The Body in the Library
The Body in the Library is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in February 1942[1] and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in May of the same year.Dr Haydock's autopsy reveals that the young woman, healthy but not fully mature, died between 10 pm and 12 midnight on the previous evening, had been drugged and then strangled, and was "virgo intacta".From one shoe and one button, the corpse is identified as that of 16-year-old Girl Guide Pamela Reeves, reported missing by her parents the previous night.She asks Sir Henry to approach Jefferson, who agrees to tell Mark and Adelaide that he will change his will the next day, leaving his money to a hostel in London.At 3 am, an intruder, Josie Turner, enters Conway's bedroom, and is caught in the act by the police before she can harm Jefferson with a syringe filled with digitalin.Yet more recently, in Philip Pullman's novel La Belle Sauvage, published in 2017, the protagonist borrows a book titled The Body in the Library.[citation needed] Maurice Willson Disher of The Times Literary Supplement was impressed in his review of 16 May 1942 with the female view of life injected into the solution of the crimes."Some devoted souls may sigh for Hercule Poirot, but there are bound to be others who will be glad to find his place taken in the 'new Agatha Christie' by Miss Marple."[3] Maurice Richardson was not as impressed with Christie's efforts in his 17 May 1942 review in The Observer when he concluded: "Ingenious, of course, but interest is rather diffuse and the red herrings have lost their phosphorescence."[7] An unnamed reviewer in the Toronto Daily Star (21 March 1942) wrote that "It doesn't take long to read this one, but the two killings in it are made so mysterious that you will not want to lay the book down until the killer is caught."The reviewer concludes, "Police do a lot of probing, but it is the shrewd reasoning – intuition perhaps – of Jane Marple that finds the missing link and discloses a diabolical plot.The question he raised involves the likelihood of the crimes and the manner of solving them, which he found better than a mystery written over 30 years later by another author, saying that "If you think what happens to the body after death is unlikely, try the more 'realistic' P.D.Explaining that he enjoys reading detective stories, Peter says that he has the autographs of Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, John Dickson Carr, and H. C. Bailey.While explaining how she concluded who the murderers were and how the widowed Mr Jefferson became so quickly enamoured of a girl while knowing so little of her, Miss Marple mentions the old story The King and the Beggar-maid as a model for instant emotional reaction.In Christie's Cards on the Table, published six years earlier, Anne Meredith knows Ariadne Oliver as the writer of a book called The Body in the Library.
The Body in the Library (film)Agatha ChristieCrime novelDodd, Mead and CompanyN or M?The Murder at the VicarageFive Little PigsThe Moving Fingerdetective fictionCollins Crime ClubshillingssixpenceMiss MarpleGirl GuideJane MarpleSt Mary Meadfirst Marple novelRobert BarnardP.D. JamesAn Unsuitable Job for a WomandigitalinChief ConstableSir Henry ClitheringSuperintendentWorld War IIclichéInspector LewisDS James HathawayDI Robbie LewisPhilip PullmanLa Belle SauvageThe Times Literary SupplementantimacassarHendon CollegeMaurice RichardsonThe ObserverToronto Daily StarDorothy L. SayersJohn Dickson CarrH. C. BaileyHercule Poirotcherchez la femmeThe King and the Beggar-maidCards on the TableAriadne OliverThe Body in the LibraryJoan HicksonAgatha Christie's MarpleGeraldine McEwanJames FoxJoanna LumleyIan RichardsonJamie TheakstonLes Petits Meurtres d'Agatha ChristieMs. Ma, NemesisMichael BakewellJune WhitfieldRichard ToddPauline JamesonJack WatlingGraham CrowdenPocket BooksPenguin BooksPan BooksHarperCollinsLarge-printThe Saturday Evening PostRichardson, MauriceMiss Jane MarpleRaymond WestSt. Mary MeadA Murder Is AnnouncedThey Do It with MirrorsA Pocket Full of Rye4.50 from PaddingtonThe Mirror Crack'd from Side to SideA Caribbean MysteryAt Bertram's HotelNemesisSleeping MurderThe Thirteen ProblemsThe Regatta MysteryThree Blind Mice and Other StoriesThe Adventure of the Christmas PuddingDouble Sin and Other StoriesMiss Marple's Final Cases and Two Other StoriesMurder She SaidMurder at the GallopMurder Most FoulMurder Ahoy!The Alphabet MurdersThe Mirror Crack'dShubho MahuratMurder with MirrorsAgatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and MarpleEpisodesAgathe kann's nicht lassenTropes in Agatha Christie's novelsAgatha Christie's fictional universeMiss Marple (radio series)Murder at the Vicarage (play)BibliographyUniverseAdaptationsSuperintendent BattleTommy and Tuppence BeresfordLady Eileen "Bundle" BrentCaptain Arthur HastingsChief Inspector James JappParker PyneMr. Harley QuinThe Mysterious Affair at StylesThe Secret AdversaryThe Murder on the LinksThe Man in the Brown SuitThe Secret of ChimneysThe Murder of Roger AckroydThe Big FourThe Mystery of the Blue TrainThe Seven Dials MysteryThe Sittaford MysteryPeril at End HouseLord Edgware DiesMurder on the Orient ExpressWhy Didn't They Ask Evans?Three Act Tragedy