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The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side, Part 2: balancing texture, theme, and plot
And so we come to the adaptation of The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side. Having watched two in quick succession, I now understand why I had underestimated the value of the novel. Neither the BBC nor iTV was able to capture the magic of the original well. Both focus almost exclusively on the plot,…
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The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side, Part 1: a more expansive world
I’m back! And with a great Miss Marple to come back to. I’ll be honest, I didn’t remember The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side that much when I started it. I recalled there being an irritating victim and some kind of Hollywood drama – but I did not remember how smooth a read it…
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TCO Reviews: Sepulchre Street / The House on Graveyard Lane by Martin Edwards
I’ve got the making of a series on the brain, and it’s a perfect week to take on a new entry in the Rachel Savernake series by Martin Edwards. Sepulchre Street is Edwards’ fourth novel, and the fourth to feature his mysterious amateur sleuth, Rachel Savernake. Edwards is, of course, the premier expert on Golden…
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4:50 from Paddington, Part 2: Battle of the Lucys
We’re back with 4:50 from Paddington, and this week I want to take a look at how the BBC and iTV chose to adapt Lucy Eyelesbarrow. As a quick recap: Lucy Eyelesbarrow is one of my favorite Christie characters – a smart, independent woman who knows her strength in the domestic sphere and has the…
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4:50 from Paddington, Part 1: What makes a series stick?
We’re past the halfway mark on the Miss Marple series, and I’m so excited for this exploration. 4:50 from Paddington is the epitome of Marple-dom, an encapsulation of so much that I identify with the sleuth. But Christie keeps it fresh with new additions to the formula – most notably Lucy Eyelesbarrow, a smart and…
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A Pocket Full of Rye, Part 2: Motivation matters
Welcome back to our deep-dive on Agatha Christie’s sixth entry in the Miss Marple series, A Pocket Full of Rye. When we left off last week, we discussed features that make this novel unique: Miss Marple’s social engineering, and an increased emphasis on her drive for Justice. Where we’ve previously been treated to Miss Marple’s…
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A Pocket Full of Rye, Part 1: Miss Marple the social engineer
Next in our Miss Marple series, we’re taking a look at A Pocket Full of Rye. This is the first of what I’d consider the “iconic” Miss Marples. The “first half” of the series tends to feature Miss Marple in settings that are closer to home, investigating murders in the English countryside. Starting with this…
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They Do It With Mirrors, Part 2: creating a character ecosystem
It’s time to take a closer look at the two TV adaptations of They Do It With Mirrors. This is a bit of a tricky one, because the novel has distinct strengths and weaknesses. Specifically, the novel features quite strong character portraits but a questionably consistent theme. Last week, we discussed that the overall effect…
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They Do It With Mirrors, Part 1: A suite of character studies
Welcome back to our series on the art of literary adaptation, using the Miss Marple series as a guide. For those of you who are new, I’ve been re-reading the adventures of my favorite spinster sleuth, and comparing the novels with both the BBC and ITV adaptations. It’s been a fascinating way to see how…
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Wrapping the Advent of Mystery: one final bow
We have made it through a week of Golden-Age murder mysteries together. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have. This has been the most ambitious series I’ve created so far, and it’s been such a treat to read and write. I started this series hoping to find some new authors and stories,…