The Thirteen Problems
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The Thirteen Problems, originally published in 1933, and as The Tuesday Club Murders in 1982, is a collection of thirteen short stories by English author Agatha Christie. The stories feature her detective Miss Marple.
[edit] Plot
As in some of her other short story collections, Christie employs an over-arching narrative, making the book more like a novel. There are two sets of narrative, though they themselves interrelate. The first set of six are stories told by The Tuesday Night Club, a random gathering of young people, at which Miss Marple (by chance) happens to be at. Each week the group tell thrilling tales of mystery, which are always solved by Miss Marple, from the comfort of her armchair. One of the guests is Sir Henry Clithering, an ex-commisioner of Scotland Yard, and this allows Christie to resolve the story, with him usually pointing out that the criminals were caught. The next set occur as part of a dinner party Miss Marple is invited to by Sir Henry Clithering, partly as a result of her skill in the Tuesday Night Club. This employs a similar guessing game, and once more Miss Marple triumphs. The thirteenth story, Death by Drowning takes place the morning after the dinner party, and Miss Marple is called upon by Clithering to help in the investigation.
[edit] List of Stories
- The Tuesday Night Club
- The Idol House of Astarte
- Ingots of Gold
- The Blood-Stained Pavement
- Motive v. Opportunity
- The Thumb Mark of St. Peter
- The Blue Geranium
- The Companion
- The Four Suspects
- A Christmas Tragedy
- The Herb of Death
- The Affair at the Bungalow
- Death by Drowning
The stories can be loosely divided, with the first six as The Tuesday Night Murders, and the second six as The Dinner Party. The final story takes place the morning after the dinner party, and so can be collected there as well.
[edit] External links
- http://www.all-about-agatha-christie.com/the-thirteen-problems.html
- wiki collection of quotations from The Thirteen Problems