The Life and Times of Miss Jane Marple

Rating:
Summary: Organised sorting of Christie's information
Review: A biography of Agatha Christie's female lead, Jane Marple. Fairly well written, as far as it goes, which is, naturally, no further than Christie went. Hart does not invent anything, barely speculates on the information we don't have given in the canon of half a dozen novels and a dozen or more short stories. Rather than a biography, even one of a fictional character, this is more of a systematisation (is that the word i want?) of the given information. As such, it is interesting to learn how unsystematic Christie was; Miss Marple changed over the years, and i had never previously realised just how much, how inconsistent some of the stories are. If i want information about Miss Marple ~ or St. Mary Mead ~ this is the book to turn to (other than reading blindly in the canon); if i'm looking for interesting speculations or character development on Christie's invention, this is not it.

Rating:
Summary: Organised sorting of Christie's information
Review: A biography of Agatha Christie's female lead, Jane Marple. Fairly well written, as far as it goes, which is, naturally, no further than Christie went. Hart does not invent anything, barely speculates on the information we don't have given in the canon of half a dozen novels and a dozen or more short stories. Rather than a biography, even one of a fictional character, this is more of a systematisation (is that the word i want?) of the given information. As such, it is interesting to learn how unsystematic Christie was; Miss Marple changed over the years, and i had never previously realised just how much, how inconsistent some of the stories are. If i want information about Miss Marple ~ or St. Mary Mead ~ this is the book to turn to (other than reading blindly in the canon); if i'm looking for interesting speculations or character development on Christie's invention, this is not it.