Rating: 
Summary: What Miss McGillicuddy Saw!
Review: ----is the original title of this Jane Marple offering, a much better choice than "4:50 From Paddington" which is a little bit deceptive and a lot more lackluster. Miss McGillicuddy, while riding the entitled train, saw a woman being strangled on a train running parallel to her own.Miss McG. reports this shocking occurrence to her hostess Miss Marple, the police and the train authorities. No body is found, and the authorities chalk up the report to an elderly lady's vivid imagination. But Miss Marple knows that one thing rock-solid Elspeth McGillicuddy lacks is a "vivid imagination." If Miss McG says she saw a murder, Miss Marple is certain a murder did, in fact, take place. Her curiosity aroused, Miss Marple enlists the aid of young Lucy Eyelesbarrow. Lucy is a delightful character who combines fearsome organizational abilities with all consuming charm and tact. In a fine bit of sleuthing, Miss Marple ascertains the only area where the body could have been dumped from the train is on the Crackenthorpe (don't you just love these names?) estate, Rutherford Hall. Lucy gets herself hired at Rutherford to find out about the people, and hopefully locate the body. The head Crackenthorpe is the old, miserly father who enjoys his poor health and depriving his grown children with equal enthusiasm. The family consists of his martyred spinster daughter, three sons, a son-in-law and a grandnephew schoolboy. Clever Lucy finds the body residing in a sarcophagus in a falling down barn on the property. The murderer would have to be very familiar with Rutherford Hall and its environs to have found such a resting place. None of the family has much of an alibi, but though they all have excellent motives for wanting to do away with their skinflint father, it appears none have any ties to the stranger hidden in their barn. The author displays a great deal of sly humor in the book, and her descriptions of the days and ways at Rutherford Hall are fascinating. I had a little difficulty believing this class conscious family would immediately accept Lucy as an equal and confidante, but I never let the small things bother me in a Christie book. The plot was delightfully intricate. For once, I thought I had pegged the murderer, but Dame Agatha triumphed yet again, and I was foiled. That the motive was a bit thin and barely acceptable is my only complaint. It is a fine Christie effort, not her best, but very much up to her standard of excellence.
Rating:
Summary: Back Loaded Plot
Review: 4.50 to Paddington takes a while to get started with much of the book centered around trying to decide if a murder actually took place. Once that it's decided that a murder did take place the plot picks up and the rest of the book reads more like a typical Agatha Christie.
Rating:
Summary: A good book, but definitelly not Chistie's best...
Review: After getting quite tired of Hercule Poirot's character and style, it was refreshing to read a Ms. Marple novel, especially since other characters, such as Lucy, help her out, so it's not a "standard" Agatha Christie book (most of Hercule Poirot's books, for instance, usually have Poirot arriving in the scene after the crime, Poirot observes and talk to people, often there are an extra crime or two happening before he solves it, then he gathers the survivors and in turns puts the blame on everyone until he finds the guilty party). but there are others, such as "And Then There Were None" who are much better than this one...
Rating: 
Summary: Don't miss this one!
Review: Elspeth McGillicuddy had spent a busy day Christmas shopping in London so when she settled into her comfortable 1st class train compartment on her way to visit her friend it was natural that she dozed off for a few minutes. It was most unsettling that she woke up just in time to see a murder being committed in a passing train. It was understandable that the train conducter did not believe this elderly lady's fantastic story. It was fortunate that Mrs. McGillicuddy's friend was none other than Jane Marple. Miss Marple believed her friend was not imagining whole thing. When the police found no evidence of the crime Miss Marple began to investigate for herself. She located the most likely place a body could be disposed of, a large estate owned by the Crackenthorpe family and arranged for a confederate, Lucy Eyelesbarrow to work for the family. The Crackenthorpe family is another of Christie's large dysfunctional families dominated by a disagreeable father (Luther), downtrodden daughter (Emma), ambitious son (Harold) and a pair of blacksheep - the artistic Cedric and the slightly crooked Alfred. Two other siblings have died, Edmund and Emma. Emma's husband, Bryan and son, Alexander are also part of the household. The body is found, more murders commited, the culprit unmasked and the true motive revealed in dramitic fashion by Miss Marple.
