Miss Marple's Final Cases

A collection of Agatha Christie detective stories, published posthumously in 1979 by Collins Crime Club. In Russia it was also released under the titles "The Last Cases of Miss Marple" and "The Case of the Housekeeper". The collection includes seven stories from different years.

The Dancer’s Necklace
Mrs. Harmond—wife of a clergyman, known by the nickname Bunch—finds a bloodied man lying by the church altar. She calls a doctor; together they take the injured man to the clergyman’s house, where he soon dies. Before he dies, he speaks the name “Julian” with a plea in his voice. Bunch meets police officers who, as she thinks, are unable to solve the mystery of the strange man. Soon a brother of the dead man arrives from London with his wife. Something about their behavior alarms Mrs. Harmond. She goes to London, where Miss Marple is staying temporarily. Bunch tells her about her suspicions, and the two decide to unravel the mystery together.

The Murder of Mrs. Spenlow
Miss Plitt, the village dressmaker, hurries to a fitting at the home of a local resident, Mrs. Spenslow. Despite an arrangement for the meeting, Mrs. Spenslow does not open the door. At the gates of the house, the dressmaker meets another woman from the village, and they decide to inspect the house. Through a window they see a corpse of the mistress lying on the floor in the room. The first suspect in the murder becomes Mrs. Spenslow’s husband, who had no alibi, but claimed that he had left the house after a call from Miss Plitt. Miss Plitt, who had not called the Spenslow house that day, sets out to solve the mystery.

A Remedy for Miss Marple
Miss Marple is ill. Dr. Haydock comes to see her and brings her the manuscript of his story. He suggests that she read it and solve the mystery of a girl’s death. A local young rake returns to his village with a beautiful wife. Before his arrival, he completely rebuilds the large estate and dismisses the old caretakers from it. The elderly caretaker curses him and his wife, frightening the young woman with unexpected appearances and strange threats. One day the newlywed falls from a horse and dies. Everything looks like an accident. This is where the manuscript ends. Dr. Haydock comes to Miss Marple a couple of days later, and she is ready to offer her solution to the mystery.

The Case of the Infallible Maid
Miss Marple is approached by a resident of St. Mary Mead. She asks for help for her sister Gladys, who served as a maid at the Old Hall estate. Gladys was dismissed for a very strange reason. At first the mistress lost a brooch, which later turned out to be in her own drawer, and already the next day a broken plate upset her, and Gladys was fired. The girl suspects that the dismissal is connected to the missing brooch. Miss Marple goes to Old Hall to talk to the mistress, Mrs. Skinner. In place of the dismissed Gladys, a new maid has already been hired—Mary, about whom the mistress speaks only as a “treasure.” Miss Marple senses something is not right.

Miss Marple Tells
Two gentlemen visit Miss Marple: Mr. Parker, her solicitor, and his acquaintance, Mr. Rhodes. Months earlier, his wife was killed—stabbed in a hotel not far from St. Mary Mead with her own penknife. No stranger entered the victim’s room—only the maid bringing hot-water bottles. All doors and windows were locked from the inside. Miss Marple finds out that Mrs. Rhodes was an impressionable, hysterical person who constantly invented and embellished events in her life. Her husband had long stopped believing her stories. This time, she said she had met a woman who promised to take revenge on her for an injured child. The misfortune happened many years ago, but she continued to receive letters with threats.

“Greenshaw’s Fancy”
Miss Marple helps her friend Louise and her little son hide from the persecutions of a cruel husband. Miss Marple arranges for Louise to work as a secretary at the “Greenshaw’s Fancy” estate, owned by Miss Marple’s eccentric friend Catherine Greenshaw. But Louise’s trials do not end there. Soon, in an odd way, the butler dies. The estate guest, Horace Bindler, disappears without a trace. And shortly after that, Catherine is brutally murdered. Miss Marple decides to tackle the tangled case.