The dead one in the library
The dead in the library (original title The Body in the Library ) is the 31st detective novel by Agatha Christie . It first appeared in the United States in February 1942 with Dodd, Mead and Company and in May of the same year in the United Kingdom with the Collins Crime Club . The German-language first edition was published in 1943 in the translation from English by Anna Katharina Rehmann in Scherz Verlag (Bern). In 2001 the Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag Frankfurt am Main, which has held the rights since taking over the Scherz-Verlag until today, published a new translation by Barbara Heller. This translation was published by the same publisher in 2004 under the title Das Rätsel der Dänzerin . The work is currently back in the Fischer program under the old title.
It determines Miss Marple in her second novel, after her first novel in Murder at the Rectory .
action
The body of a young woman who was strangled is found in the library of the Bantry couple's country house. The dead woman wears conspicuously kitsch evening clothes and has very blonde hair. Dolly Bantry calls in her old friend Miss Marple because she fears that if the murder were not resolved, her husband would always be seen behind closed doors as a suspect and she also believes, " ... if there is already a murder in the happens in your own house, you should also have fun ”.
Since there is no evidence of a connection between the dead and the couple, attempts are made to determine the names of the dead on the basis of missing persons reports. In terms of age, only the girl scout Pamela Reeves comes into question, but her description does not match that of the dead. Then Ruby Keene's missing person report arrives. She is identified by the distant relative Josie Turner, who took care of the orphaned Ruby and trained her as a dancer at a nearby hotel.
During the investigation, the police officers and Miss Marple are confronted with all kinds of suspects. On the one hand with the widowed children-in-law of the wealthy Mr. Jefferson, on the other hand with a nervous young man named Bartlett and Basil Blake, who works in the film business. Mr. Jefferson, who posted the missing person report, survived a plane crash seriously injured but lost his wife and children. He is terminally ill and found a new zest for life through his affection for Ruby Keene. Little did he know that both his daughter-in-law Adelaide Jefferson and his son-in-law Mark Gaskell were struggling financially, and wanted to adopt Ruby and leave her his fortune. However, both have waterproof alibis related to the time of the crime. Bartlett makes himself suspicious, but he has no motive, and Blake was little known to the girl.
A little later, the body of another young woman is found in Bartlett's burned-out car, who is identified as the missing Pamela Reeves by means of leftover clothing. Miss Marple finds out that Pamela was lured away by her boy scout group to supposedly test shots of a Hollywood producer. Therefore, Basil Blake, who is eccentric and lives in an (outwardly) immoral liaison with his girlfriend, moves back into the focus of the investigation.
At the same time as the police, Miss Marple discovers that Ruby Keene's body has been moved from Basil Blake's house to the Bantry library. Blake claims he only found the body and then removed it while drunk. The police arrest him, but Miss Marple expresses her doubts. She convinces the police to set a trap for the real killer. To do this, Mr. Jefferson is supposed to tell his children-in-law that he wants to change his will in favor of a foundation. The following night the killer sneaks into Mr. Jefferson's room with a syringe and is overwhelmed.
Miss Marple quenches the police's curiosity and explains the case. She knew from chewed fingernails that the body in the library wasn't Ruby Keene, but Pamela Reeves. However, since Josie Turner had identified her, she must have been involved in the murder. Josie is secretly married to Mr. Jefferson's son-in-law. However, this would cut the financial support for Mark Gaskell and the safe inheritance if he found out about the marriage. So the public wanted to wait until Mr. Jefferson's imminent death. Ruby Keene now threatened to bring everything to failure. Josie and Gaskell therefore lured a naive young girl with the promise of taking her to the film, dressed her up like Ruby, and murdered her. Mark Gaskell took the body to Blake's house. Since he is actually married to his partner, but is hiding this to keep a glamorous appearance, the hope of Mark and Josie was that the investigation would focus on an affair Basil Blake.
At the time of Pamela Reeves' murder, however, the real Ruby was still alive and dancing in public so the killers could get an alibi. The real Ruby was murdered much later and then burned in the car. After Mr. Jefferson announced that he was going to change his will, Mark Gaskell travels to London to find another alibi while Josie Turner is caught trying to murder Mr. Jefferson with a syringe of digitalis .
people
- Miss Jane Marple, the old-young amateur detective
- Arthur Bantry, Retired Colonel D.
