This was my first Miss Marple mystery. The premise is great: an influential British couple discover a body in their library and it's someone they do not know. Many characters involved and the clues reveal many plot twists and suspects along the way. Interestingly enough, Miss Marple is not featured in much of the first 2/3 of the book. Yes, she is introduced and her prowess at solving mysteries is made clear, but most of the story focuses on the investigations from the police and other friends of the couple in whose house the body was found.

Another murder occurs, which opens up new avenues for suspicion, etc.

In the end, Miss Marple is featured and she solves the mystery quite nicely. Wrapped up in fine form with all the plot twists explained.

The reason for 4 stars is that I thought the story dragged a bit throughout the majority of the book. It was interesting, but not to the point where I felt where I needed to put everything aside and keep reading (that would be 5 stars). I finished this book over the course of a few weeks. ( )

Lord and Lady Bantry awake one day to find the body of a young woman in their library; someone they do not know. Miss Marple is a friend of Dolly Bantry and Dolly asks her to solve the puzzle, she thinks it will be fun to be a detective. Miss Marple has a reputation amongst the local police and they are not opposed to her reviewing the facts and often ask her to also talk to some of the people. I always enjoy following the connections and seeing how she puts things together, but the class prejudice and general stereotyping of whole groups of people can be off-putting. ( )

This was a really good Miss Marple story and I had fun reading it. Objectively speaking, it is probably the best Miss Marple that I read, it's just not my favourite. But Miss Marple gets to shine in this story with her comparisons and her knowledge of the human nature.
Also worthy of note is that this book starts pretty much immediately with the finding of the body instead of severeal chapters of build up before the murder happens, which was also very nice for getting quickly into the story. ( )

It was entertaining, but the resolution was pretty improbable. I like to try to solve the mystery as I read along, but this one didn't afford the reader that opportunity. I still love me some Agatha, though. ( )

A good solid cozy. I liked this more than some of her work or maybe I was just more in the right mood for it. Either way, Miss Marple is as clever as ever as a student of human nature. ( )

The title says it all. Cluedo in a book. It's many many years since I've read a Miss Marple mystery. It was fun to be swept back to an era where the Country House complete with servants was A Thing, where village life was peopled by old ladies, intelligent but under occupied, rendered spinster by WW1.
This time, a body has been found in the library of the country house, but the actual murder must have taken place elsewhere. Any number of police are called in to deal with this event, and of course Miss Marple too. A vast cast of characters wander in and out of the narrative - I found it a bit hard to keep track. I don't think it's exactly a spoiler alert to tell you that Miss Marple cracks the mystery. It was all good period fun, and I enjoyed this book - but not enough to pick up another Agatha Christie for a while. ( )

In this novel Christie sets out to, as she explains in her foreword, put a new spin on what was even in her day a hoary old cliche of detective novels: the dead body in the library. She succeeds by drawing out the wry humour in the characters, Miss Marple's lively friend Dolly and her retired Colonel husband in whose library said body was found, and by placing a twist into the story. Although I did remember what it was, from watching the TV adaptation with the incomparable Joan Hickson some years ago, it didn't spoil things as I didn't recall who the murderer might be. Part of the fun is reading about the prejudices of the various social classes of the time in which the story is set. Dolly calls upon her old friend Jane Marple because, apart from the frisson she experiences from being caught up at a safe removal from the murder, she is perfectly aware that her husband will be suspected of being implicated and will very shortly be snubbed by all and sundry in their very provincial community. So there are real stakes in Miss Marple not just identifying the culprit - and we know that she has done so pretty early on without being let in on the secret - but more importantly, proving it.

Not quite a 5 star read, because quite a bit of it is from the viewpoint of various senior policemen - there are rather a lot of them - who aren't really differentiated from a character viewpoint. I think, without seeing the TV adaptation again, that some of them must have been merged for dramatic purposes and also rather more made of the role of Inspector Slack and the comic possibilities of bringing him into a clash with Miss M, which doesn't really happen in this novel. But an easy page-turning read and therefore worthy of 4 stars. ( )

Typical Christie - competently and entertainingly written, lots of misdirection, decent wrap up that makes sense. Not sure it'd have been reasonable to guess the solution in this one - although I did see one of the main clues from the start - which is a bit disappointing but it's not a big deal. Pretty good but not spectacular or anything. ( )

The Body Snatcher
Review of the William Morrow Paperbacks edition (2022) of the Dodd, Mead & Co. (US)/Collins Crime Club hardcover originals (1942)

“Downstairs in the lounge, by the third pillar from the left, there sits an old lady with a sweet, placid spinsterish face, and a mind that has plumbed the depths of human iniquity and taken it as all in the day’s work. Her name’s Miss Marple. She comes from the village of St. Mary Mead, which is a mile and a half from Gossington, she’s a friend of the Bantrys—and where crime is concerned she’s the goods.”

