Customer Reviews

THEY DO IT WITH MIRRORS

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Strange things have been happening at Stonygates, the home of Carrie Louise Martin, an old friend of Miss Marple's. Carrie Louise's sister, Ruth Van Rydock, has asked Miss Marple to visit Carrie Louise and determine what the trouble is and to alleviate her worries about her sister.

Agatha Christie once again takes us into a family estate overrun with family members. This family is particularly complex because Carrie Louise has been married three times and there is a wide assortment of relatives including stepsons, a widowed daughter, grandchildren, and even a current husband. The husband is deeply involved with corrective training and has turned the family home into a school where first offenders come for counseling and attention. So to this already strained situation, Mrs. Christie includes psychologists and therapists and a situation ripe for murder.

Indeed, three murders occur and there is much unpleasantness before Miss Marple explains it all.

This story (also published under the title "Murder With Mirrors") was adapted for TV in 1991 with Joan Hickson in the role of Miss Marple and Jean Simmons as Carrie Louise.

Again we have a good opportunity to see how two different writers adapt for the screen an Agatha Christie mystery. In 1985, Helen Hayes played a very American Miss Marple in "Murder With Mirrors." Of course, better known is the Joan Hickson version that appeared in the USA on Mystery Theatre. Now that same Ms. Hickson reads the original version on a 4-audio cassette boxed set from Audio Partners with the British title "They Do It With Mirrors."

The plot revolves around a home for juvenile delinquents set up by Lewis Serrocold who is married to Carrie Louise, an old school chum of Marple's. The relationships are a bit hard to sort out when one is hearing a tape and cannot turn back a few pages to see who is who, but things get moving when three shots ring out, two behind a closed door and one far off. Murder (but for what reason?), attempted murder (but was it really?), and a little stab at slow poisoning (if that is what it was) complicate things. But by drawing her usual analogies between those concerned and those whom Marple knew long ago, she is able to hit upon the solution.

Unfortunately, I feel this is not one of Christie's better plots--which still makes it a fairly good one!--but the title more or less gives the solution away. I also find that Hickson's voice, so perfect for Marple, is not as flexible as those of other readers in this series and she makes no attempt to act out the various parts. Now and then, but not very often, she does grow a tad hard to understand for a word or two. Still, it makes great listening on long trips or just sitting there on a cold winter's night with a mug of hot something and a good book on the tape deck.

Also known under the title MURDER WITH MIRRORS, this 1952 Agatha Christie is neither the best nor the worst of her work. Set in a decaying English mansion, the grounds of which have become home to an experimental school for delinquent boys, the novel finds Miss Marple visiting an elderly friend from her own school days--and being plunged into crime when her hostess' stepson is shot dead.

Christie is best known for her fiendishly cunning plots, but in this instance I found the mechanism of the crime somewhat obvious. Still, the novel has other, undeniable charms: a renewed acquaintance with the always entertaining Miss Marple, a memorable cast of characters, and a particularly atmospheric setting. While it will never compare with the likes of A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED or MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, Christie fans will find it an entertaining one-gulp read.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

What "improvements" have been made for the Signet edition? There are already major differences in punctuation, word choices, and scene breaks between the original Collins and Dodd Mead (MURDER WITH MIRRORS) editions of this novel. There are further differences between the Dodd Mead editions republished by Random House/Avenel and the Dodd Mead editions republished by Simon & Shuster/Pocket. There are further additions still in the Bantam, Berkley, and Black Dog & Leventhal editions. For every publishing house putting out her works, there seem to be a new batch of editors altering Agatha Christie's words and the sound of her voice. What's the matter with these publishers? Whose voice do they think we want to hear when we sit down to a novel by Agatha Christie? And what will she sound like twenty years from now? It's frightening that her estate has failed to see the importance of guarding her words as she wrote them. Please tell me I'm not the only one here who senses that a crime has been committed.

