"Miss Marple - Complete Short Stories" by Agatha Christie, published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1985, First Printing with '1' present in the line on the copyright page.

Hard boards, cloth spine with dark-brown lettering, 5.3/4" x 8.1/2"; "ob = obsequious" and a few numbers are ink written on top of the front endpaper, "Tor Barrow" is ink written on the title page of the Tuesday Club Murders [see photos; vi + 346 pages, 1 page corner fold, one small stain on the vertical outer edge of the pages, very good condirtion.

"These 20 short stories have all been previously published. The bulk of them are from The Tuesday Club Murders. As with any collection, they are a mixed bag. The two best, The Bloodstained Pavement and Greenshaw's Folly involve disguises, although nobody but Dame Agatha could deduce the latter, because there are just not enough clues. Most of the stories also feature her nephew Raymond West, who primarily plays the role of listener. None of the stories approach the status of her classic novels, but all are enjoyable throwbacks to the age of civilized murders."

"The character of Miss Marple is based on Christie's grandmother and her cronies, but there is no definitive source for the derivation of the name 'Marple'. The most common explanation suggests that the name was taken from the railway station in Marple, Stockport, through which Christie passed, with the alternative account that Christie took it from the home of a Marple family who lived at Marple Hall, near her sister Madge's home at Abney Hall.

Agatha Christie attributed the inspiration for the character of Miss Marple to a number of sources: Miss Marple was "the sort of old lady who would have been rather like some of my grandmother's Ealing cronies- old ladies whom I have met in so many villages where I have gone to stay as a girl". Christie also used material from her fictional creation, spinster Caroline Sheppard, who appeared in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. When Michael Morton adapted Roger Ackroyd for the stage, he removed the character of Caroline replacing her with a young girl. This change saddened Christie and she determined to give old maids a voice: Miss Marple was born."

US: Priority (c.2-4 days) ---------- $12.50
Canada: 1st Class (c.2-6 weeks) ---- $28.50
World: 1st Class (c.2-8 weeks) ----- $42.50