Grosvenor who makes Rex a pot of his special tea and delivers it to his office. A few minutes later, Rex is having an attack and the secretaries are in a tizzy to find a doctor. They find one, but it's too late, Rex dies at the hospital from taxine poisoning. Everyone is perplexed. Especially by the rye found in his pocket. Hence the title of this book.

Inspector Neele is brought in to investigate, but the secretaries both great and bad at making the tea are cleared because it would have taken hours for Maxine poisoning to get to work, not the mere minutes after Rex drank his tea. That means, he was likely murdered at home, Yew Lodge, where everyone is a suspect because taxine is a poison made from Yew berries. Yew Lodge is aptly named for the numerous Yews present on the property. 

Inspector Neele is suspicious of Adele, but he can't rule Percival "Val" Fortescue. Then both Adele and the maid Gladys turn up dead and Inspector Neele knows he has a real problem on his hands. While he's trying to unravel the mystery, Miss Marple shows up explaining that Gladys is an orphan that she trained up in service. Inspector Neele accepts her help. Will Miss Marple solve the case before the entire Fortescue clan is murdered?

My Thoughts

As a puzzle mystery, this one is fairly tightly constructed. Although, I did find the underlying nursery rhyme to be a lyric too far. Unlike some of the other nursery rhyme Christie used, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to use Mother Goose's Sing a Song of Sixpence.

Like many Christie murders, this one takes place among a close circle of suspects, with a blend of both professional and non-professional detectives gathering clues and making deductions. And, with a bit of cleverness, I strongly feel this particular book, though maybe dropping the nursery rhyme, would be quite at home in the modern day. After all, police methods and scientific knowledge advance, but underlying human nature never changes. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

This book came to me from the Glenview public library. It entered their system in August of 2024. This 239 page book remains in pristine condition. I'm not certain how frequently these books are checked out, but I have never been on a waitlist for any of her books. There are as many copies of her books available as there are for the latest releases, not bad for a set of books between 100 and 50 years old. The back cover says this book costs $15.99, that's the number I will use. 

This Book                                                        $15.99

Items Reviewed This Year                             $581.00

Private Books

This Book                                                         $0.00

Total of Private Books                                    $52.88

Total of All Items Reviewed This Year         $633.88

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