Review: Marple: Twelve New Stories

I love Agatha Christie and have read all her books, so I was excited to see this anthology, which has twelve new Miss Marple stories written by bestselling crime authors.

It has been a while since I last read a Miss Marple story, however, and I suspect my memory has been muddled by the various TV and film adaptations! Which is why I had Joan Hickson in my head throughout this book, along with Joanna Lumley every time Dolly Bantry made an appearance. I can't really judge if the authors have correctly captured Christie's 'voice' but they have certainly captured the flavour of her Miss Marple stories and they are all of an exceptional standard.

The stories are as follows:

Evil in Small Places by Lucy Foley

The Second Murder at the Vicarage by Val McDermid

Miss Marple Takes Manhattan by Alyssa Cole

The Unravelling by Natalie Haynes

Miss Marple's Christmas by Ruth Ware

The Open Mind by Naomi Adlerman

The Jade Empress by Jean Kwok

A Deadly Wedding Day by Dreda Say Mitchell

Murder at the Villa Rosa by Elly Griffiths

The Murdering Sort by Karen M. McManus

The Mystery of the Acid Soil by Kate Mosse

The Disappearance by Leigh Bardugo

My favourites (in no particular order) were: The Second Murder at the Vicarage, A Deadly Wedding Day, Murder at the Villa Rosa, The Murdering Sort, The Mystery of the Acid Soil and The Disappearance, but they were all very good! I think my only complaint is that no original Miss Marple story was included.

This anthology was a clever idea and a lot of fun. Even with my rusty knowledge I recognised reoccurring characters (Raymond West, Dolly Bantry and Sir Henry Clithering) and references to other stories (The Murder at the Vicarage and A Caribbean Mystery). Marple would make the perfect present for any fan of cosy crime, 'golden age' mysteries - and of Agatha Christie, obviously!

Thank you to the authors and Harper Collins UK for my copy of this book, which I requested from NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

The Tangleroot Palace and Other Stories by Marjorie M. Liu

I was attracted to this book by the beautiful cover and I love reading fantasy, particularly the re-imagining of fairy tales. The Tangleroot Palace is a compilation of six short stories and one novella written by bestselling, award-winning comic book author Marjorie M. Liu over the past twelve years. They have been previously published in other anthologies.

Marjorie M Liu is an extremely talented and clever author. She doesn't tie herself to one sub-genre of fantasy, so these stories are a mix of re-imagined fairy tales, fantasy romance, dark fantasy and horror. There are stories about vampires, witches, super-heroes, reluctant princesses and female warriors. My favourite was the novella-length titular story, about a princess rebelling against being a princess, particularly the arranged marriage she is expected to put herself through to save her country from a vicious warlord. I enjoyed it so much, I wish it had been full-length!  I also loved The Briar and the Rose (a re-imagining of Sleeping Beauty with a dark twist), and Sympathy for the Bones, a macabre story of power and revenge between witches.

Some of the stories went over my head because they were not written in a genre I usually enjoy, but The Tangleroot Palace is one of those 'Quality Street' collections: there will be something here for everyone to enjoy! 

I particularly enjoyed the author's notes at the end of each story, citing her inspiration!

Stories included:

Sympathy for the Bones

The Briar and the Rose

The Light and the Fury

The Last Dignity of Man

Where the Heart Lives

After the Blood

Tangleroot Palace (novella)

Thank you to Marjorie M. Liu and Titan Books for my copy of this book, which I requested from NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.