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Marple: Twelve New Stories cover art

Marple: Twelve New Stories

By: Agatha Christie, Naomi Alderman, Leigh Bardugo, Alyssa Cole, Lucy Foley, Elly Griffiths, Natalie Haynes, Jean Kwok, Val McDermid, Karen M. McManus, Dreda Say Mitchell, Kate Mosse, Ruth Ware
Narrated by: Various
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Summary

A brand new collection of short stories featuring the Queen of Crime’s legendary detective Jane Marple, penned by twelve remarkable bestselling and acclaimed authors.           

Read by Alex Kingston, Adrian Scarborough, Adjoa Andoh, Imogen Stubbs, Alison Steadman, Jodhi May, Chipo Chung, Cathy Tyson, Ramon Tikaram, Tanya Reynolds, Celia Imrie and Miriam Margolyes. 

This collection of twelve original short stories, all featuring Jane Marple, will introduce the character to a whole new generation. Each author reimagines Agatha Christie’s Marple through their own unique perspective while staying true to the hallmarks of a traditional mystery.

  • Naomi Alderman
  • Leigh Bardugo
  • Alyssa Cole
  • Lucy Foley
  • Elly Griffiths
  • Natalie Haynes
  • Jean Kwok
  • Val McDermid
  • Karen M. McManus
  • Dreda Say Mitchell
  • Kate Mosse
  • Ruth Ware

Miss Marple was first introduced to readers in a story Christie wrote for The Royal Magazine in 1927 and made her first appearance in a full-length novel in 1930s The Murder at the Vicarage. It has been 45 years since Agatha Christie’s last Marple novel, Sleeping Murder, was published posthumously in 1976, and this collection of ingenious new stories by twelve Christie devotees will be a timely reminder why Jane Marple remains the most famous fictional female detective of all time.

©2022 Agatha Christie Limited (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"Each author captures Christie—and Marple—perfectly, while also displaying just a bit of her own unique touch." (The Washington Post)

"Without a doubt, the greatest mystery writer of all time." (Ragnar Jonasson)

"A hundred years after her first novel, and we are all still standing in her shadow." (Andrew Taylor)

What listeners say about Marple: Twelve New Stories

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Marple 12 new stories - an enjoyable listen

Marple 12 new stories released 15/09/2022 - an enjoyable listen

I listened to the audible version of this over just a couple of days. Overall, I really enjoyed it. As with all collections of short stories, especially those with different authors, I enjoyed some of the stories more than others. Some were really good, almost as good as the originals by Agatha Christie – my favourite author. It was nice to hear of the same characters, places or experiences from the original stories in some of them.

Some of the stories were disappointing. Some were badly edited, including errors of the reader although this just seems to be mainly just the one reader which is particularly annoying. Some of the stories were a bit politically correct to be a real Miss Marple but that is perhaps to be expected. Some of the stories were pitched in the usual timeframe and some authors tried to modernise Miss Marple.

As usual, it would have been useful to have to included titles in the audible version so you knew which story is in which chapter as some of the stories have a chapter to themselves and some are split over multiple chapters. I have attempted to include this in my review. I hope it helps someone enjoy the audible version slightly more.

Chapter Title Author Read By

1 Audible Intro

2 Miss Marple Intro

3 Evil In A Small Place Lucy Foley Alex Kingston

4 The Second Murder At The Vicarage Val McDermid Adrian Scarborough

5 Miss Marple Takes Manhattan Alyssa Cole Adjoa Andoh

6 The Unravelling Natalie Haynes Imogen Stubbs

7 Miss Marple’s Christmas Ruth Ware Alison Steadman

8 The Open Mind Naomi Alderman Jodhi May

9 The Jade Emperess Jean Kwok Chipo Chung

10-14 A Deadly Wedding Day Dreda Say Mitchell Cathy Tyson

15 Murder At The Villa Rosa Elly Griffiths Ramon Tikaram

16 The Murdering Sort Karen M McManus Tanya Reynolds

17-26 The Mystery of the Acid Soil Kate Mosse Celia Imrie

27 The Disappearance Leigh Bardugo Miriam Margolyes

28 End Credits

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68 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

How many times…

Have listeners asked for chapter headings?

No idea when any of the stories begin and end - have to stab around 30 odd chapters hoping not to hear the ending first. Would titles of the stories be too much too ask?!

Let down again.

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46 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Almost there, but the editing falls very short.

I adore Agatha Christie and Miss Marple, so this was a very anticipated listen. I purchased the collectors hardcover as well as this audiobook.

It was always going to be difficult to sum up a book with many individual authors, some of which are firm favourites. I am happy to say that I enjoyed most of them, 'The Second Murder At The Vicarage' by Val McDermid, 'The Mystery of the Acid Soil' by Kate Mosse and 'The Disappearance' by Leigh Bardugo in particular...these were all lifted by superb narration too. There were always going to be a few I didn't enjoy.

