Rating: 
Summary: One of Dame Agatha's personal favorites (and mine!)
Review: "The Moving Finger writes; and having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it."
- Omar Khayyam This is the quote that I believe inspired THE MOVING FINGER (1942), one of Dame Christie's most original novels. This one I would rank up with THE PALE HORSE (1961), also featuring Mr. and Mrs. Dane Calthrop, along with other characters from Poirot novels.
When "poison-pen" letters accusing the recipients of secret sexual activity awaken the little backwater village of Lymstock, Jerry Burton, recovering from a plane crash, his sister, Joanna, and Miss Jane Marple (though she does not show up till much later, which is why I don't really consider this a Miss Marple novel), a friend of Mrs. Dane Calthrop, must uncover the writer's identity when one recipient commits suicide. A second death is soon to follow, and this time it's murder.
This is, in my opinion, one of her best Miss Marple novels, next to NEMESIS (1971), my favorite.
Rating: 
Summary: Not her best....
Review: Although I enjoyed reading this, I felt that it clearly was not Agatha Christie's best. For starters, I do not think the cover should have said "A miss Marple Mystery", because Miss Marple was hardly even a main character! SHe didn't figure out who did it, like the other books; she merly tried to explain why. And it was only half-way through that she was mentioned! If it wasn't for the miss marple aspect, I'm sure this would be a great book, and I admit I had no idea who did it.
Rating:
Summary: Best Agatha Christie book written!
Review: An awesome book. Like all of Dame Christie's books, it keeps you guessing until the very end.
Rating:
Summary: WORTH READING
Review: I am giving this 5 stars because I feel that Miss Marple actually did a good job on this one. Well, actually Christie, who usually makes Miss Marple a slow read, did a good job. If you don't like MM, or if you do, read this because it gives you a confirmation in the skills of both lovely ladies.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Christie Mystery!
Review: I read almost all of Christie's books at one point 4 or 5 years ago. One of the last I hit upon was "The Moving Finger", and it turned out to be my favorite Christie mystery. I loved the main narrator - Jerry Burton; his neurosis, wit, simplistic arrogance and ultimately good heart were so novel to me, especially in a murder mystery. He was a breath of fresh air from the likes of Miss Marple and Poirot. These many years later, I picked up the title again to see what I thought. I see now that the narrator reminds me in some ways of Grimes' main characters for her murder mysteries - intelligent, reserved, seemingly aloof, somewhat cynical, and ultimately kind bachelors written by females authors. Apparently I find this character irresistable as I love all of Grimes' work. However, in going back and rereading some Grimes and some Christie, I am noticing how different their styles are. While I read Grimes' books the first time only 2 or 3 years ago, I find I can't remember the solution to her mysteries when I reread them because she buries her clues below a rich surface of character development. Christie, on the other hand, doesn't ever wander far from her murder mystery plot - no matter how much she may twist and turn it; and as soon as I started into this book I thought, "Oh, ______ did it". Even so, I enjoyed reading this little gem again. That all said, in addition to having a neurotic narrator - which you may or may not enjoy - this mystery focuses on the reactions in a small country village as racy anonymous letters are received by everyone in town. Jerry Burton, the narrator, and his sister arrive from London for some needed R&R right about when these letters start becoming known and so are drawn in to the town's little scandal. While Christie expounds on the psychology of those who write such notes, you have to watch all the details of the case. Like the murderer, Christie is masterful at getting you to focus on the wrong things...and then surprising you with the obvious solution. Very well done and a tribute to her uncanny gift of creating puzzles and then solving them for you.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Christie Mystery!
Review: I read almost all of Christie's books at one point 4 or 5 years ago. One of the last I hit upon was "The Moving Finger", and it turned out to be my favorite Christie mystery. I loved the main narrator - Jerry Burton; his neurosis, wit, simplistic arrogance and ultimately good heart were so novel to me, especially in a murder mystery. He was a breath of fresh air from the likes of Miss Marple and Poirot. These many years later, I picked up the title again to see what I thought. I see now that the narrator reminds me in some ways of Grimes' main characters for her murder mysteries - intelligent, reserved, seemingly aloof, somewhat cynical, and ultimately kind bachelors written by females authors. Apparently I find this character irresistable as I love all of Grimes' work. However, in going back and rereading some Grimes and some Christie, I am noticing how different their styles are. While I read Grimes' books the first time only 2 or 3 years ago, I find I can't remember the solution to her mysteries when I reread them because she buries her clues below a rich surface of character development. Christie, on the other hand, doesn't ever wander far from her murder mystery plot - no matter how much she may twist and turn it; and as soon as I started into this book I thought, "Oh, ______ did it". Even so, I enjoyed reading this little gem again. That all said, in addition to having a neurotic narrator - which you may or may not enjoy - this mystery focuses on the reactions in a small country village as racy anonymous letters are received by everyone in town. Jerry Burton, the narrator, and his sister arrive from London for some needed R&R right about when these letters start becoming known and so are drawn in to the town's little scandal. While Christie expounds on the psychology of those who write such notes, you have to watch all the details of the case. Like the murderer, Christie is masterful at getting you to focus on the wrong things...and then surprising you with the obvious solution. Very well done and a tribute to her uncanny gift of creating puzzles and then solving them for you.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Christie Mystery!
