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They Do It with Mirrors: Complete & Unabridged | 
 enlarge | Author: Agatha Christie
Creator: Joan Hickson
Publisher: HarperCollins Audio
Category: Book
List Price: £16.99
Buy New: £9.98
You Save: £7.01 (41%)
New (15) Used (3) from £9.98
Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 371216
Format: Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 0007161468
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780007161461
ASIN: 0007161468
Publication Date: June 16, 2003
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 My First Christie July 5, 2008
imla
When I was young I saw the wonderful 'A Murder is Announced' on television starring Joan Hickson. It was fantastic although one particular scene gave me nightmares for weeks! Even watching it now sends a chill up my spine.
Fast forward a few and I bought 'The Body in the Library'. I was now twelve and attempting to read my first Agatha Christie. I found it too difficult a read, so many characters and so many things I did not understand. I put the book down in the end.
Now, 12 years later, after many years of watching Miss Marple on television and telling myself, I really must read an Agatha Christie book, I finally do. I sit down in the garden on my day off from work and begin reading They Do It With Mirrors. I start just before lunch. I finish early the following morning.
They do it with mirrors sees Miss Marple head to a friend's house, Carrie Louise. She lives in a large Victorian home which is used as a centre for delinquent boys. Also there is her large and complex family. On one night two things happen. A dispute between one of the boys and Carrie Louise's husband, Lewis, and a guest of the house is murdered. Can Miss Marple solve the crime?
I didn't quite know what to suspect from an Agatha Christie. I expected multiple storylines and many little mysteries that diverts the readers attention from the surprisingly obvious murder. I expected to be able to pick up clues (mostly in hindsight after the classic denoument). I expected that classic denoument to occur in a room with all the characters together and one by one their secrets revealed. I expected Miss Marple to be at the centre of the novel.
My expectations were not met. I had solved the mystery about halfway through, there weren't as many subplots as I expected. The denoument was disappointing and Miss Marple did not feature all that much.
Did I enjoy the book? Yes, I did. I read it very quickly and was captivated by the characters. There were clever twists I did not anticipate so even though I figured out the murder there were still surprises in store for me. There wasn't as much action as I thought there would be but this didn't stop me from enjoying what there was.
I enjoyed this book and I am going to read some more Agatha Christie novels, with the hope that there are better ones out there. With such a huge legacy I am sure there are.
Good but probably not the best.
 Marple, Marples or Marlpe? January 3, 2007
A. Butterfield (UK)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I don't know if the first edition was so badly proof read, but this facsimile has three versions of Miss Marple's name in just a few pages. It's otherwise a very nice edition. These little hard cover editions are perfect in the the hand, unlike giant modern ones.
This isn't the best, or cleverest, Miss Marple I've read, but it's not bad. It's unusual because the setting is a boys' institution, or at least the mansion attached to it where the 'visionary' who runs the place lives. For once, Miss Marple very nearly gets mixed up with the common people.
And for once, I guessed the whole thing long before the end. For me, there are a few too many dead bodies, and the denoument is rather unsatisfying.
But, it's pretty much as well written as usual, and it holds your interest well.
This one's not set in St Mary Mead, so Miss M is a little out of her environment. Really, she takes a back seat and it's only by chance that she guesses what really happened when another character also guesses.
Perhaps a format too well trod? August 24, 2005
Sam (Reading, Berkshire)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Agatha Christie was a prolific crime writer and for that reason some of her books tend to have a similar theme to them. In the case of 'They do it with Mirrors' I was able to discern the culprit with chapters to spare.Miss Marple has been sent by a friend to investigate an eerie feeling she has had about another of their childhood friends who love in a run down mansion which is attached to a juvenile delinquent centre. After a disturbance by one of the students a crime is committed and it is up to Miss Marple to discover what is real and what is smoke and mirrors. I enjoyed the book while it lasted and unlike other Christie novels I was able to follow who all the characters were and understand their emotions. However, the way in which the crime is committed has been done before (even though this was one of the originals!) and if you have ever watched a Midsommer Murders you will have no problem knowing before Miss Marple who committed the crime. Better luck next by Miss M!
Minor but Entertaining April 29, 2004
Gary F. Taylor (Biloxi, MS USA)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
Also known under the title MURDER WITH MIRRORS, this 1952 Agatha Christieis neither the best nor the worst of her work. Set in a decaying Englishmansion, the grounds of which have become home to an experimental schoolfor delinquent boys, the novel finds Miss Marple visiting an elderlyfriend from her own school days--and being plunged into crime when herhostess' stepson is shot dead.
Christie is best known for her fiendishly cunning plots, but in thisinstance I found the mechanism of the crime somewhat obvious. Still, thenovel has other, undeniable charms: a renewed acquaintance with the alwaysentertaining Miss Marple, a memorable cast of characters, and aparticularly atmospheric setting. While it will never compare with thelikes of A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED or MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, Christiefans will find it an entertaining one-gulp read.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Charming Miss Marple-story April 11, 2002
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
June Whitfield 's Miss Marple reminds me of my own grandmother: shrewd, sharp and kind-hearted. BBC's dramatisation of Agatha Christie's books are really enjoyable! In this story Miss Marple meets a couple of old friends from her youth. The two sisters rely on Jane to find out what is wrong. She unravels more than they had bargained for...
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