Sleeping Murder: Book Review

Today, we will be reviewing Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie, the 14th and final book in the Miss Marple series. Find out if this novel is worth the hype and if you should add it to your reading list!

Sleeping Murder Summary

Gwenda Reed has just gotten married and is looking for a house in England. She comes across a house she loves and feels like home. But after starting renovations, she starts to feel like the house is haunted as she knows how the house used to be in the past.

On an away trip, Gwenda visits Miss Marple and after running home from a play, Miss Marple helps Gwenda investigate the house. We learn that Gwenda used to live there as a child before she was sent to Australia and that a murder may have been committed there.

After moving in to the house with her Husband Giles, they both start investigating Helen’s disappearance by putting an ad out in the newspaper. Miss Marple warns them to not wake up sleeping murders but Gwenda and Giles don’t take heed. When another murder is committed, Gwenda finally realizes that Helen may have been killed and that the killer isn’t going to idly sit around as Gwenda investigates the murder.

Commentary

Sleeping Murder was released posthumously in 1976 but may have been written as early as 1940. This is Marple’s last case and unlike a lot of Miss Marple novels, she is very involved in this one. There is a celebration of Miss Marple and she seems to get her flowers in this book quite a bit.

I enjoyed the book a lot and this mystery is quite different as her other mysteries since the murder happened almost two decades ago. No matter the mystery, Christie is always in her element and this was one of her better novels in my opinion.

After reading dozens of Christie books, I was finally able to correctly guess the murderer (and very early on) and take pride in that. If you have read enough Christie novels, then you know who she is likely to choose as the murderer.

Conclusion

This is the perfect final novel and I enjoyed it a lot. Christie wrote this while she was in her prime and you can tell. Christie planned to release this novel in October 1976 but passed away earlier that year. She would have loved to know that her final novel was well received and beloved by critics. Happy reading!

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