However, the real letdown was due to the editing on this audible version: it is shocking. There are editing errors and repeats throughout, with numerous found in 'The Mystery of the Acid Soil' alone. In addition, I am at a loss why the chapter headers did not coincide with the stories included, some stories lasted one chapter, some multiple, and yet you never know where you are as there are no chapter heading.

For a book so anticipated, this is a real letdown, and I think totally unacceptable.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Such a shame editing was bad on one of the stories

Interesting stories on the whole. Editing on Celia Imrie's reading was really bad with multiple repetitions and also coughing.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great new stories, sloppy metadata

A collection of lovely new Marple stories, some a bit heavy on characters previously used by Christie herself as well.
The metadata of the book is - as per usual - a terrible mess: some stories are contained in one chapter, others are divided across multiple chapters; none of the stories are recognisable as the titles are missing. And one of the stories (read by Celia Imrie) seems to be unedited, because it contains repetitions and mistakes made by the reader.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Poor editing

A great shame that a collection of outstanding Miss Marple tribute stories was let down by unexpected and unwelcome poor editing - how could this be allowed to happen?

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

hit and (mainly) miss

Disappointed with almost all of the stories unfortunately. Some very lazy writing, preposterous endings and Miss. Marple being completely un-Miss. Marple like. It did make me realise the genius of Agatha Christie a little more though. Also some terrible editing with repeated lines left in.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A mixed bag

There are only 3 of these stories that I liked unreservedly, The Jade Empress, A Deadly Wedding Day, and The Disappearance. Those stories had good plots and, importantly, good narrators. Other stories had bad plots and good narrators, or good plots and bad narrators. The Mystery of the Acid Soil comes close, but it's not quite there.

The Mystery of the Acid Soil was good, although not as good as the other 3 I've mentioned. It seemed a little silly, although it was very well constructed as a story, with believable characters.

The Disappearance, which is the last story, has a style that feels closest to Agatha Christie, and Miriam Margolyes does an excellent job of narrating. Probably the best of the lot. She's the only one who nails Miss Marple. All of the others read her as basically an old woman, but she injects a bit of herself into Marple, bringing her alive. She also does the other characters very well. The story is also great.

A Deadly Wedding Day was the first story where I actually felt anything for the characters. It's read by Cathy Tyson, and she has a voice that's just made for audiobooks. I could listen to her forever. My only niggle was that in all the adaptations (audiobook, radio dramatisation and TV adaptations) of A Caribbean Mystery, the island of St Honoré is pronounced as "Hono-ray". Here, it's pronounced "Hono-ree". It's a VERY minor point but it did annoy me.

The Jade Empress was the first story that made me think, "I haven't wasted my money." Really, up until that point, I was not enjoying these new stories very much. The narrator also did a good job.

My biggest disappointment was the 2nd story, The Second Murder at the Vicarage, by Val McDermid. I really like this author, so I was shocked at how slight the story was. It's over in about half an hour. It really was far too short. Miss Marple Takes Manhattan comes a close second as the worst story, not helped by a poor narrator.

I think the worst narration was for the sixth story, The Open Mind. It's read in a sultry, breathy voice. Totally inappropriate for a Marple story. It would be fine for a romance but not this. It doesn't help that the story is poor.

Overall, I was disappointed by the stories and the narrators. Some of the good narrators (Ramon Tikaram) were saddled with poor stories and some narrators spoiled what may have been good stories. Imogen Stubbs sounds like she arrived at the recording studio in a rush and was still trying to catch her breath. Alison Steadman was almost unbearable. She has such a shrill, screechy, histrionic voice. It was very unpleasant to listen to. I understand she's a "name" and so was probably meant to be a draw, but for me she was terrible.

I didn't experience the errors that others noted in the story read by Celia Imrie. And my version had chapter titles. Perhaps it has been updated since the other reviews.

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    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A fit homage

A lot of people will complain this isn’t perfect Agatha Christie, and they’ll be right. However, there was only one such author, and these writers are only meant to pay homage to Agatha Christie and her marvellous Miss Marple. I think they managed to do just that, some better than others.
The penultimate story wasn’t edited, which means that, at the time of this writing, you’ll hear the narrator repeat herself a few times. Not a huge issue but it does interrupt the flow of narrative. Other than that, it was a pleasant listen.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Each Story is Different...

I absolutely loved this collection. Each chapter (apart from the the introductions) are the individual stories and are introduced at the beginning of each Chapter.

I have found myself smiling and laughing out loud to the wonderful stories that have been beautifully written and expertly conveyed. I have found myself whisked back to the fabulous evenings watching Agatha Christie's Marple, (with the amazing Geraldine Mcgwean), and being so happy that new and just as intriguing stories have been created. Fantastic!! All that we need now are these incredible stories to be turned into a new TV series of Miss Marple. 10/10 a must listen to.

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