They Do It With Mirrors by Agatha Christie #ReadChristie23

Title: They Do It With Mirrors
Author: Agatha Christie
Publication: Morrow, paperback, originally published in 1952
Genre: Mystery
Setting: British countryside, 20th century

Description: Who knew that our own Miss Marple studied in Florence as a young woman with the two rich Martin girls from America (no relation)!! Now, many years later, Ruth, briefly in Britain from the States, is worried about her sister Carrie Louise (a ridiculous name I find vaguely insulting to Americans), living with her third husband (both sisters have been married three times) in the country at a rehabilitation center for delinquent teens, and asks Miss Marple to make a visit. Carrie Louise’s extended family is with her at Stonygates: husband, daughter and stepchildren, granddaughter and spouse, not to mention the troubled young people and staff that treat them. While someone tries to shoot Carrie Louise’s husband, the vision behind the Stonygates facility, another guest is killed and it is up to Miss Marple to determine if there is a connection, who the murderer is, and whether Carrie Louise is in danger.

My Impression: The delinquent teens exist primarily so they can be convenient scapegoats for the murder (not much different from Tied Up in Tinsel) but Inspector Curry quickly eliminates them and believes a family member is responsible. He seems astute but he is a step behind Miss Marple:

“. . . It’s very unfortunate, of course, that Gulbrandsen should be shot on the same evening that this schmozzle happened between Serrocold and this young Lawson.” 

“Just unfortunate, do you think?” murmured Miss Marple. 

“Oh? What do you think?” 

“It occurred to me,” murmured Miss Marple, “that it might have been contrived.”

No one suspects Miss Marple is visiting due to Ruth’s worry about her sister and her fear that something in the Stoneygates setup is wrong; in fact, Ruth told Carrie Louise that their old friend Jane is in financial straits and would benefit from a visit with “an old friend and with plenty of nourishing food (too bad the meals at Stoneygates are “indifferently cooked and indifferently served”). Miss Marple can’t quite put her finger on anything sinister so wonders if she is being fanciful until the night of the murder.

This book has also been published under the title, Murder With Mirrors, not to be confused with The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side (1962), a very different story.  The title refers to a sleight of hand, not an actual mirror.  Miss Marple soon realizes that the attempt to shoot Carrie Louise’s husband was a deliberate distraction to make everyone focus in horror at what is happening a few yards from them while the murder takes place out of sight.

This is a good Christie in terms of its variation on the locked room mystery and murder at a country estate is always enjoyable (unless one is the victim) but I was bothered by the author’s condemnation of rehabilitating teens. Those managing the facility are portrayed as blind as to the true nature of their charges or so full of self-important jargon they are unintelligible. Stonygates may not be operated in a way that will really help someone find a job and avoid future criminal behavior but Christie clearly sees this as a waste of money. Even Miss Marple assumes if these youth weren’t brought up in a good home, they are as good as a lost cause. As someone currently managing a department that works optimistically with court-involved young people, finding them jobs and providing case management, I find Christie’s attitude disturbing, although recognize she was born in 1890 and was brought up in a different culture and era.

This is my nineteenth book for Carol’s Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge and I also read it for Read Christie 2023.  And I just remembered it is one of my 20 Books of Summer!

Source: Library