A BODY IN THE LIBRARY - AGATHA CHRISTIE

THE BOOKS AS AN OBJECT:

cover description:
-a ballet slipper in the ground.
-the victim = dancer.

  • general outlook and layout: 18 chapters
    
  • publication year: February 1942
    

AUTHOR

  • 15th September 1890 / 12th January 1976 
    
    -- English writer of crime and romantic novels
    -- who was one of the world's top-selling authors “the queen of crime”
    -- best remembered for her detective stories including the two diverse characters of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot.
    -- predilection topic: crime, mystery
    -- She is considered the best-selling writer of all time
  • other books: Murder on the Orient Express. Murder on the Orient Express. / Endless night, endless night / Death Comes as the End. Death Comes as the End
    

THE CONTENT

PLOT:

exposition:Colonel and Mrs.Bantry wake up and find out that a dead girl has been found in the library

raising action : Superintendent Harper interviews Mr.Jefferson at the Majestic Hotel.

climax: Miss Marple goes to Basil Blake’s house and accuses him in front of her wife of committing the murder. He got arrested.

funny action: the police arrest Basil Blake eventhought he isn't the murderer.

resolution: the characters find the real murderers are and how and why they killed the two girls

time and setting: in a day / St. Mary Mead: a small town in near London,3 Bantry’s library and Majestic Hotel: the hotel where Ruby was a dancer and where the Jefferson live

Characters:

ROUND CHARACTER & ANTAGONIST: Josephine Turner: Ruby Keene’s cousin (Josie), positive person “she’s always good-humored and cheerful, works hard and seems to enjoy her job. She’s shrewd, thought not well educated". (murderer)

Literary genre: mystery, police / Theme: suspense, death, gossip, family

ROUND CHARACTER & ANTAGONIST: Mark Gaskell: Jefferson’s son-in-law (murderer) “would probably have been more outspoken” (p.93)

  • FLAT CHARACTER: Colonel Bantry: old man, owns a library, quiet “he’s such a dear old stupid that he’d never believe people would think things like that about him” (p.216)
    
  • FLAT CHARACTER: Mrs. Bantry: old lady, likes gossip, sociable, kind: “because you’re so indiscreet. You would go around telling everyone – or if you didn’t, you’d hint” (p.214)
    
  • FLAT CHARACTER: Adelaide Jefferson : Conway Jefferson’s daughter-in-law, peaceful, loving person “had the power of creating a restful atmosphere. She was a woman who never seemed to say anything remarkable but who succeeded in stimulating other people to talk and setting them at their ease.” (p.77) 
    
  • FLAT CHARACTER: Conway Jefferson: a magnate and disabled man, carrying and loving person “he’s a dear- a perfect dear.” (l.69)
    
  • PROTAGONIST & A TRUE-LIFE CHARACTER:Sir Henry Clithering: the ‘jobbing gardener’ who attends the case in a personal capacity

PROTAGONIST: Superintendent Harper: of Radford shire Police

FLAT CHARACTER & PROTAGONIST: Miss Marple: Mrs.Bantry’s old friend, intelligent, loves mystery: “you’re very good at murders.” (p.19) / “Jane Marple is a very remarkable woman” (p.180)

ROUND CHARACTER: Basil Blake: the Bantry’s neighbor, young, aggressive 7 “was not a film star – not even a film actor. he was a very junior person.” (p36)

PERSONAL OPINION

THE MEANING

narrator: omniscient. Colonel to Josie: “He handed her his cigarette-case and she accepted one gratfully” (p49) / -Colonel Melchett: "His feeling was that Slack had taken leave of his sense" (p.46)

message: money = reason to kill

  • tone: curious, pensive: "Thought she looked anxious and upset she was not, the Colonel decided, particulary grief-stricken" (p.47)
    

style: 3rd person point of view: "He wanted to see exactly how she would react to that" (p.77)

i recommended : - it's interesting / -funny to play the detective

title meaning: is the exposition of the book

don't trust anybody

pitch: a girl was killed in a library and try to find the murderer

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