This was my first Miss Marple book... it gave a good first impression of her. I liked the whole idea of the setting, that made it interesting. The characters were described very well. Overall, this was a good book, but the end was a bit confusing to me.

As in all her books, Agatha Christie leaves no detail dangling. Carrie Louise, one of Jane Marple's old schoolchums, seems a little out of touch with reality. What is perfectly obvious to everyone else is totally untrue to her. At the end Dame Christie explains how Jane figured out the crime by paying attention to Carrie Louise's supposed nonsense. Also, as usual the book is sprinkled with wise insights into human character.
The story is about a couple of do-gooders (Carrie Louise and her third husband Lewis) who believe that young criminals can be rehabilitated with the right opportunity and set up a hospital to do just that. One of the members of the Board of Directors shows up unexpectedly and is shot to death that night. The prime suspect is the American outsider, who is married to Carrie Louise's granddaugher (by adoption). Of course, everyone present -- lots of relatives -- is suspected. Lewis finally reveals that the Director came to warn them that someone was trying to poison Carrie Louise with arsenic and was unfortunately murdered before he could identify the culprit. Carrie Louise is very rich, having benefitted from her two prior marriages, and from her natural birth. So any of her children, stepchildren, grandchildren, etc., would have a reason to murder her. Everyone is sure Lewis did not do it because he loves her too much.
Christie's plots are always wonderful, but her comment on society make her books a cut above all others. For me, she's the best writer who ever lived.

The plot is something of a disappointment, but this book is worth reading for Miss Marple's observations on misguided philanthropy. As always, Miss Marple proves herself to be an excellent judge of human situations.

A worried friend sends Miss Marple to Stonygates on a visit with their old school chum, Carrie Louise Serrocold. Those worries are more than born out by a murder and a series of violent attempts on the lives of various manor inhabitants. Miss Marple needs all her experience to figure who is behind all the crimes.

Ordinarily I love Miss Marple mysteries, but this one is not Christie's best. Miss Marple seems out of her element and there isn't enough St. Mary Mead insight to provide its usual enchantment.

Miss Marple is such a fun creation and I have always enjoyed the works in which Christie features her. This work is as good as any in the series, and contains plenty of griping about arthritis coupled with a compelling crime.

Sisters Carrie and Ruth are two of Miss Marple's oldest friends - and it's at the behest of Ruth that Jane accepts an invitation to visit Carrie, because of Ruth's worries that something is not quite right in that household. When she arrives, she discovers any number of potential reasons for Ruth's unease - the delinquents Carrie and and her husband Lewis are attempting to rehabilitate, the flirtatious granddaughter and her sullen husband, and the controlling housekeeper who may or may not have Carrie's best interest at heart - just to name a few of the potential suspects. When Carrie's stepson is murdered with little apparent reason, it becomes frighteningly apparent that the universally loved Carrie's life might be threatened. The entire situation is a shell game, and Miss Marple and the local Inspector must work to unravel the truth from the lies before Carrie becomes a victim of her own benevolent, trusting nature.

They Do It With Mirrors has many of the elements of a classic Christie mystery. The setting is tightly contained to a well-off family home - a family where everything *should* be perfect, but everyone has their secrets. Everything's very genteel, but that veneer of proper English respectability masks some pretty passionate familial discord. In the best Dame Agatha Christie fashion, this cast of characters gives her plenty of opportunity to pack the story with red herrings and misdirection. As far as the actual mystery goes - this story falls a bit short when compared to some of Christie's other gems. The culprit becomes apparent rather early on, which is kind of surprising, but it allows Christie to take a look at their motivations and how exactly this "conjuring trick" of a murder was seemingly so flawlessly executed. What's more interesting for me than the actual case is the analysis of Carrie's character, and how this woman who never seemed to have a good grasp of reality sees situations and people much clearer than others. Enjoyable (aren't all Christies?), but not a runaway favorite.