The Body in the Library (The Christie Collection) (Spanish Edition)
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Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
Written By: Agatha Christie
Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780006167495
Format: Deluxe Edition
ISBN: 0006167497
Label: HarperCollins Publishers
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: 1996-08
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Studio: HarperCollins Publishers
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Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: FANTASTIC Audio Book!
Comment: I first read Agatha Christie's The Body In the Library several years ago, and to be honest, I really didn't like it very much (a rarity for a Christie book, as I am a huge fan of hers). On a whim, I decided to check out the audio edition (read by Stephanie Cole) at the library. I *loved* it! Cole does an absolutely marvelous job with all the characters, giving each a different inflection and filling each word with the appropriate emotion and feeling. Her Miss Marple is gentle yet spunky, and you can almost see the twinkle in her eyes. I became so engrossed in this audio book that I found myself sitting in my car several times, not wanting to get out because I wanted to continue to listen! I really, really recommend this audio book to anyone who enjoys a good mystery. Kudos to Stephanie Cole for such a fantastic reading!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Do you want your own Library?
Comment: This is my first Agatha Christie book. I have been informed by many people that I would love Agatha Christie's books. I admit that is true. I started The Body in the Library this morning. Every free moment I had I was reading the book.
How would you react to finding a body in your library? I don't know if I would be as calm as the woman in this book. Mrs. Bantry was thrilled with finding a body in her library. This was her chance to be a sleuth. That is what she was eager for.
The Body in the Library is a Miss Marple Mystery. Miss Marple is the sleuth in the village of St. Mary Mead. Mrs. Bantry calls Miss Marple up to the house when the body is found.
I enjoyed the book except for the parts that were written in French. Since I have never taken French some of the jokes were lost on me. Ms. Christie's writing style is one that is new to me. The book was a nice easy week end read.
5 stars since I didn't know until the very end who the murderer was..
Customer Rating:
Summary: Classic A. C.
Comment: Great read for a rainy afternoon, however... There is a major flaw in this book. Don't read below if you haven't yet read it. Also, too many investigators (Inspector Slack, Superintendent Harper, Colonel Melchett, Sir Henry Clithering) plus Miss Marple, who comes across as more spinsterish than usual in this novel.
***SPOILER***clue
(Josie's ankle, which I picked up on right away. If she had indeed damaged her ankle, how could she have carried a body? If she hadn't hurt her ankle, why did she bring in Ruby Keene to replace her? Big hmm...)
Customer Rating:
Summary: "A Fairy God-Father Instead of a Fairy-God-Mother..."
Comment: This was the first Miss Marple mystery I ever read, and though it isn't my favourite, I find that it is the one I return to most frequently when I want a well-worn, rainy-day read.
In the author's foreword, Christie tells us that she wanted to use the well-known theme of a dead body discovered in a library, but gave herself certain conditions on her use of this cliché: "the library in question must be a highly orthodox and conventional library. The body on the other hand, must be a wildly improbable and highly sensational body." Inspired by the sight of a crippled elderly man at a hotel she was staying in, who was surrounded by family members of the younger generation, Christie merged the two elements together, and arrived at: "The Body in the Library."
Arthur and Dolly Bantry awaken one morning, only to be told by a hysterical maid that there's a dead body in their library. The news is absurd, but the facts speak for themselves: a very young woman with platinum blonde hair and a sparkling party dress is lying strangled on the floor of their library. Naturally, Mrs Bantry calls up Miss Marple to cast her eye over the crime-scene, and keeps her informed when the police follow their leads to a seaside hotel.
The deceased is Ruby Keene, a young woman who was the protégée and about-to-be adopted daughter of the wheelchair-bound Conway Jefferson, a wealthy business magnate. This was to the discreet displeasure of his son-in-law Mark Gaskell and daughter-in-law Mrs Jefferson (the respective widow and widower of Jefferson's deceased son and daughter), who both had an excellent motive to kill the girl...but impeccable alibis. Throw in a dance hostess, a tennis instructor, a film director, and you have a fascinating little formula and a water-tight mystery.