Along the way romance flourishes and leaves the reader with an unanswered question. The family is very much like characters from similiar families in other books, (HERCULE POIROT'S CHRISTMAS, A POCKET FULL OF RYE, CROOKED HOUSE and others). This, coupled with the various titles this story has had over the years - WHAT MRS. McGILLICUDDY SAW, EYEWITNESS TO MURDER and MURDER SHE SAID, could lead a reader to think they had read this one before. Do not pass this one by, it is worth reading for the delightful Lucy Eyelesbarrow alone!
Rating:
Summary: Murder Without A Corpse Challenges Miss Marple
Review: In "The 4:50 From Paddington" Agatha Christie gives us another in her long list of detective stories involving a large family at their estate. This is, in my opinion, one of the best, and begins when Elspeth McGillicuddy, a friend of Miss Marple's, is returning from Christmas shopping in London and on her way to visit Jane in St. Mary Mead. Her train is running alongside another one on a nearby track, and Mrs. McGillicuddy has an excellent view inside the parallel carriage of the other train. What she sees is the back of a man strangling a woman. No one believes Mrs. McGillicuddy since no corpse is found and no injured woman turns up at any hospital. Only Miss Marple believes her friend. Although Mrs. McGillicuddy is leaving for Ceylon to spend Christmas with her son, Miss Marple continues her quest to prove her friend's story. First she books passage on the same train and narrows the search for where a body should have been thrown to the area around Rutherford Hall, the large family estate of the Crackenthorpes. The family consists of the semi-invalided and grouchy Mr. Crackenthorpe, his daughter Emma, three sons, a son-in-law, and a grandson. At least four of the men are likely candidates for the strangler. Because Miss Marple is not young enough to physically search for the body in unknown territory, she engages Lucy Eyelesbarrow, one of Christie's most interesting female creations. Lucy quickly gains employment at Rutherford Hall as a domestic and busily does all the legwork for Miss Marple. Meanwhile, Jane Marple has taken up residence at a nearby home and advises and assists Lucy. In 1961, this became the basis for "Murder, She Said," the first of four films starring Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple. Although it deviates from the book, most notably in the omission of Lucy, it is enjoyable and worth viewing.
Rating:
Summary: Joan Hickson reads one of Christie's best
Review: In the 1961 mystery-comedy "Murder She Said," Margaret Rutherford plays a feisty version of Miss Marple (an interpretation that infuriated author Agatha Christie) who takes a job as a domestic to solve a murder she saw committed as her train was passing another. Rutherford shared a scene or two with another character actress named Joan Hickson, who was to play Miss Marple in a series of television mysteries that were far more faithful to their originals than were the films. So if you have already seen the two dramatic treatments of "4:50 From Paddington" or (as it was called over here) "What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw" and love comparisons, you might want to make a triple one with what Christie actually wrote by either reading the book itself or hearing an authoritative reading of it by Joan Hickson herself on an Audio Partners set on 5 audio cassettes or on 6 CDs. In a houseful of potential murderers, the very interesting Christie character named Lucy Eyelesbarrow takes a position in order to find the body. As one commentator mentions, she is Christie's strongest independent woman to date and possibly in all of the mysteries. So where Rutherford simply was given a fatter role, the original story is that of Lucy with some fancy brainwork by Miss Marple, of course. A very good entry in Audio Partners readings.
Rating:
Summary: Title Correction
Review: In the 1961 mystery-comedy "Murder She Said," Margaret Rutherford plays a feisty version of Miss Marple (an interpretation that infuriated author Agatha Christie) who takes a job as a domestic to solve a murder she saw committed as her train was passing another. Rutherford shared a scene or two with another character actress named Joan Hickson, who was to play Miss Marple in a series of television mysteries that were far more faithful to their originals than were the films. So if you have already seen the two dramatic treatments of "4:50 From Paddington" or (as it was called over here) "What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw" and love comparisons, you might want to make a triple one with what Christie actually wrote by either reading the book itself or hearing an authoritative reading of it by Joan Hickson herself on an Audio Partners set on 5 audio cassettes or on 6 CDs. In a houseful of potential murderers, the very interesting Christie character named Lucy Eyelesbarrow takes a position in order to find the body. As one commentator mentions, she is Christie's strongest independent woman to date and possibly in all of the mysteries. So where Rutherford simply was given a fatter role, the original story is that of Lucy with some fancy brainwork by Miss Marple, of course. A very good entry in Audio Partners readings.
