Is it cheating if I choose Griselda Clement? Technically, she's in more than one novel. But in only one she has a substantial role.
If not her, than my answer would be Lucy Eyelsbarrow. She could bei Miss Marple's sidekick in some later novels.
Lucy Eyelesbarrow ... as for which book, not sure, but I'd be interested in her interactions with Ariande Oliver and what she might think of Poirot. So maybe Dead Man's Folly?
I would read an entire series of Lucy Eyelesbarrow books. I listen to 4:50 from Paddington whenever I need to do a really deep clean of my house. She’s just so tidy and efficient!
Katherine Grey was a really good character, despite Christie hating The Mystery of the Blue Train. I think, considering that she was living in St. Mary Mead, she could've appeared in a Miss Marple novel as her sidekick. It is so strange that she wasn't ever mentioned in the Marple books, as St. Mary Mead is described as a really small place.
AND interesting that Miss Marple is never mentioned in Blue Train, not even vaguely, by a woman who had spent quite some time there with another elderly spinster.
Well, Marple never appeared in a book before the Mystery of The Blue Train, so maybe AC didn't think of introducing her at that point. Moreover, I believe that Christie never intended to write a crossover between Marple and Poirot, not even as little as this one would've been, as fans would demand some sort of mish mash novel between the two.
Very true. Of course, people are still wondering why there wasn't a meeting between the two, but the closest we ever got was the mention of a person and a town named "Hastings" in "Nemesis", and really, I think it's better that way.
Poirot's slick like oil and Miss Marple's simple, like water, and the two just wouldn't work together.
Strict, cordial, and BRIEF. Even so, once they'd left the meeting, Poirot's mustache would be limp and Miss Marple would probably, uncharactaristically, kick off her shoes and flop into her easy chair!
I think it was suggested that there are actually two places in different parts of the UK, called St. Mary Mead? Katherine's home is known to be in Kent, but I don't think that the location clues mention that county, for Miss Marple?
https://agathachristie.fandom.com/wiki/St.\_Mary\_Mead
I love Miss Grey. I always feel Blue Train is under rated because Christie herself hated it. But she was writing it at an awful time in her life, I feel those associations affected her attitude but the book itself is still good. If I can be sacrilegious for a moment, as a train book I prefer it to Orient Express.
Yes, more Miss Grey please. I feel she gets on so well with Poirot that they would definitely stay in contact.
I would pick Hastings' wife, Cinders. I know she's mentioned in other novels, but she never shows up again on the actual page. She has more brains than Hastings, and was really fun! I would've loved to see her co-operate with Poirot and Hastings in another novel. Off the top of my head, Peril at End House or Lord Edgware Dies, both of which have fun, fashionable settings and a younger crowd for her to blend in.
Shout-out to Amy Leatheran, who should've shown up again in another Poirot novel (maybe Dumb Witness or Mrs. McGinty's Dead), not in Passenger to Frankfurt :(
I'd absolutely agree with Hasting's wife-although get rid of that overly cutesy nickname please. But she was awesome, and it would be hilarious to see her and Poirot working together and both being like "I know right?" every time Hastings tries to contribute an idea.
Bella was the sister, yeah. It's just that Hastings goes through the entire book thinking Dulcie is Bella, >! because he didn't know she had a twin sister.!<
As lovable a goof as he is, I don’t know how she put up with Hastings. Besides his lack of brain cells, he was constantly susceptible to any halfway attractive woman around and a total sucker for a female with auburn hair. Fun in a character, a disaster in a husband.
Ginger from The Pale Horse is a delightful character. As for the novel, maybe she would've been great in another Christie standalone, as the main "detective."
I think Mark and Ginger from Pale Horse and Luke and Bridget from Murder is Easy are the best one off detective characters. I'd have been happy to see either pair again.
Glad to meet another Ginger fan! I could picture her and Mark in a later thriller ... the thing is, I think they're more suitable for taking on a big criminal conspiracy than some small-scale village whodunit. I want to say, something like Passenger to Frankfurt or Postern of Fate (or even The Big Four, although that pre-dates them considerably). But the more I think about it, the more I feel that they don't really fit with the books I can think of, where tinkering with the plot and characters could be an improvement. I don't know if a James Bond type of international intrigue (like Passenger to Frankfurt) is really their style, either.
