The letters make wild and improper accusations, but they’re so obviously false that everyone’s reaction is to throw them on the fire. Tension builds nicely through these scenes while the reader waits for something to happen. Through the first act, Jerry and Joanna are left to puzzle over anonymous notes which don’t seem terribly threatening at first. The pace of the mystery is slower than in other Christie books I’ve read and the murder takes a while to happen.
“Do you think they’ll think I’m awful?” she said. “If you lived in Lymstock, you would have on just a little powder to take the shine off your nose, and possible a soupçon of lipstick-not very well applied-and you would almost certainly be wearing all your eyebrows instead of only a quarter of them.” “What’s wrong with that? I’ve got on my Country Tan Makeup No. They’re initially outsiders in Lymstock and Joanna doesn’t immediately get the memo on country dress: He’s in the country to recuperate from a flying accident and has a jovial relationship with his sister, Joanna. The vicar’s houseguest happens to be none other than Jane Marple. The vicar, the doctor, the servants-all are on the verge of accusing one another when help arrives from an unexpected quarter. But soon a series of vicious poison-pen letters destroys the village’s quiet charm, eventually causing one recipient to commit suicide.
The placid village of Lymstock seems the perfect place for Jerry Burton to recuperate from his accident under the care of his sister, Joanna. Miss Marple has been increasingly far from the action until here, in The Moving Finger, she only makes an appearance at the end. Usually, series with a recurrent investigator feature that character as the lead, but the three Miss Marple stories I’ve read all feature different narrators. Even though they’ve all been murder mysteries, the small-town vibe and gossip keep them light. I’ve been reading the Miss Marple books in order.
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