Issue 61

I am afraid that I found the news that ITV are making a new series of MIss Marple films for television both puzzling and depressing. Puzzling, because the BBC series featuring Joan Hickson as the elderly sleuth is damned near perfect in the sense that it replicates on screen the very essence of the Christie books and characters.

It reveals that the TV people are devoid of fresh ideas. It is this limited vision which I find so depressing. Especially so, for it is only on television that we are likely to see a thoughtful and intelligent detective film nowadays.

DAMSELS IN DISTRESS
Kathryn White on the female victims in the Holmes stories
THE MISS MARPLE FILES
David Stuart Davies explores the history of Agatha Christie’s genteel sleuth
UNDER THE GASLIGHT
Locked up with Roger Forsdyke in his regular look at Victorian crime and criminals
PEAK PERFORMER
Calum McLeod examines the work of Stephen Booth, journalist turned crime fiction writer
HOLMES FOR THE HUMBLE
Paul M Chapman considers Holmes’ less distinguished clients
MURDER OF THE MIDLIST
Martin Edwards on the plight of the modern crime writer
CANONICAL INTRODUCTIONS
Introducing the story of "The Three Gables " as it first appeared in The Strand magazine
THE GOLDEN AGE OF CRIME FICTION
Robert Sanderson investigates "The Mysterious Affair at Styles"
THE CASE OF THE GROCER’S DAUGHTER
A new Holmes story by Gillian Linscott
THE LIVES & DEATHS OF A J RAFFLES
M J Elliott delves into the wolrd of the amateur cracksman
PEARL ANNIVERSARY
Gavin Collinson celebrates the sixtieth anniversary of Basil Rathbone’s performance in "The Pearl of Death"
SLEUTHING THE SHELVES
Kathryn White and her team of reviewers cast their eyes over the latest crime fiction
SHERLOCK STATESIDE
Pat Ward gives us the news from the USA
NEWS DESK
Incorporating both Bob Byrne’s Mystery: Caught in the Web and M J Elliott’s DVD Calendar
JOHNSON’S JOTTINGS
Roger and Jean are further up the Creek
MORIARTY’S MUTTERINGS
The irascible columnist and his regular rant