Agatha Christie Short Stories 2025: Reviews for December #AgathaChristieSS25

The Thumb Mark of St. Peter

My last review for this year's Agatha Christie Short Stories is coincidentally the only story (or case) contributed by Miss Marple at the Thursday Night Club. If her life had seemed to have been uneventful in St. Mead, Miss Marple was by no means bored. As she was observing the life of the inhabitant of that small village, she learned a lot about human character; that would be her foundation to help solving so many cases which otherwise baffled the police. In this story, the case concerned herself. Miss Marple's niece has had an unsuitable marriage with a man with violent temper, who's inherited insanity from his ancestors. Ten years later the husband died suddenly one night, allegedly from mushrooms poisoning during dinner. But rumors soon started circulating that Mabel, the wife, had probably poisoned him by arsenic, so that everyone in the area avoided her.

Upon interviewing the cook and house maid, Miss Marple learned that the deceased had been rambling something about "pile of fish" when he's dying. Baffled that the exhumation result which was inconclusive, Miss Marple said a prayer while taking a walk in the street, and lo and behold... there she found the solution of the case. It has, indeed, something to do with fish. The "thumb mark of St. Peter" refers to the characteristic dark spots on John Dory's fish flank, which are said to be the thumbprint left by the apostle when he lifted the fish from the sea. What an interesting feature Agatha Christie had infused in this story. I can imagine how Agatha Christie, upon learning about the saying, thought instantly how she could incorporate that into a murder story. I always love her ingenuity! An interesting fact: do you know that the John Dory is also called "St. Peter's fish" in some countries?

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Fruitful Sunday

One Sunday morning, Dorothy, a housemaid, is enjoying a Sunday drive with her young man with a picnic in the picture. On the way, they are stopping at a small town, where they find a fruit stall. On the display is a pretty fruit basket full of peaches, which Edward, the young man, reluctantly buy for his sweetheart. The seller keeps saying that 'they're getting more than their money's worth'. Dorothy and Edward are soon eating the fruits near the stream by the road, while reading the headline of a stolen ruby necklace worth fifty thousand pounds in the Sunday paper. When they have eaten all the fruits, what do you think they'd found at the bottom of the basket? A ruby necklace with the same specification they had read about in the paper. Is it really the stolen necklace? How did they end up in the fruit basket? And what shall they do with it? Edward is for reporting it to the police, but Dorothy insisting that they sell it.

This is another of a non-crime-mystery story. There's no mystery at all, just a fun, light story to enjoy leisurely on a Sunday afternoon.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