Whereas Christie's slightly-more-famous detective Hercule Poirot relied on cold, hard logic in the face of baffling mysteries, Miss Marple's techniques involve the study of human behaviour. One of her most famous characteristics is to take a crime and compare it to a domestic issue that took place in her village of St Mary Mead, in this case, she takes one look at the body in the library and makes mention of little Tommy Bond, who put a frog in his teacher's clock. It's not until much later that you realize the significance of this rather incongruous statement (and sometimes it can be a *little* hard to believe that she reaches these conclusions so quickly - the woman sometimes seems clairvoyant. But then again, Miss Marple IS much more intelligent than I am!) How she can tell that a couple is married, how a girl is lying, how a dancer wasn't wearing what she should have; all have solutions that will leave an awed sort of smile on your face.
Christie herself had a razor-sharp mind, a cynical outlook and a great sense of humour, which means the characters and the human relationships they're involved in ring impeccably true, even by today's standards. For example, there is a moment in which a relative of Jefferson wishes that he'd chosen a girl of a higher social standing to be his protégée, and Miss Marple gently points out that this would defeat the very purpose of the exercise. The fact that Ruby Keene was poor meant that as her benefactor, Jefferson would enjoy the way in which she was dazzled by his wealth and generosity. Marple compares the situation to King Cophetua and the beggar maid, and on reading the passage I remember marveling at the human truth of this situation: how the ego of an old man could colour what may initially appear to be simple altruism.
In many ways, this is a comedic book: many of the characters are played for laughs, there is a shrewd eye turned to the portrayal of the upper and lower classes, and Christie even manages to name-drop herself when a young detective fan rattles off a list of his favourite mystery-writers. And yet, the tragic death of two girls lingers in the mind well after the book is finished. To a point, one can sympathize with the killer's disposal of common gold-digger...but in order to do so, he/she also had to snuff out the life of an innocent. The cunning of one life and the blamelessness of the other are held up in comparison; two lives that are linked only in death and a person's greed for fifty thousand pounds.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Miss Marple Solves the Case
Comment: I have been an Agatha Christie fan for years. Ms. Christie's writing style & novels are fantastic as she is truly a master of the mystery genre.
"The Body in the Library" is a wonderful example of Ms. Christie's writing technique. The characters, the plot, and dialogue are all wonderfully developed in "The Body in the Library". And as with most Agatha Christie novels, I am always left guessing who the true killer is until it is revealed at the very end of the novel.
Summary: FANTASTIC Audio Book!
Comment: I first read Agatha Christie's The Body In the Library several years ago, and to be honest, I really didn't like it very much (a rarity for a Christie book, as I am a huge fan of hers). On a whim, I decided to check out the audio edition (read by Stephanie Cole) at the library. I *loved* it! Cole does an absolutely marvelous job with all the characters, giving each a different inflection and filling each word with the appropriate emotion and feeling. Her Miss Marple is gentle yet spunky, and you can almost see the twinkle in her eyes. I became so engrossed in this audio book that I found myself sitting in my car several times, not wanting to get out because I wanted to continue to listen! I really, really recommend this audio book to anyone who enjoys a good mystery. Kudos to Stephanie Cole for such a fantastic reading!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Do you want your own Library?
Comment: This is my first Agatha Christie book. I have been informed by many people that I would love Agatha Christie's books. I admit that is true. I started The Body in the Library this morning. Every free moment I had I was reading the book.
How would you react to finding a body in your library? I don't know if I would be as calm as the woman in this book. Mrs. Bantry was thrilled with finding a body in her library. This was her chance to be a sleuth. That is what she was eager for.
The Body in the Library is a Miss Marple Mystery. Miss Marple is the sleuth in the village of St. Mary Mead. Mrs. Bantry calls Miss Marple up to the house when the body is found.
I enjoyed the book except for the parts that were written in French. Since I have never taken French some of the jokes were lost on me. Ms. Christie's writing style is one that is new to me. The book was a nice easy week end read.
5 stars since I didn't know until the very end who the murderer was..
Customer Rating:
Summary: Classic A. C.
Comment: Great read for a rainy afternoon, however... There is a major flaw in this book. Don't read below if you haven't yet read it. Also, too many investigators (Inspector Slack, Superintendent Harper, Colonel Melchett, Sir Henry Clithering) plus Miss Marple, who comes across as more spinsterish than usual in this novel.
***SPOILER***clue
(Josie's ankle, which I picked up on right away. If she had indeed damaged her ankle, how could she have carried a body? If she hadn't hurt her ankle, why did she bring in Ruby Keene to replace her? Big hmm...)
