The Body in the Library [Mass Market Paperback]

Agatha Christie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1992

Agatha Christie's genius for detective fiction is unparalleled. Her worldwide popularity is phenomenal, her characters engaging, her plots spellbinding. No one knows the human heart--or the dark passions that can stop it--better than Agatha Christie. She is truly the one and only Queen of Crime.

The Body in the Library

The body of a beautiful blonde is found in the library of Gossington Hall. What the young woman was doing in the quiet village of St. Mary Mead is precisely what Jane Marple means to find out. Amid rumors of scandal, Miss Marple baits a clever trap to catch a ruthless killer.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The best opening I ever wrote." Agatha Christie "Genuine old-crusted Christie." Time "Professional detectives are no match for elderly spinsters! it is hard not to be impressed." Times Literary Supplement "one of the most ingeniously contrived of all her murder stories." Birmingham Post --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Agatha Christie is the world's best known mystery writer. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in 44 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare.

Her writing career spanned more than half a century, during which she wrote 79 novels and short story collections, as well as 14 plays, one of which, The Mousetrap, is the longest-running play in history. Two of the characters she created, the brilliant little Belgian Hercule Poirot and the irrepressible and relentless Miss Marple, went on to become world-famous detectives. Both have been widely dramatized in feature films and made-for-TV movies.

Agatha Christie also wrote six romantic novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. As well, she wrote four nonfiction books including an autobiography and an entertaining account of the many expeditions she shared with her archaeologist husband Sir Max Mallowan.

Agatha Christie died in 1976.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins (Mm); First Edition edition (October 1992)
• ISBN-10: 0061003646
• ISBN-13: 978-0061003646
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #694,644 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #61 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Foreign Language Fiction > French

More About the Author

Agatha Christie was born in 1890 and created the detective Hercule Poirot in her debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920). She achieved wide popularity with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) and produced a total of eighty novels and short-story collections over six decades.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great!!!, September 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Body in the Library (Mass Market Paperback)

Don't listen to those people who said this was boring...it wasgreat!!!! I never suspected the ending, even though I know thatChristie always has the most unlikely person as the murderer. Read it!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is one of Agatha Christie's finest stories., November 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Body in the Library (Mass Market Paperback)

This story has lots of characters and plot twists. Readers will find Miss Marple and her investigation of the crimes to be highly involving. A classic story that will be enjoyed by every Agatha Christie fan.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great mystery, one of the best ones ever written!, December 13, 2005

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The body in the library

When the body of a murdered young woman is found in their library, the Bantry's bring in their old friend, Jane Marple. There's a mystery within a mystery here: who is the murdered girl, and how did she get from where she was last seen to the Bantry's library? There are suspects galore, but only one person can possible get to the truth - Miss Marple!

Jane Marple was the literary creation of that most famous of English mystery writers, Agatha Christie (1890-1976). For those of you unfamiliar with Miss Marple, she was your stereotypical elderly spinster-lady, who loves to gossip and grow her flowers. But, even more, she has a razor-sharp mind that she uses to solve mysteries, using her own brand of lateral thinking that allows her see clearer than anyone else around her.

This is actually Agatha Christie's third Miss Marple novel, written in 1942. (The first one was The Murder at the Vicarage (1930), and the second one was Sleeping Murder, which was written in 1940 but locked away to be published after Ms. Christie's death in 1976.) Overall, I found this to be a fascinating read. If you love a good mystery, then get this book - it is a great mystery, one of the best ones ever written. I give this book my highest recommendations!