4:50 from Paddington (Miss Marple Mysteries) in 100+ Books in 2025

May 03, 2009 Dolly rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2009, england-english, mystery, france-french, military, christmas, aviation, death, war, dance

I really enjoyed this mystery and the ending suprised me a bit. I loved the plot and the suspicion that just about anyone could be the murderer. I also enjoyed Lucy's character; I wish I could be so joyful about daily household chores! ...more

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Feb 25, 2018 Jgrace rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, england, judithg, women-writers, jgrace, series, mystery, kindle, play-book-tag, 20th-century

4:50 From Paddington- Christie -
Audio performance by Emilia Fox
3 stars

This Miss Marple mystery has been on my TBR for a very long time, probably because I bought a bargain kindle version of it at about the time that I bought my first kindle. It has been adapted several times in film and on television. It was an easy read, light entertainment on a blustery day. I started to remember the story from one or more of the adaptations, so the identity of the killer was no surprise. But, Christie stil ...more

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Sep 07, 2013 Huma rated it really liked it

Shelves: christie, miss-marple

2023 update:
So I re-read this after reading all the previous Marple books and I like it better already. I'm upgrading this to 4 stars compared to 3 stars I gave this 10 years ago.

I was not really impressed by Miss Marple, the last time I tried one from my school library. But I love Poirot and Christie, so I decided to give Miss Marple another chance, especially when I saw this on sale for Rs. 50 only!

SPOILERS Ahead. Consider yourself warned!!

Ms Marple's friend, the lady with a funny name, h 2023 update:
So I re-read this after reading all the previous Marple books and I like it better already. I'm upgrading this to 4 stars compared to 3 stars I gave this 10 years ago.

I was not really impressed by Miss Marple, the last time I tried one from my school library. But I love Poirot and Christie, so I decided to give Miss Marple another chance, especially when I saw this on sale for Rs. 50 only!

SPOILERS Ahead. Consider yourself warned!!

Ms Marple's friend, the lady with a funny name, has witnessed a man strangling a woman on the train running parallel to hers. But as no body has been found, the police does not really believe her. But Miss Marple has decided to investigate thoroughly and put the matter to rest. To know about the terrain of the crime scene, she takes many train rides, to and from London, in different trains...more Sherlockian style than Poirot, I thought!

Miss Marple through her sleuthing, decides the best choice for the town where the killer could have disposed of the body. She then hires her friend, Lucy, who is some sort of super-skilled-highly-paid-most-sought-after housekeeper to investigate. Meanwhile she herself stays at a nearby inn in the village, claiming to be Lucy's almost-on-death-bed aunt.

Lucy investigates at the directions of Miss Marple and discover the body hidden in a sarcophagus stored inside the barn of the house she is employed at. The identity of the killed woman is still a mystery, but there's lot of matchmakers around including children and elderly people. It seems like all the men, including the old master of the house, wants to marry her!!

After a case of arsenic poisoning and a couple of more dead bodies, the mystery is finally solved. Miss Marple is able to trap the murderer into confessing when she brings her friend as an eyewitness to the train murder; only the murderer didn't knew that she had only seen his back.

Finished my first Jane Marple mystery...just like Poirot likes to do, Marple too pulled a rabbit out of the hat in the last chapter!

My Verdict:
It was an average book. I did not love it, but I am open to giving Miss Marple another chance. ...more

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Oct 11, 2021 Dolly rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: death, france-french, england-english, mystery, aviation, military, war, audiobook, 2021

I am working my way through Dame Christie's novels in their published order and revisiting some along the way. I really enjoyed listening to Rosemary Leach narrate this story on the audiobook edition.

I have to admit that even though I'd read this one before (a dozen years ago!), I'd forgotten whodunit, so again the reveal was quite a surprise for me. ...more

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Jul 16, 2015 Kerissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-mystery

This is really 2 mysteries in one book... finding out who did the crime and more intriguingly, who does Lucy Eylesbarrow end up with?

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Nov 21, 2007 Amy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Yet another fabulous Miss Marple mystery. This is my favorite Agatha Christie book so far (five down, many to go!) and I'm so happy that I picked this one for the library discussion next month. Should be a fun one! ...more

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