Customer Rating:
Summary: "A Fairy God-Father Instead of a Fairy-God-Mother..."
Comment: This was the first Miss Marple mystery I ever read, and though it isn't my favourite, I find that it is the one I return to most frequently when I want a well-worn, rainy-day read.
In the author's foreword, Christie tells us that she wanted to use the well-known theme of a dead body discovered in a library, but gave herself certain conditions on her use of this cliché: "the library in question must be a highly orthodox and conventional library. The body on the other hand, must be a wildly improbable and highly sensational body." Inspired by the sight of a crippled elderly man at a hotel she was staying in, who was surrounded by family members of the younger generation, Christie merged the two elements together, and arrived at: "The Body in the Library."
Arthur and Dolly Bantry awaken one morning, only to be told by a hysterical maid that there's a dead body in their library. The news is absurd, but the facts speak for themselves: a very young woman with platinum blonde hair and a sparkling party dress is lying strangled on the floor of their library. Naturally, Mrs Bantry calls up Miss Marple to cast her eye over the crime-scene, and keeps her informed when the police follow their leads to a seaside hotel.
The deceased is Ruby Keene, a young woman who was the protégée and about-to-be adopted daughter of the wheelchair-bound Conway Jefferson, a wealthy business magnate. This was to the discreet displeasure of his son-in-law Mark Gaskell and daughter-in-law Mrs Jefferson (the respective widow and widower of Jefferson's deceased son and daughter), who both had an excellent motive to kill the girl...but impeccable alibis. Throw in a dance hostess, a tennis instructor, a film director, and you have a fascinating little formula and a water-tight mystery.
Whereas Christie's slightly-more-famous detective Hercule Poirot relied on cold, hard logic in the face of baffling mysteries, Miss Marple's techniques involve the study of human behaviour. One of her most famous characteristics is to take a crime and compare it to a domestic issue that took place in her village of St Mary Mead, in this case, she takes one look at the body in the library and makes mention of little Tommy Bond, who put a frog in his teacher's clock. It's not until much later that you realize the significance of this rather incongruous statement (and sometimes it can be a *little* hard to believe that she reaches these conclusions so quickly - the woman sometimes seems clairvoyant. But then again, Miss Marple IS much more intelligent than I am!) How she can tell that a couple is married, how a girl is lying, how a dancer wasn't wearing what she should have; all have solutions that will leave an awed sort of smile on your face.
Christie herself had a razor-sharp mind, a cynical outlook and a great sense of humour, which means the characters and the human relationships they're involved in ring impeccably true, even by today's standards. For example, there is a moment in which a relative of Jefferson wishes that he'd chosen a girl of a higher social standing to be his protégée, and Miss Marple gently points out that this would defeat the very purpose of the exercise. The fact that Ruby Keene was poor meant that as her benefactor, Jefferson would enjoy the way in which she was dazzled by his wealth and generosity. Marple compares the situation to King Cophetua and the beggar maid, and on reading the passage I remember marveling at the human truth of this situation: how the ego of an old man could colour what may initially appear to be simple altruism.
In many ways, this is a comedic book: many of the characters are played for laughs, there is a shrewd eye turned to the portrayal of the upper and lower classes, and Christie even manages to name-drop herself when a young detective fan rattles off a list of his favourite mystery-writers. And yet, the tragic death of two girls lingers in the mind well after the book is finished. To a point, one can sympathize with the killer's disposal of common gold-digger...but in order to do so, he/she also had to snuff out the life of an innocent. The cunning of one life and the blamelessness of the other are held up in comparison; two lives that are linked only in death and a person's greed for fifty thousand pounds.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Miss Marple Solves the Case
Comment: I have been an Agatha Christie fan for years. Ms. Christie's writing style & novels are fantastic as she is truly a master of the mystery genre.
"The Body in the Library" is a wonderful example of Ms. Christie's writing technique. The characters, the plot, and dialogue are all wonderfully developed in "The Body in the Library". And as with most Agatha Christie novels, I am always left guessing who the true killer is until it is revealed at the very end of the novel.
It's seven in the morning. The Bantrys wake to find the body pf a young woman in their library. She is wearing an evening dress and heavy make-up, which is smeared across her distorted cheeks. The respectable Bantrys invite Jane Marple to solve the mystery - before tongues start to wag.
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