Sleeping Murder
Miss Marple's Last Case
By Agatha Christie Ulverscroft Large Print, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-44480-233-7
Genre: Crime, Mystery
Reviewed by Auggie Moore - July 30, 2010
Sleeping Murder was first published the year that Agatha Christie passed away. However, it was written years earlier with the intention of it being the last book in the Miss Marple series. Consequently, some of the material in this book is at odds with some of the other Miss Marple books that were written later. Nonetheless, Sleeping Murder is a fitting swan song for the unforgettable Miss Marple.
This mystery revolves around the newlyweds, Giles and Gwenda Reed. Gwenda is convinced that their new home is haunted and she calls upon her kindly and grandmotherly relative, Miss Marple, to help her rid her home of its unwanted guests. The biggest problem for Gwenda is that she is busy renovating her new home and almost every change that she decides to make in the house, turns out to have been done sometime in the past - and covered up. Worse, Gwenda begins to think that she remembers someone being murdered in the house, yet has no memory of ever being in the house before. These odd occurrences begin to make Gwenda question her own sanity.
What Miss Marple uncovers as she investigates the strange going on at Hillside, Gwenda's house, will have unexpected repercussions for everyone involved. For what Miss Marple uncovers is murder, pure and simple, a murder from the past that may well exact a tragic cost on the present.
Sleeping Murder is perhaps one of the most memorable and well written of the Miss Marple novels. There is a solid sub-plot, memorable characters, and a realistically chilling story that will keep you up all night reading this story straight through. It is a must read for all mystery fans!
Sleeping Murder can be purchased directly from Ulverscroft.
Click Here for a complete list of all the books written by Agatha Christie.
Related Reviews:
A Pocket Full of Rye, by Agatha Christie.
In this ingeniously plotted Christie classic, a child's nursery rhyme holds three clues to finding a cunning killer when a well-to-do household becomes infested with murder.
Miss Marple's Final Cases, by Agatha Christie.
First, the mystery man in the church with a bullet-wound...then, the riddle of a dead man's buried treasure...the curious conduct of a caretaker after a fatal riding accident...the corpse and a tape-measure...the girl framed for theft...and the suspect accused of stabbing his wife with a dagger, and more...