Review: I read almost all of Christie's books at one point 4 or 5 years ago. One of the last I hit upon was "The Moving Finger", and it turned out to be my favorite Christie mystery. I loved the main narrator - Jerry Burton; his neurosis, wit, simplistic arrogance and ultimately good heart were so novel to me, especially in a murder mystery. He was a breath of fresh air from the likes of Miss Marple and Poirot. These many years later, I picked up the title again to see what I thought. I see now that the narrator reminds me in some ways of Grimes' main characters for her murder mysteries - intelligent, reserved, seemingly aloof, somewhat cynical, and ultimately kind bachelors written by females authors. Apparently I find this character irresistable as I love all of Grimes' work. However, in going back and rereading some Grimes and some Christie, I am noticing how different their styles are. While I read Grimes' books the first time only 2 or 3 years ago, I find I can't remember the solution to her mysteries when I reread them because she buries her clues below a rich surface of character development. Christie, on the other hand, doesn't ever wander far from her murder mystery plot - no matter how much she may twist and turn it; and as soon as I started into this book I thought, "Oh, ______ did it". Even so, I enjoyed reading this little gem again. That all said, in addition to having a neurotic narrator - which you may or may not enjoy - this mystery focuses on the reactions in a small country village as racy anonymous letters are received by everyone in town. Jerry Burton, the narrator, and his sister arrive from London for some needed R&R right about when these letters start becoming known and so are drawn in to the town's little scandal. While Christie expounds on the psychology of those who write such notes, you have to watch all the details of the case. Like the murderer, Christie is masterful at getting you to focus on the wrong things...and then surprising you with the obvious solution. Very well done and a tribute to her uncanny gift of creating puzzles and then solving them for you.
Rating:
Summary: The Moving Finger- A pretty good book
Review: I thought this book was pretty good. I had the audio book and I did not really like the reader. She was a little hard to understand. I love murder mysteries. I really like the part when the maid was killed for seeing something she was not suppost to. The letter writer must have been pretty smart. I felt bad for the writer because they must have been pretty lonely to start doing this to people. Jerry is so into mysteries and even though he is suppost to be settling down he can't help but get involved. I recomend this book to everyone with a sense of adventure, and loves mysteries. I had a good time listening to this book, but i recomend reading it rather than listening to it.
Rating:
Summary: The Moving Finger- A pretty good book
Review: I thought this book was pretty good. I had the audio book and I did not really like the reader. She was a little hard to understand. I love murder mysteries. I really like the part when the maid was killed for seeing something she was not suppost to. The letter writer must have been pretty smart. I felt bad for the writer because they must have been pretty lonely to start doing this to people. Jerry is so into mysteries and even though he is suppost to be settling down he can't help but get involved. I recomend this book to everyone with a sense of adventure, and loves mysteries. I had a good time listening to this book, but i recomend reading it rather than listening to it.
Rating:
Summary: cosy village atmosphere and characters
Review: In a forward Agatha Christie provided for a reprint of this book, she wrote of the pleasure it was to tackle one of the classic themes, and of the great pleasure she found in writing this book with its "cosy village atmosphere and characters". The classic theme here is the phenomenon of the Poison Pen. The book is one of her shorter mysteries but one of the most cunningly devised. Adept at constructing puzzles, she opts for presenting this one as a first person narrative. The narrator is a young man recuperating from a flying accident, told by his doctor that he must "go and live in the country and lead the life of a vegetable for at least six months". With his sister he rents a cottage in a small English village "of no importance whatsoever". Accordingly, when the poison pen letters begin circulating, it is this narrator, a stranger to the village, who decribes things as he sees them, retails all the local gossip, and reports everyone's suspicions about the writer of the letters. A murder and an apparent suicide follow, and we read of the efforts of the local police to investigate. Miss Marple thus is introduced late in the book and, of course, she proves better at solving the mystery than everybody else. You will be an astute and alert reader if you discover whodunit before Miss Marple reveals all.
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