Miss Marple - The Complete Short Stories - Agatha Christie

There is something about this time of the year - long dark nights, I get lots of colds and want to stay indoors out of the cold - and I turn for my reading to 'comfortable' books that don't challenge me much. I haven't read Agatha Christie for years - after all there are plenty of adaptations on TV. However, I think I may well return to her books from time to time. Sometimes the plots are a bit obvious, unlikely in the extreme, but there is regularly a surprising twist, and once you are used to the formula you can suspend disbelief sufficiently to be drawn in. Miss Marple is by far my favourite Agatha Christie 'detective', she is very smart, and her people watching is the key to all her solutions. She's more of a puzzle solver than a true detective - and that is attractive too. In this collection of short stories dating from early on in her career, and then towards the end (illustrating nothing if not that her author is consistent) of her career. They are typical puzzles about deaths in unusual circumstances and although you often say - 'Well that is obvious' that isn't really the truth - they just illustrate that human behaviour and motivation doesn't change. Each is entertaining - none a dud. I liked them. Rating: 8/10