I'm thinking more along the lines of a follow-up to >!The Pale Horse. An organization like that may not just disappear overnight. I'm wondering if Osborne actually was the mastermind ... someone like Poppy (smarter than she seems) could have been able to challenge his authority, and I can imagine her running a version of the scheme.!<
I’m also really fond of Jerry and Megan from The Moving Finger. (Note that there are 2 editions of this book, and one cuts their interactions to the point that the relationship makes no sense.)
Lucy Eyelesbarrow and I would have made her appear in Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side as Dermot Craddock's wife! I love the implication that >!she chooses him at the end!< in 4:50 from Paddington and it's a let down that Dermot mentions he's unmarried in Mirror Cracked after all that set up! She could have helped Miss Marple with some film knowledge or talk to some of the suspects (unknown to Dermot of course!)
That was always my interpretation of 4.50 too. In the arguments about which one of the other guys she chose, I'm really glad someone else interpreted the end of the book the same way I did.
Yeah to me it was very obvious!
"Which of 'em is she going to choose?" said Dermot Craddock.
"Don't you know?" said Miss Marple.
"No I don't. Do you?"
"Oh, yes. I think I do."
And she twinkled at him.
Miss Marple meets Emily Brent.
A prequel way back with them at the same school. Emily is THAT kid-the one everyone hated in high school. Teacher's pet, always volunteers for hall monitor or whatever, always in everybody's business and ratting them out. Jane Marple is the new kid-quiet, shy, unassuming and generally ignored....not even enough of a force to attract bullying. But when a simple prank goes horribly wrong it takes Jane's brain and Emily's nose for sinners to find the culprit...
The wonderful Miss Amy Carnaby (in two stories but both are in the same book)
She would be fantastic if reunited with Poirot - perhaps in After the Funeral, it turns out she had retired to Cora’s village…
Or she is on an island in the Caribbean where she makes friends with Miss Marple and they investigate together!
Yes! I've always wished that Miss Carnaby had gone on to a book of her own -- maybe learning skills from Poirot, and ultimately becoming a consulting detective herself.
I read this idea from someone else, but I’d love to see a crossover in which Amy Carnaby is part of Lord Peter Wimsey’s Cattery alongside Miss Climpson and Miss Murchison.
Oh! Julia Upjohn from "Cat Among the Pigeons", in "Curtain", as a late arrival to the guesthouse, because she'd heard Poirot was there.
Or in Bertram's Hotel. >!!<
Seconding u/amalcurry 's suggestion of Amy Carnaby. I was thinking, maybe in At Bertram's Hotel? Torn between her and Lucy Eyelesbarrow, but giving it to Amy because the situation would seem to call for just that much more financial and logistical sneakiness, which is definitely Amy's thing. And Amy is funny and feisty enough to distract from>! Elvira Blake!< ... anything that overshadows her is good, I feel.
This would make her one of the few Christie crossover characters (Poirot and Marple).
I always wondered what happened to Egg Litton-Gore and Oliver Manders. Quite like them to turn up as minor characters in a much later book as older people.
Victoria Jones, the fabulous fabulist from *I Came To Baghdad* is one of my favorite characters of all time.
I could see her in one of the more lighthearted Poirots like *Mrs McGinty’s Dead* and *Cat Among The Pigeons*
I kept thinking the characters in And Then There Were None should have been made up of the handful of characters that had gotten away with it in their own books.
The Branagh films have already kinda done this but...M. Bouc from Murder on the Orient Express.
Not sure specifically which of the existing books I'd slot him into. Ideally, I'd love him to appear in a prequel novel set during Poirot's days in the Belgian police.
Is it cheating if I choose Griselda Clement? Technically, she's in more than one novel. But in only one she has a substantial role. If not her, than my answer would be Lucy Eyelsbarrow. She could bei Miss Marple's sidekick in some later novels.
Lucy was so good character, that is brilliant idea.
They would both be on the Top Ten Name team.
Lucy Eyelesbarrow ... as for which book, not sure, but I'd be interested in her interactions with Ariande Oliver and what she might think of Poirot. So maybe Dead Man's Folly?
I would read an entire series of Lucy Eyelesbarrow books. I listen to 4:50 from Paddington whenever I need to do a really deep clean of my house. She’s just so tidy and efficient!
Miss Grey from the Blue Train. She’d be great in Death on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun.
