The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie

JetBlackDragonfly
Oct 1, 2023
2 min read

Updated: Apr 30

Agatha Christie felt The Moving Finger was one of her best novels.

Atypical of her usual detection novels, this was well rounded with murder, suicide, the village hierarchy system, gossip and even romance. Very unlike my expectations of a Marple mystery, as she has a very small part in the story.

Jerry and his sister Joanna Burton take a cottage in the country village of Lymstock as he recovers from a plane crash. They mock the village for its quiet lack of excitement until Joanna receives a nasty anonymous letter inferring they were not related. There has been a rash of poison pen letters, upsetting the villagers to varying degrees as the accusations are not very harsh. Almost everyone in the village has had one, whether they admit it or not. Mrs. Symmington however is so ashamed she kills herself with cyanide. Her 20 year-old step daughter Megan comes to live with the Burtons for a while and slowly turns from silent recluse into a young lady, catching Jerry's eye. As Inspector Rash investigates, with the help of Jerry, the finger of blame is moved from one person to another. A week after the suicide, a maid is stabbed in the head, for what she possibly has seen. "What kind of a place is this...It's full of festering poison, and it looks as peaceful and as innocent as the Garden of Eden." exclaims Jerry. "Even there," said Owen dryly, "there was one serpent."

In a 200 page book, Miss Marple first appears on page 143 for tea with a local friend. She is next seen just on the street on page 170. She must have been watching from the hidden sidelines as her next and final appearance is with a sound solution to the crimes in the final pages!

This is Jerry Burton's story, as he narrates, of the class system of maids and household helpers, the lawyer, the doctor, the vicar and their wives. Emphasis is placed on the psychology of the letter writer, being of a certain age and social status. It's a great novel of misdirection and smoke screens ~ what is innocent and scattershot is actually the plot of a determined lunatic killer.

Aside from a peak at the dirty linens of Lymstock, there is not one but two romances brewing with Jerry and his sister Joanna. In the end, The Moving Finger seemed a most complete and satisfying novel, with the characters settled and the murderer discovered. It just didn't seem like Marple was involved much, which is fine, just don't give her star billing for a supporting part.

An excellent and compact "thinkers" mystery.

1942 / Hardcover / 201 pages