Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A murder in retrospect expertly solved by Jane Marple., 19 Nov 2000
By A Customer
I expected the pace to be slow as it is a Miss Marple story. I started the book at midnight, thinking of getting through the heavy first few chapters, but ended up finishing the whole book at a go! Miss Marple tackles a murder that has went undetected for 18 years. There are seemingly no clues whatsoever and no indications that a murder was committed. Only the memory of the eye-witness (who was three when she saw, and subsequently forgot about it) to rely on, Miss Marple finally expertly uncovered the sickening truth, but that was after yet another murder was committed to protect the killer's identity during the process...
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More complicated plot than the earlier novels, 12 July 2009
I've been very lax and am not reviewing this one until a week after I finished reading it. Tut tut. It's a fairly good novel, once again more in keeping with the later Marples (of which it is one) in that the plot is more complicated than the early formula of 1. Murder, 2. Marple, 3. Murder, 4. Solution. There are a number of elements that don't really add up. First off is the coincidence that magically bring the main character back to the location of the crime twenty years later. Then of course the familiar fortune that they happen to know Miss Marple. There is also a slight issue of no ones attention being drawn to where the body is hidden. The ending itself however is quite interesting. I thought that I had worked it out, and it as someone that none of the characters had even considered. Then just as the conclusion was drawing up, the protagonist suddenly decided the same as I had been thinking for some time, only to be proved hideously wrong - it was the one person that it had never crossed my mind to consider. All in all, certainly not one of the worst Marples, but probably not the best either. Well, that's the end, pretty much, of my Miss Marple reading - just a collection of short stories to go.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable but rather rushed, 19 Feb 2010
Most of the Marple adaptations for BBC radio seem to be squeezed into 1hr 30mins which is perhaps 20mins or so too little. A fault with most of the Marple stories I have heard so far is a tendency to rush things along and the stories have no time to breathe. This matters less with some than with others and I suppose that it could be argued that because so much of 'Sleeping Murder' takes place in the past and much of the events are unfolded via dialogue with voices FROM the past, it can stand a bit of cutting. I'm not convinced however. For me, part of the charm of this story is the steady pace at which facts are uncovered and the building air of menace and both of these things are missing here. Having said that, the vocal acting is generally very well done and whilst I have had some general misgivings about June Whitfield as Miss M, I think that this is one of her best performances of the role so far (of those I have listened to). She seems to allow for a little more humour than usual and its all to the good. The ending is a little clumsy, melodramatic and unlikely but that is the fault of the book as the play follows it very closely. This is an enjoyable production on the whole and I would recommend it.
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