Rating: 
Summary: A Solid Murder-Mystery
Review: A Solid Murder-Mystery
This Agatha Christie novel is a solid story with some very interesting characters. And best of all, it jumps right into the intrigue when Dolly Bantry, Mistress of Gossington Hall, is informed by her housemaid that a body has been found in the estate's library. From that point on, the cast of characters is introduced, and one-by-one they are added to the possible list of suspects - or at least people of interest.
Agatha Christie uses just the right touch of humor and suspense in this book. I consider it a classic that should be read by most school children. It is short enough to not intimidate the average reader, yet long enough to be a memorable read.
The motive and suspects are just vague enough to keep the reader guessing at "Who-dunnit?" the whole story. The only flaw in this book is that the reader is never really given enough information about one of the characters - Dinah Lee. Other than that, this is another must-read by Agatha Christie.
Rating:
Summary: Great Miss Marple
Review: A unknown blonde female body is found in the library of a wealthy colonel. As the cops are called so is the old detective, Miss Marple. again she catches the murderer i thought was innocent. I enjoy her so much, especially the way she trappes the killers in mental games to make them slip. In this book she does it and the murder doesn't know what is coming. I like her alot better then Mr.Hercule Poriot. that is my opinion. it is great to see a women solve a crime once in a while. This is a great book for just about any age, especially those interested in murder mysteries.
Rating: 
Summary: BORING AND LONG
Review: Again, another Christie that doesn't cut it. The beginning and end were fine, but see if you don't fall asleep during the middle. I admit, the title and description sound great, but be prepared for a complete disappointment when a potentially great book fails.
Rating: 
Summary: A body in the first chapter.
Review: Agatha Christie dedicated her 1941 crime novel, "The Body In the Library", with affection to her brother-in-law who had expressed a wish to find a body in the first chapter of her next book. Agatha Christie so contrived a response that the body could be found in the library at Gossington Hall, home of Colonel and Mrs Bantry, neighbors of her famous spinster sleuth Miss Marple.
Accordingly, readers can expect to be entertained by mystery and mayhem, fortified by tea and sympathy, culminating in a well-explained denouement. Many of this writer's former conjuring tricks as well as one or two new one are provided, framed in a setting that has similarities to that of Dorothy L Sayers' "Have His Carcase", and re-working a formula used previously in her own "Death On the Nile". You might, like me, consider that the writer withholds too much information that might facilitate identifying the guilty, but a check will show that she provides clues (although well hidden) during the entertainment.
As cozy as they come, and with less thrills and action than most, this is one of Agatha Christie's better middle order crime novels.
Rating:
Summary: A body in the first chapter.
Review: Agatha Christie dedicated her 1941 crime novel, "The Body In the Library", with affection to her brother-in-law who had expressed a wish to find a body in the first chapter of her next book. Agatha Christie so contrived a response that the body could be found in the library at Gossington Hall, home of Colonel and Mrs Bantry, neighbors of her famous spinster sleuth Miss Marple. Accordingly, readers can expect to be entertained by mystery and mayhem, fortified by tea and sympathy, culminating in a well-explained denouement. Many of this writer's former conjuring tricks as well as one or two new one are provided, framed in a setting that has similarities to that of Dorothy L Sayers' "Have His Carcase", and re-working a formula used previously in her own "Death On the Nile". You might, like me, consider that the writer withholds too much information that might facilitate identifying the guilty, but a check will show that she provides clues (although well hidden) during the entertainment. As cozy as they come, and with less thrills and action than most, this is one of Agatha Christie's better middle order crime novels.
Rating:
Summary: Spellbinding Book
Review: Agatha Christie's the Body in the Library is truly a great mystery book. Of course, Agatha Christie does not need any additional praise from humble me to boost her reputation as an unparallelled author of mysteries. In this book, the corpse of a young woman is found in the library of Gossington Hall, the home of a well-to-do colonel and his wife. Miss Marple, in conjunction with the police, sets out to investigate. She comes upon many discoveries, and it can be seen that many parties benefit from the death of the woman in the library and/or have the opportunity to kill her. As the investigations progress, a possibly related incident occurs: a car burned to shrapnel in a neighboring region. Miss Marple, of course, with her impeccable investigative prowess and sharp eye for detail, solves the mystery methodically and impressively. The outcome is dazzling and this book is a great read for all mystery-lovers out there.