The Body in the Library is quite diabolical for a so-called "cozy". A murdered girl is found in the library of Mr. & Mrs. Bantry, both of whom have never seen her before in their lives. Meanwhile another girl from the village has gone missing. Then a stolen car is discovered burnt out with a corpse inside it. There is nothing to be done, except call in Miss Marple to sort out the suspects and the victims. The authorities, as usual, are lost without her.

See cover at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f5/The_Body_in_the_Library_US_First_...
The front cover of the original 1942 Dodd, Mead & Company (US) hardcover edition. Image sourced from Wikipedia.

Confusion for Completists
The Body in the Library is the 2nd Miss Marple novel. Some lists, including the Goodreads Miss Marple Listopia, count it as Miss Marple #3 as the short story collection The Thirteen Problems (1932) is counted as #1 only because some of those stories appeared in 1927.

Trivia and Links
The Body in the Library was adapted twice for English language television. Both of the adaptations are reasonably faithful to the original plot. I did not find any free trailers or postings of either of them, but they are both available on the Britbox streaming service here in Canada.
The first adaptation was as part of the BBC's Miss Marple (1984-1992) series as Season 1 Episodes 1 to 3 in 1984 which starred Joan Hickson as Miss Marple.

The second adaptation was as part of ITV's Agatha Christie’s Marple (2004-2013) reboot series as Season 1 Episode 1 in 2004 which starred Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple. Although faithful to the book for about 95% of the time, this version makes a switch in the final reveal about which it would be a spoiler to say more.

There was a French language adaptation for the Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie [French: The Little Murders of Agatha Christie] (2009 - ongoing) series. The episode based on The Body in the Library was Season 1 Episode 9's Un Cadavre sur l'Oreille (2011).This series does not feature a Miss Marple character and instead has a police detective and a reporter as the leads. The plots are transplanted to France and are considerably changed from the originals.

There was a Korean language TV adaptation for the Ms. Ma, Nemesis (2018) limited series. There were 32 episodes to this series which adapted several Miss Marple stories including The Body in the Library into a modern day plot of an prison escapee who seeks to clear her own name of her daughter’s murder and solves that and other crimes in the process. The lead role was played by Yunjin Kim, best known to English language television from the TV series Lost (2004-2010). ( )

Some interesting plot twists in this book. I really did not see the solution coming. Miss Marple is brilliant as always. Good read but probably not one I'm going to read again. ( )

4.5 rounded up to 5 stars
A body is discovered by a maid in the library of Col. and Dolly Bantry. Dolly calls her friend, Miss Jane Marple, to help solve the mystery. Marple views the body, a young woman dressed shabbily, but all made up. As she and the police interview various people, they discover that Conway Jefferson, a widower who lost his family and his legs in a plane crash, took an interest in the young woman, identified as Ruby Keene. His son-in-law, Mark, and daughter-in-law, Addie, are not impressed by this, although he had already provided for them financially. Suspicion is placed on Basil Blake who is in the film industry, and it increases when another girl is found dead.
Marple suspects something isn't quite right, and solves the mystery. ( )

I’ve never read Agatha Christie before and I really wanted to like it, I’m afraid this is not the right book to start reading her. I’ll try other stories. ( )

One thing I enjoy about Agatha Christie's mysteries is that often there are tiny breadcrumbs left for the reader to find which would point in the direction of the murderer. Often, as in the case of this book, I make note of certain things (like physical description) and think to myself that it will probably be important later, and then promptly forget about it only to be reminded of it at the very end when that tiny detail is used as part of the clue that shows who the real murderer is. ( )

A cute little story that was a great "sitting by the pool, relaxing" read. Nothing special about it, but nothing bad either. Just a quality little book, enjoyable. ( )

Stephanie Cole, the reader of the audiobook, does an extraordinary job. ( )