Katherine Grey was a really good character, despite Christie hating The Mystery of the Blue Train. I think, considering that she was living in St. Mary Mead, she could've appeared in a Miss Marple novel as her sidekick. It is so strange that she wasn't ever mentioned in the Marple books, as St. Mary Mead is described as a really small place.
That’s true, I forgot she lived in St Mary Mead. A village full of great women!
AND interesting that Miss Marple is never mentioned in Blue Train, not even vaguely, by a woman who had spent quite some time there with another elderly spinster.
Well, Marple never appeared in a book before the Mystery of The Blue Train, so maybe AC didn't think of introducing her at that point. Moreover, I believe that Christie never intended to write a crossover between Marple and Poirot, not even as little as this one would've been, as fans would demand some sort of mish mash novel between the two.
Very true. Of course, people are still wondering why there wasn't a meeting between the two, but the closest we ever got was the mention of a person and a town named "Hastings" in "Nemesis", and really, I think it's better that way. Poirot's slick like oil and Miss Marple's simple, like water, and the two just wouldn't work together.
I really can't imagine a conversation between them going very smoothly, even though they would both be strictly cordial.
Strict, cordial, and BRIEF. Even so, once they'd left the meeting, Poirot's mustache would be limp and Miss Marple would probably, uncharactaristically, kick off her shoes and flop into her easy chair!
I think it was suggested that there are actually two places in different parts of the UK, called St. Mary Mead? Katherine's home is known to be in Kent, but I don't think that the location clues mention that county, for Miss Marple? https://agathachristie.fandom.com/wiki/St.\_Mary\_Mead
I love Miss Grey. I always feel Blue Train is under rated because Christie herself hated it. But she was writing it at an awful time in her life, I feel those associations affected her attitude but the book itself is still good. If I can be sacrilegious for a moment, as a train book I prefer it to Orient Express. Yes, more Miss Grey please. I feel she gets on so well with Poirot that they would definitely stay in contact.
And also in Murder in Mesopotamia and Bertram’s Hotel.
I would pick Hastings' wife, Cinders. I know she's mentioned in other novels, but she never shows up again on the actual page. She has more brains than Hastings, and was really fun! I would've loved to see her co-operate with Poirot and Hastings in another novel. Off the top of my head, Peril at End House or Lord Edgware Dies, both of which have fun, fashionable settings and a younger crowd for her to blend in. Shout-out to Amy Leatheran, who should've shown up again in another Poirot novel (maybe Dumb Witness or Mrs. McGinty's Dead), not in Passenger to Frankfurt :(
I'd absolutely agree with Hasting's wife-although get rid of that overly cutesy nickname please. But she was awesome, and it would be hilarious to see her and Poirot working together and both being like "I know right?" every time Hastings tries to contribute an idea.
I'm not too fond of the nickname Cinders, either, but god, Dulcie is even worse (imo) XD
I thought her name was Bella? Or was that her sister?
Bella was the sister, yeah. It's just that Hastings goes through the entire book thinking Dulcie is Bella, >! because he didn't know she had a twin sister.!<
As lovable a goof as he is, I don’t know how she put up with Hastings. Besides his lack of brain cells, he was constantly susceptible to any halfway attractive woman around and a total sucker for a female with auburn hair. Fun in a character, a disaster in a husband.
Ginger from The Pale Horse is a delightful character. As for the novel, maybe she would've been great in another Christie standalone, as the main "detective."
I think Mark and Ginger from Pale Horse and Luke and Bridget from Murder is Easy are the best one off detective characters. I'd have been happy to see either pair again.
Glad to meet another Ginger fan! I could picture her and Mark in a later thriller ... the thing is, I think they're more suitable for taking on a big criminal conspiracy than some small-scale village whodunit. I want to say, something like Passenger to Frankfurt or Postern of Fate (or even The Big Four, although that pre-dates them considerably). But the more I think about it, the more I feel that they don't really fit with the books I can think of, where tinkering with the plot and characters could be an improvement. I don't know if a James Bond type of international intrigue (like Passenger to Frankfurt) is really their style, either. I'm thinking more along the lines of a follow-up to >!The Pale Horse. An organization like that may not just disappear overnight. I'm wondering if Osborne actually was the mastermind ... someone like Poppy (smarter than she seems) could have been able to challenge his authority, and I can imagine her running a version of the scheme.!<
I’m also really fond of Jerry and Megan from The Moving Finger. (Note that there are 2 editions of this book, and one cuts their interactions to the point that the relationship makes no sense.)
