A set of twelve brand new stories involving Agatha Christie's "Queen of Crime" from the pens of twelve contemporary female authors - Naomi Alderman, Leigh Bardugo, Alyssa Cole, Lucy Foley, Elly Griffiths, Natalie Haynes, Jean Kwok, Val McDermid, Karen M. McManus, Dreda Say Mitchell, Kate Mosse, and Ruth Ware. Jane Marple first appeared in print in 1927, and the last Christie novel involving her detection was published in 1976. Forty years later we have a set of stories in which the sleuth from St Mary Mead gets to exercise her powers again. Not all involve murder, and not all are set in England - we have stories in New York and Italy for example. Marple's generous nephew, Raymond West, makes lots of appearances mostly to bankroll Jane's holidays. I enjoyed them all very much, although in the confines of a short story Jane Marple has to work very quickly, and often concludes "whodunnit" on the basis of very little information! The authors were all set constraints - around timing and Jane Marple's background, and I think they all did an excellent job.

Originally published September 2022. Read in paperback.