Agatha Christie's Mysterious Parallels

 In Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie, the book follows a group of characters as they solve mystery after mystery, with each taking up one chapter. There are 20 total chapters. As of now, I am nearly finished with the book. Each story is different, yet similar in many ways. 

For example: take The Blue Geranium, which was explained in my previous blog post, and "The Companion", in Chapter 8. The latter takes place in the Canary Islands. Dr. Lloyds remembers looking out at the grand hotel and seeing two English ladies that looked similar, both "about forty, inconspicuously dressed and well-preserved" (Christie 116). Miss Barton was rich while Miss Durrant was less financially stable. The very next day, something happened to them. Miss Mary Barton and Miss Amy Durrant both went out to the sea to bathe, and one went too far and started drowning. The other tried to save but also almost went down, if not for a nearby boat that rowed out to rescue them. Miss Barton survived, but Miss Durrant, the one that swam too far out, did not. A while later, Miss Barton tries to confess to a vicar but is turned away due to being mental. The next day, she is missing and an apparent suicide note was found, saying that she drowned Miss Durrant and as a result, she must drown too. Her body was not found.

Spoilers are in this paragraph. If you do not want to read spoilers, then skip this paragraph completely. In "The Companion", Miss Barton dresses up as Miss Durrant and drowns her friend in order to receive her inheritance. Because there is no motive to kill your poor best friend, it would not make sense to do that. Then, Miss Barton (dressing up as Miss Durrant) fakes her own death, pretending to be temporarily insane. 

Both had a similar format: There was an unexplained death, followed by a series of questions and the characters trying to solve it. Both follow the signature style of an Agatha Christie short story, with heavy dialogue and fast pacing.  Although these stories were similar, other aspects of them were very different. "The Blue Geranium" mostly takes place inside Ms. Pritchard's home, while "The Companion" takes place in various places on vacation. "The Blue Geranium" also gives a much clearer insight on the victim's mindset, while "The Companion" leaves more things up for interpretation. Overall, both stories were very interesting, but if I had to pick I would choose "The Blue Geranium". The book is still a great read, and I would definitely recommend it for fantasy or mystery enthusiasts.

-Bruce