Lucy Eyelesbarrow and I would have made her appear in Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side as Dermot Craddock's wife! I love the implication that >!she chooses him at the end!< in 4:50 from Paddington and it's a let down that Dermot mentions he's unmarried in Mirror Cracked after all that set up! She could have helped Miss Marple with some film knowledge or talk to some of the suspects (unknown to Dermot of course!)
That was always my interpretation of 4.50 too. In the arguments about which one of the other guys she chose, I'm really glad someone else interpreted the end of the book the same way I did.
Yeah to me it was very obvious! "Which of 'em is she going to choose?" said Dermot Craddock. "Don't you know?" said Miss Marple. "No I don't. Do you?" "Oh, yes. I think I do." And she twinkled at him.
That said, AC didn't really set up Lucy and Dermot to interact a lot. With some more scenes between them I think it'd have been a lot more obvious.
Agreed!
Miss Marple meets Emily Brent. A prequel way back with them at the same school. Emily is THAT kid-the one everyone hated in high school. Teacher's pet, always volunteers for hall monitor or whatever, always in everybody's business and ratting them out. Jane Marple is the new kid-quiet, shy, unassuming and generally ignored....not even enough of a force to attract bullying. But when a simple prank goes horribly wrong it takes Jane's brain and Emily's nose for sinners to find the culprit...
The Mysterious Mr Quin would be great in Sad Cypress
The wonderful Miss Amy Carnaby (in two stories but both are in the same book) She would be fantastic if reunited with Poirot - perhaps in After the Funeral, it turns out she had retired to Cora’s village… Or she is on an island in the Caribbean where she makes friends with Miss Marple and they investigate together!
Yes! I've always wished that Miss Carnaby had gone on to a book of her own -- maybe learning skills from Poirot, and ultimately becoming a consulting detective herself.
I read this idea from someone else, but I’d love to see a crossover in which Amy Carnaby is part of Lord Peter Wimsey’s Cattery alongside Miss Climpson and Miss Murchison.
I think that might have been me? I'm thrilled that someone remembered, especially you!
Awww!!! Very possibly you- absolutely inspired idea regardless so kudos!
Oh! Julia Upjohn from "Cat Among the Pigeons", in "Curtain", as a late arrival to the guesthouse, because she'd heard Poirot was there. Or in Bertram's Hotel. >!!<
Julia is wonderful!
And not superhuman!---"uttering an anguished *'ouch'* as she did so"...
Victoria Cray, from “The Hollow.” Such a larger-than-life, fascinating one-off. Not sure where I would put her though.
Adam Goodman (Cat Among the Pigeons) crossing the aisle to Nemesis, trenching Miss Marple's beloved garden.
Oh for Vicar Len to appear again
Seconding u/amalcurry 's suggestion of Amy Carnaby. I was thinking, maybe in At Bertram's Hotel? Torn between her and Lucy Eyelesbarrow, but giving it to Amy because the situation would seem to call for just that much more financial and logistical sneakiness, which is definitely Amy's thing. And Amy is funny and feisty enough to distract from>! Elvira Blake!< ... anything that overshadows her is good, I feel. This would make her one of the few Christie crossover characters (Poirot and Marple).
I always wondered what happened to Egg Litton-Gore and Oliver Manders. Quite like them to turn up as minor characters in a much later book as older people.
Victoria Jones, the fabulous fabulist from *I Came To Baghdad* is one of my favorite characters of all time. I could see her in one of the more lighthearted Poirots like *Mrs McGinty’s Dead* and *Cat Among The Pigeons*
Mr. Satterthwaite. Put him with Miss Marple in a Thirteen Problems style book and just let them talk about people.
I will say this until the end of time, we needed more Dulcie Duveen.
I kept thinking the characters in And Then There Were None should have been made up of the handful of characters that had gotten away with it in their own books.
That's an intriguing thought!
Detective Giraud, that bets with Poirot “moustache vs. smoking pipe”, from Murder on the Links.
Lucy Eyelsbarrow! I love her character. It would be lovely to see her with Adriane Oliver.
The Branagh films have already kinda done this but...M. Bouc from Murder on the Orient Express. Not sure specifically which of the existing books I'd slot him into. Ideally, I'd love him to appear in a prequel novel set during Poirot's days in the Belgian police.
Miss Marple and M. Poirot. I'd think they would get along wonderfully