Stephanie Cole, the reader of the audiobook, does an extraordinary job. ( )

Enjoyable, the first Miss Marple that I have actually read. ( )

My monthly Christie is complete for April. I enjoyed this one. I like Christie's little opinionated asides about children, parenting, social conventions, generational and class differences. Miss Marple is always on the verge of not being taken seriously even though she's got the sharpest mind in the bunch. ( )

This was the usual quick page turner, though I was not impressed by any of the characters. The final resolution of the origin of the eponymous corpse and who was responsible for it was rather rushed and complicated at the end, and I couldn't really determine how Miss Marple arrived at her convoluted findings. One of the two murderers wasn't on my personal list of suspects. One amusing aspect is the wry metafictional observations , such as when Colonel Bantry, the owner of the eponymous library, says that "Bodies are always being found in libraries in books. I've never known a case in real life.", or when a young boy remarks says he reads all the detective stories and that he has "got autographs from Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie and Dickson Carr and H C Bailey." Miss Marple also confesses herself as not being "clever enough" to write detective stories. Despite these occasional sparkles, this was a rather mediocre read. ( )

Good easy read. ( )

The Body in the Library presents Miss Marple in a diminished role. Miss Marple appears in very few scenes and in these scenes she acts like the Greek chorus explaining the events. This older citizen presents her observations of human character to solve murders. Dolly Bantry, Jane Marple’s friend, discovers the body of a blonde, young woman in the library she immediately asks Mis Marple to come to the house. The police arrive, as does Jane Marple, to investigate the murder. Why is the woman in the Bantry’s house? And who is the woman? A co-worker identifies the body. Not long after this death, a woman is found in a burned car. Two women killed and are the deaths related. So begins the journey to determine what has happened and to catch the murderer. What motives are driving the killings? Greed, money, love, and jealousy. The journey to discovery thrills the mind and plays a little theme of Shakespeare’s mistaken identity. ( )

The third Miss Marple book, The Body in the Library, begins with the Bantry's (first introduced in the short story, The Blue Geranium) waking up to find their household staff in disarray upon discovering a dead body in the library. A strangled body of a woman unknown to them. The police are called but seeing the difficulty involved in solving this sort of crime, Mrs Bantry takes matters into her own hands and calls their friend Jane Marple to help investigate.

Similarly to The Murder at the Vicarage, Miss Marple plays a rather small part in the matter, with a lot of the chapters following the combined efforts of the various police officers and retired former Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Henry Clithering. I'm rather a fan of the format with Miss Marple popping in and out with her insights. I really like all the cast of characters and the fluid viewpoints give a greater depth to them.

The mystery was interesting, although I felt the final reveal about killing the young girl, Pamela and doing her up to look like Ruby so as to provide an alibi was a bit too convoluted and rather dramatic - even if it did work well to tie up the loose ends.

Fun read, 3.5 stars, rounded to 4. ( )

Well written but endibg is a bit far fetched ( )

As this is my third Agatha Christie, and also the third detective/series I’ve sampled, I’ve come to the conclusion that my enjoyment of her work is not just a fluke as exemplified by my delight in Murder on the Orient Express and And Then There Were None. Now I just need a Tommy & Tuppence book and I’ll have read one of each of her series and a stand alone. Though I’ve been greatly struggling with The Secret Adversary so we’ll have to see if I’m a fan of the T&T series as well.

The Body in the Library follows a similar structure to Orient Express in that the crime is committed before the book even starts (as opposed to None) and the book is spent trying to solve the crime. Miss Marple is lovely and funny and charming, as are her friends who often enlist her help to solve crimes, as Mrs. Bantry does in The Body in the Library. As a character, despite not actually getting too much “page time,” readers get a sense of who she is and what she values.

Christie’s plot and pacing are masterful as ever, the twists abound, and while you may think you’ve solved the mystery as quickly as Miss Marple, I promise you there is always still one more twist lurking in the shadows that you probably missed. I recommend The Body in the Library just as highly as Murder on the Orient Express and And Then There Were None. ( )

Even though I’ve read this before, I was unable to remember / work out who-done-it, & the answer was more fiendishly complicated than I had guessed.

A body is found in the library of a friend’s house, and Miss Marple is co-opted by Dolly her gung-ho friend & the police to do some sleuthing. ( )