They Do It with Mirrors by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Continuing along with my 2023-Reading Goal of reading all of the full-length novels in the Miss Marple series, in order, is the 6th-book, They Do It with Mirrors.
This is the 5th-installment that I have read. For those unaware, there is a collection of short stories that kicks off the series, which I didn’t read. I’m not crazy about mysteries in short story form, therefore, I chose to skip it.
In this one we follow Miss Marple as she travels to Stonygates, a rehabilitation center for young men with, shall we say, emotional and behavioral issues.
Caution: As this novel was penned in 1952, mental health issues are not discussed/handled as they would be in a novel of today. If you think that may be an issue for you, you might want to skip this one.
Anyway, Miss Marple goes there to visit her old school-friend, Carrie Louise, at the recommendation of another old friend, Ruth Van Rydock. Ruth believes something is going on at Stonygates that puts Carrie Louise in danger.
Mrs. Van Rydock knows if anyone is going to be able to get to the bottom of it, it’s going to be Miss Marple. And spoiler alert: she’s right.
I thought this one was a lot of fun. It is quite short, but I like the way it was laid out. Additionally, I loved that Miss Marple was in this one from the very first chapter. That is a first for the series. She generally has been coming into the narrative a bit further along.
The only reason I rated this slightly lower than the others I’ve read was mainly related to the length. I feel like just as I was starting to get connected to it, it was over.
I also felt the reveal was a little rushed. It felt sort of like, yep, it was this person. Shame, shame. Moving on. I would have enjoyed some more time at the conclusion.
With this being said, I still had a blast with this. These books have such a nostalgic and comforting feel for me. I absolutely adore them.
I’m looking forward to continuing on with the next book in the series, A Pocket Full of Rye!!!