4:50 from Paddington, by Agatha Christie

Part of my recent trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia, was two days spent on the train (both there and back).  It was a wonderfully relaxing time for self-reflection, and for reading.  Of course, when trying to plan your reading for a two-day long train trip, as far as I’m concerned, there’s only one author you can go to – Agatha Christie!  As I’d already read Murder on the Orient Express, I was looking for another train-inspired work, and found 4:50 from Paddington, which is a Miss Marple mystery.

Now, I’m still getting to know Christie as an author.  I’ve read several of her works, and found them all to be enjoyable, but this was the first Miss Marple book that I had read, and I think it’s one of the later books in the series.  Miss Marple, for those like me who didn’t know much about her, is an elderly lady who has skills and a world-view that helps her to solve mysteries.  

In 4:50 from Paddington, Miss Marple is visited by a friend who recently witnessed a murder on a train that was passing her own.  Oddly enough, no body is reported as being found on the train, nor dumped nearby, so Miss Marple puts her considerable talents to trying to figure out where the body ended up, and who done it.  By enlisting the help of Miss Lucy Eyelesbarrow, an extremely intelligent young woman who is a domestic for hire, Miss Marple is able to observe the family she suspects of being involved, which eventual leads to the unmasking of the villain who killed the young woman.

4:50 from Paddington has everything you need for a mystery – a victim that’s difficult to identify, a cast of characters who all have their own reasons for being potential murders, and an intrepid investigator who is bound and determined to get to the bottom of things.  While it’s an interesting read, with a great ending, I found it to be a little ho-hum.  I wasn’t able to guess what the dénouement would be, and maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for reading at the time, but I didn’t find the book that riveting.  

Of all the Christie novels I’ve read, I’ve found they’re either hit or miss with me – there’s no in-between, and this one was a miss.  So, final verdict?  If you’re a big Miss Marple fan, I assume you’ll enjoy this one; if you just like good old-fashioned mysteries, I’m sure you’d like it too.  But, for my money, I’m not in a hurry to read more or Miss Marple.