Miss Marple in They Do It With Mirrors: Book Review

Today, we will be reviewing They Do it With Mirrors by Agatha Christie, the fifth Miss Marple novel. Keep reading to find out what we thought of this book and if you should read it next!

They Do it With Mirrors Summary

Miss Marple visits her childhood friend Carrie Louise Serrocold, and while visiting her, learns that she is has some health concerns. Carrie lives with quite a few members of her family and nearby is a separate building that is used to help rehabilitating delinquent boys, which was founded by Carrie Louise’s third husband Lewis Serrocold.

While the family is gathered together in the sitting room, Edger Lawson bursts into the room with a revolver and approaches Lewis, telling him that he is his father and he has treated Edger horribly. Lewis takes Edger to his office and the door is shut. Shouting can be heard and two shots go off as well as a gunshot sound from outside. 

The door opens and Edger and Lewis are both okay. Two bullet holes are in the wall and Lewis says that he was never in danger. Everyone is glad but then Juliet Bellever, the housekeeper, comes in and tells everyone that Christian Gulbrandson was shot and is dead at his desk. 

Miss Marple and everyone is shocked by the murder and is it up to Miss Marple and the police to figure out who killed Christian and why. They have to figure out who is poisoning Carrie before it is too late.

Commentary

They Do It with Mirrors was first released in the U.S in 1952 and later that year in the U.K. This is one of her lesser known mystery novels and I think a big reason is that there are just too many characters.

The mystery at hand is clever but I think many readers will guess the plot twist. The plot twist may have been fresh at the time but for modern readers, it will be obvious to guess what happened. 

While I was happy to not only guess the murderer correctly, I did see the plot twist coming. And I don’t think Christie is at fault, just that there have been thousands of books, tv shows, and movies, and the plot twist feels like the obvious twist, especially the way it was set up.

As any Agatha Christie novel, the most interesting part is the second half when the lead detective is solving the murder. Very little actually happens and what does happen feels like filler. Christie’s novels tend to have multiple murders and the one in this novel feels lazy and irrelevant.

Conclusion

With that said, this novel was not bad. I enjoyed the second half a lot and Christie is a phenomenal writer and if there weren’t too many characters, this novel would have been a lot more popular with readers. Happy reading!

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