4.50 from Paddington, by Agatha Christie
The Book
Originally published in the US, therefore in my dad's collection, as What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw, this book sees Miss Marple grapple with her old age and solve a quite puzzling mystery.
Elspeth McGillicuddy is riding north from London on a train when her train pulls alongside another train and through her window she sees a man with his back to her strangling a woman. Mrs. McGillicuddy is convinced the woman died as a result of the attack and she reports it immediately. But, she's believed to be a batty old lady. When she breaks her journey northward to Scotland in St. Mary Meade to wish her good friend Miss Jane Marple a merry Christmas, Miss Marple believes her.
From there Miss Marple is determined to figure out if a murder has been committed and if she can solve it for herself. But being a woman of advanced years, Miss Marple cannot undertake such an athletic pursuit alone. She calls in reinforcements. She gets a favor from her nephew, another from an old friend, and dangles the prospect of an adventure to the very capable Lucy Eyelesbarrow.
Lucy takes on the Crakenthorpe family of Rutherford Hall, where more mysterious things go on. When the family is poisoned, Lucy and the local cops know a murderer is on the loose for real. Then the body Mrs. McGillicuddy saw is found by Lucy. While Scotland Yard is pulling on their boots, Miss Marple assembles the puzzle and figures out who the murderer is, and why.
My Thoughts
As I mentioned before, this book was on the self at my parent's farm where I was visiting in July of 2024. It took me two days to read it, and that was at a fairly leisurely pace. But then the farm tends to be a contemplative place (read no TV, limited Wi-Fi, and no streaming services). I think when the book was published in 1957 this plot might have made more sense. I certainly feel that English trains vary greatly from American ones. Let us pretend we lifted this plot out of the English country side and had the murder occurring on say, an Amtrak, while I was on a commuter rail. Yeah, I don't get how the murderer would get the body off of the train. And maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this was always the hard part of the novel, the stretch, if you will.
Others will tell you there are precious few clues in the book, and I would agree. This tends to read more as a thriller than a puzzle mystery. And there isn't a whole lot of Miss Marple in the book. Not enough for my taste.
On the other hand, it was an easy read and entertaining. It was fun wondering what hijinks Christie was going to come up with next. I would not be surprised if she wrote this one quickly, especially since the plot doesn't meander and progresses in a relatively straightforward way. It's not Christie's best work, but it's not the worst either.
How Much My Dad Saved Me
This book has been sitting on my dad's shelf since I was a little girl. The edition he has, lost it's paper cover, but otherwise stood the test of time. There's another set of these in Hercule Poirot running around his collection somewhere, but I can't find it. For certain, I have read all of these Miss Marples at one time or another. In fact, I have distinct memories of reading this book in den of my childhood home. One of the many memories of reading books from his shelves in the den in my bathing suit. Here I first read Miss Marples and repeatedly fell out of Hercule Poirots. I was well into devouring mystery novels at this point. I had read through his paperbacks of Sherlock Holmes and every Hardy Boys from his childhood I still had. I had amassed a shocking number of Nancy Drew books, so it's not surprising my father may have picked up this compilations which debuted in 1987 for me. Certainly it was not a present because it was in his collection in the den. My books all sat on the shelves above my dresser. This book has weathered the last 40 year fairly well. There are no markings inside of the book (yay teenaged me) nor any dog ears. The leather cover is nearly pristine with the only damage being the missing paper cover which held the price. Ah, how do I know that? I looked it up. And according to the photos, these books originally sold for $34.75. Remember this is around the same time the leatherette editions are selling for $20 a pop. This seems in line. This is the number I will use. Thanks, Dad!
Library Books
This Book $00.00
Library Items Reviewed This Year $26.00
Private Books
This Book $34.75
Total of Private Books $37.75
Total of All Items Reviewed This Year $66.75
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