Rating:
Summary: Three great dames make a terrific story
Review: In this classic Jane Marple story, Joan Hickson, who portrayed Jane Marple perfectly on the BBC series, wonderfully dramatizes all the parts in this fascinating murder mystery. Elderly Elspeth McGillicudy witnesses a murder on the 4:50 train from Paddington Station. She reports it but no one believes her as there is no body to be found. When she tells her old friend, Jane Marple the story, Jane does believe her and re-enacts the so-called crime to see how and where the body could have been hidden. When Miss Marple pinpoints the most likely spot, she engages the young Lucy Eyelesberry to take up a post at that place, Rutherford Hall, to look for the body. The ensuing story is one of the best of Agatha Christie's with Jane Marple taking an important, though supporting role to the plucky Lucy. Not only does she find the body but she engages all the members of the dysfunctional family and serves as a foil to ferret out information about motives and alibis. Of course, all family members remind Miss Marple of someone in her village of St Mary Mead but that is the charm of the story and character. Elspeth McGillicudy does enter the plot again at the end and is instrumental in identifying the murderer. This audio book is just perfect for a long car trip or even for many short commutes. I couldnt wait to get back to my car and engage the traffic because I so looked forward to Joan Hickson, Miss Marple and Lucy. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: As Feeble as Miss Marple
Review: Late Christie and a dithery, fluttering Miss Marple who is only peripherally involved do not make a good combination. Although she does some surveying and map-reading to discover the house where the body of the woman seen strangled on board a train has been hidden, she does not apply reason to the problem of two murders caused by a tontine will and the identity of the woman (two fairly standard ploys), but experiences a revelatory flash-not, of course, shared with the reader, who has no chance of spotting the culprit.
Rating:
Summary: They should have kept the title, but the book's still great
Review: Ten lashes with a wet noodle to whoever changed the original fun title of "What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!" to the boring old "4:50 From Paddington". Thank goodness they couldn't tamper with the delicious treat inside. What Mrs. McGillicuddy saw is a murder outside her train window, on another train running parallel to hers. However, not only can Mrs. McGillicuddy not convince anyone she saw a murder, they can't even find a body. Whoever thought he was committing the perfect crime, however, didn't take into account Mrs. McGillicuddy's old friend, Miss Marple, eighty-plus years old and sharp as a tack, and Miss Marple knows that, body or no body, Mrs. McGillicuddy is no fool; if she says she saw a murder, somebody got murdered. So all they have to do is: first, find the body, and second, find the murderer. To help in her search (she's not getting any younger after all), Miss Marple enlists the aid of Lucy Eyelesbarrow, one of the best of Agatha Christie's creations, a brilliant, no-nonsense young woman who actually finds the victim, a young French woman, strangled and interred in a stone sarcophagus located in a beat-up old barn at Rutherford Hall, a run-down estate owned by crotchety old Mr. Crackenthorpe, who's in no hurry to expire and leave the estate to his three sons and his spinster daughter. Someone's after the estate, though, and doesn't want to share the goodies either, because the body count starts to pile up at Rutherford Hall even as Miss Marple is unwinding the tangled skein of events that leads to a solution of the crime. Agatha Christie seems to have had fun writing this book; it zips along like a runaway train and we're with it right to the end. It's a shame Mrs. McGillicuddy never appeared in a subsequent book because she and Miss Marple are an inspired pairing; much more than Poirot's straight man, Hastings, Mrs. McGillicuddy has a fund of plain common sense and mother-wit that compliment Miss Marple's shrewd insight and would make the two of them a terrific detective team. This book is right up there with Christie's best.
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