Rating:
Summary: Miss Marple -- enlightenment British style
Review: As a teenager, I devoured one Miss Marple mystery after the other, feeling all the time slmildly uneasy for wasting my time on such fluff. But as I grow older and read more and better, and as I'm less influenced by the opinion of the powers that be, Agatha Christie grows in my mind. Miss Marple is one of the most popular literary figures of the 20th Century, and yet she does not have the literary status of Sherlock Holmes. She's not required reading in high school literature courses, and she should be. Agatha Christie created an entire litererary genre, which is not the same as the genre created by Conan Doyle (whose unabridged Sherlock Holmes I'ver read with great pleasure cover to cover three times). I think it's fair to say that in some significant way, her mysteries are more similar to the novels of Jane Austen than to those of Conan Doyle. Austen and Christie are fundamentally all about the motivations in human psychology. Where Holmes looks at a person's fingernails and deduces she is a musician, Christie watches a couple quarrel, and deduces they are really married, though they pretend otherwise. For her, such evidence is as solid as a footprint, and based on it, conclusions can be drawn. Nevertheless, she does revert to simple forensic evidence before convicting anyone. Her plots are always complicated, but Christie always provides a unique solution. If she did not, she would not be great. In th case of the Body in the Library, there is as usual all sorts of evidence floating around to confuse you and occupy your mind, but 3 pieces of evidence in the end identify the murderer uniquely. 1) The fingernails on the corpse were bitten. 2) The supposed victim clipped her nails. 3. Who identified the body? An inattentive reader might finish the book concluding that had Christie modified the plot just a little, the outcome might have been different. Not so. Not any more than Dorothy could have stayed in Oz or Hamlet survived. Christie creates an entire self-consistent and carefully planned microcosm of motivations. However, in this case, the identities are veiled, the dynamo which drives the plot is the who-done-it. In this regard, her genre, of course, is in Doyle's tradition. And I so much like Miss Marple as a literary figure -- the enlightened being, British style. She lives in British society with its commoners and gentry, but is somehow neither. She easily consorts and sympathizes with both. She seeks neither wealth nor fame. She is content, fearless. Her mind and emotions are steady without being cold. And she does not pass judgement on her fellow man, though she stands unflinching in the face of justice -- Nemesis, she is called in one novel. She always knows who did it at the precise moment when all the evidence is in. In this case, that happened when the little boy showed her the clipped nails. Inspector Slack dismisses him as irrelevant. Marple does not. To her all men are created equal. Yet each is unique and understood on his or her own terms. Best of all, Christie accomplishes this through a truly endearing personality -- one with a penchant for tea and herbaceous borders, and a tendency, like most of us, to slip a stitch, though most of hers are literal rather than metaphorical
Rating:
Summary: Miss Marple to the rescue
Review: Dolly Bantry was slowly waking to the usual sounds of her well run household. Her peaceful, predictable life was thoroughly disrupted when her maid entered, bringing not the expected morning tea, but news of a body in the library! Not only a body, but a young woman! Platinum blonde no less! When her husband could supply no explanation for this occurance Dolly did the only sensible thing - she called her friend and neighbor, Jane Marple. Miss Marple set about her inquiries and, aided by the police, began to sort out the mess. The trail led to the film industry and then to the nearby seaside resort of Danemouth where the wealthy guests and the staff of the Majestic Hotel become embroiled in the mystery. Ultimately Miss Marple solves the crime, bringing the culprits to justice and saving her friends from a life time of suspicion. This 1941 work reflects small town English life and morals of the time. The reader needs to keep this mind and not try to see the story in a more contremporary light. It mattered very much at that time whether or not a couple was married or living in sin, teenage girls could be convinced that a talent scout could pick them out of a crowd and the suspicion of a middle-aged man's daliance with a young woman would lead to social exclusion for the whole family. The plot is, as always in a Christie mystery, fairly laid out with all the clues available to the reader. While the reader may get a suspicion of a red herring and even narrow the field of suspects I doubt that any will arrive at all the answers before Miss Marple reveals all.
Rating:
Summary: Miss Marple to the rescue
Review: Dolly Bantry was slowly waking to the usual sounds of her well run household. Her peaceful, predictable life was thoroughly disrupted when her maid entered, bringing not the expected morning tea, but news of a body in the library! Not only a body, but a young woman! Platinum blonde no less! When her husband could supply no explanation for this occurance Dolly did the only sensible thing - she called her friend and neighbor, Jane Marple. Miss Marple set about her inquiries and, aided by the police, began to sort out the mess. The trail led to the film industry and then to the nearby seaside resort of Danemouth where the wealthy guests and the staff of the Majestic Hotel become embroiled in the mystery. Ultimately Miss Marple solves the crime, bringing the culprits to justice and saving her friends from a life time of suspicion. This 1941 work reflects small town English life and morals of the time. The reader needs to keep this mind and not try to see the story in a more contremporary light. It mattered very much at that time whether or not a couple was married or living in sin, teenage girls could be convinced that a talent scout could pick them out of a crowd and the suspicion of a middle-aged man's daliance with a young woman would lead to social exclusion for the whole family. The plot is, as always in a Christie mystery, fairly laid out with all the clues available to the reader. While the reader may get a suspicion of a red herring and even narrow the field of suspects I doubt that any will arrive at all the answers before Miss Marple reveals all.
Rating:
Summary: Great!!!
Review: Don't listen to those people who said this was boring...it wasgreat!!!! I never suspected the ending, even though I know thatChristie always has the most unlikely person as the murderer. Read it!
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