Dew's Agatha Christie Mystery Site
Physical Description: Some Information About Miss Marple
€White-haired elderly woman
€Tall and straight ("I was taught to sit up.")
€Pink, crinkled face
€China blue eyes. Her eyes are gentle, soft, and innocent yet they are sharply perceptive. As one of guests in Bertram's Hotel notes, "She has remarkable eyesight for her age."
Personality Characteristics:
€Deeply cynical. She sees evil everywhere. "You always believe the worst," says Ruth van Rydock in "Murder With Mirrors." Miss Marple answers back with this reply: "The worse is so often true."
€Distrustful of others. Another time, Miss Marple goes on to say, "People, I find, are apt to be far too trustful. I'm afraid I have a tendency always to believe the worst. Not a nice trait, but often justified by subsequent events."
€Charming, proper, shrewd, Victorial, and has solid good sense
€Believes in retribution. "One of my names, "Miss Marple warns, "is Nemesis. Nemesis is long delayed sometimes, but it comes in the end."
€According to Mr. Rafiel in "Nemesis," Miss Marple "has a natural flair for justice."
Hobbies and Activities:
€Observing and studying life in her village of St. Mary Mead. "My hobby is studying people," she claims, "human nature, if you will."
€Knitting (She is particularly fond of kniting scarves and sweaters.)
€Reading--she reads two newspapers a day.
€Bird Watching
€Walking around her neighborhood
€Needlework
€Going to church
€Gossiping
€Gardening ("I like flowers best. Don't care so much for vegetables." --Nemesis)
€Pruning
€Enjoys partridge dinners and visits to the opera
€Goes on expensive vacations thanks to her wealthy nephew, Raymond West.
Her Approach To Solving Crimes:
€She is able to come up with analogies between the present and the past.
€She takes what she has learned in past from studying life in St. Mary Mead and applies those lessons to situations in the present.
€She is highly perceptive of details.
€Because of her age, she has a great deal of past experiences and observations to aid her in her crime-solving.
