They Do It With Mirrors [Hardcover]

Agatha Christie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1970

When Miss Marple visits a girlhood friend she hasn't seen in 20 years, she finds that the friend and her husband have created a home for juvenile delinquents - and are living with 200 of them! Miss Marple senses danger, but not from the young people. Her fears are confirmed when a youth fires a revolver at the administrator and at that same moment in another part of the Victorian mansion a mysterious visitor, Mr. Gulbrandsen, is shot dead. Coincidence? Miss Marple thinks not. The suspense in this intricately plotted mystery builds as the clues point increasingly to a magician and his unusual mirrors.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"So few writers are producing the pure puzzle-novel, and no one on either side of the Atlantic does it better" - New York Times "Brisk and persuasive" - New Yorker --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Agatha Christie is the most popular mystery writer of all time. With over two billion books published, her genius for detective fiction is unparalleled. She is truly the one and only Queen of Crime --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Dodd Mead; 1ST edition (March 1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0396060676
• ISBN-13: 978-0396060673
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,401,873 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars When Miss Marple Visits Friends, Murder Is Sure To Follow, May 22, 2001

By 

Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: They Do It With Mirrors (Miss Marple Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars TVs own Marple reads a Marple mystery, September 23, 2003

By 

F. Behrens "Frank Behrens" (Keene, NH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: They Do It with Mirrors (Miss Marple Mysteries (Audio Partners)) (Audio Cassette)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Minor but Entertaining, April 27, 2004

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: They Do It With Mirrors (Miss Marple Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

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