miss marple joan hickson a pocketful of rye

Rex Fortescue dies in hospital and during an examination of his clothing, a pocketful of rye seeds are discovered in his jacket. But I'm getting ahead of myself as usual. The elderly sleuth becomes involved in the mystery in a very understated way, insinuating herself into the case in the cause of justice after the callous death of a gullible and not very bright young woman who'd once worked for her as a maid. At any rate, the book belongs to Miss Marple even if she doesn't make her entrance until later in the story. We meet the likable Inspector Neele whom I don't remember meeting before, though his name rings a bell. There's very little question that poor Rex has been poisoned and so Scotland Yard is on the case almost immediately. Christie could be wryly cruel when she wanted to be. It is wickedly amusing (if somewhat exasperating) to read how the frightened and bewildered office staff goes about prolonging Fortescue's death agony while they fumble about trying to figure out what to do for their boss who, in the meantime, is left writhing in his office. (He and she are both types, certainly, but Christie was so good at categorizing with a few broad strokes.) One morning Fortescue goes off to work at the family firm, Consolidated Investments, and promptly suffers a very unpleasant death (well, strictly speaking, he dies later in the hospital, but he comes close enough in his office to call it a day). He has recently married a much younger woman, a manicurist whom he met in Brighton.

The head of the family is shady business man Rex Fortescue, elderly and unscrupulous and altogether a bad lot. Living at Yewtree Lodge near London is a family which would, in Regency times, have been called 'Cits' - self-made rich folk of the slightly vulgar variety. Don't ask me to explain - it must be some kind of leftover childhood thing.Įngland, 1953. I also find English accents of a certain sort VERY soothing and comforting. And if this current election cycle hasn't agitated you then you haven't been paying attention. I don't know about you, but there's just something about Christie (no matter the mayhem involved) that I find soothing and comforting when I'm feeling agitated. A POCKETFUL OF RYE is as good a place to begin as any. Highly recommended, especially if you're (God forbid) not familiar with Miss Marple or Agatha Christie or even, Golden Age mysteries. Of course I've read this Miss Marple book (7th in the series) many times over the years, but I'm enjoying it now in audible form for the first time, narrated by the wonderful actor Richard E.

Miss marple joan hickson a pocketful of rye