A Pocket Full of Rye

More deaths follow, and Miss Marple arrives at the house, not as a celebrity detective but out of a personal duty: one of the victims is a young maid she once trained. She quickly notices what the police have missed, that the events echo the nursery rhyme Sing a Song of Sixpence, from the rye in the pocket to the blackbirds that mysteriously appeared in the house. Working alongside the patient and intelligent Neele, she begins to untangle the family's past.

Christie is in excellent form here. The household is full of plausible suspects, each with a motive, and the nursery-rhyme pattern adds an eerie, almost playful menace. Miss Marple's quiet anger on behalf of a vulnerable girl gives the book an unexpected emotional edge, and the final chapter is one of Christie's most poignant.

Miss Marple appears relatively late, which may disappoint readers expecting her throughout, and some of the solution relies on coincidence. Still, the puzzle is satisfying and the ending lingers. It is a perfect introduction for readers new to Miss Marple, since it shows both her gentleness and her steel. About 256 pages in the William Morrow paperback.