- Dolly Bantry, wife of the Colonel and friend of Jane Marple
- Conway Jefferson, a wealthy invalid
- Adelaide Jefferson, his daughter-in-law
- Peter Carmody, son of Adelaide Jefferson from a previous marriage
- Mark Gaskell, his son-in-law
- Ruby Keene, dancer at the Hotel Majestic
- Basil Blake, film producer
- George Bartlett
- Josephine Turner, Ruby's cousin and colleague
- Raymond Starr, dancer at the Majestic, tennis coach and Adelaide lover
- Pamela Reeves, Girl Scout
- Sir Henry Clithering, former Chief Superintendent of Scotland Yard and good friend of Miss Marple
- Melchett, chief of police
- Harper, superintendent of the police
- Slack, local police inspector
Reviews
Maurice Willson Disher of The Times Literary Supplement was impressed by the book in his review on May 16, 1942: “Many a loyal soul may long for Poirot, but there will and must be others who are happy to be replaced by Miss Marple in the latest Agatha Christie novel. That's because professional detectives are no longer up to the old (or not-so-old) spinsters who are skilled at going behind the scenes - and the latter are therefore very much in vogue. Even with that assumption, one must be impressed by the logic of the old maids. When Miss Marple says the dress is all wrong, she is expressing a fact that is hidden from a male eye - but is of great relevance. The book 'The Body in the Library' was intended to convince Hendon College (a police academy) of the benefits of co-educational training. "
Maurice Richardson was not as enthusiastic in his review in the Observer of May 17, 1942 as by the other Christies so far and closes his review: "Brilliant, of course, but the plot is a bit confused and the diversionary maneuvers have lost their luminosity."
References to other works
In chapter eight Christie drops her name from the mouth of the boy Peter Carmody. He explains that he enjoys reading detective novels and that he already has autographs from Dorothy L. Sayers , Agatha Christie , John Dickson Carr and HC Bailey.
In six years earlier published Cards on the Table ( If maps ) Anne Meredith called the figure of Ariadne Oliver as the author of a book entitled The Body in the Library ( The Body in the Library ).
Dolly Bantry continues to appear in Miss Marple books, such as Murder in the Mirror and The Tuesday Night Club .
Important English and German language editions
- 1942 First edition: Dodd Mead and Company (New York) - the novel first appeared in the USA
- 1942 First published in the United Kingdom: Collins Crime Club
- 1943 First edition in German: Die Tote in der Bibliothek. Translated from the English by Anna Katharina Rehmann Scherz Verlag Bern
- 2001 New translation: The dead in the library. Translated from the English by Barbara Heller Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag Frankfurt am Main
- 2004 unabridged edition under a new title: The riddle of the dancer: Translated from the English by Barbara Heller Frankfurt am Main: Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag
Audio books
- 2001 Die Tote in der Bibliothek (4 audio cassettes or 5 CDs): the only unabridged reading. Speaker: Ursula Illert . Director: Hans Eckardt . Translation by Barbara Heller . Publishing house and studio for audio book productions Beltershausen
- 2005 The Dead in the Library (3 CDs): With the original Miss Marple film melody. Read by Traudel Sperber . Director: Sven Stricker . Translated from the English by Tanja Handels . Authorized reading version. The Hörverlag , Munich
Television films
The novel has been filmed three times for television.
- The first adaptation is a 1984 BBC production with Joan Hickson in the role of Miss Marple. The film was broadcast in three parts from December 26th to 28th and formed the beginning of the 12-part television series Agatha Christie's Miss Marple .
- In 2004 the novel was made into a film again for the ITV television series Agatha Christie's Marple with Geraldine McEwan in the lead role. This version contains major changes compared to the novel. The identity of the murderer is changed and a lesbian subplot is added.
- In 2011 France also filmed this material under the title "Un cadaver sur l'oreiller", first broadcast in Germany in 2018 (A corpse in bed), with the main focus of the plot being moved to a brothel.
Radio plays
The WDR adapted the novel in 1957 as part of its series of crime fiction classics for radio. The processing was done by Jürgen Gütt . Werner Haentjes composed the music . Directed by Friedhelm Ortmann , Ida Ehre spoke the role of Miss Marple. Other speakers included Hermann Schomberg , Gerda Maurus , Wolfgang Schirlitz , Hannes Messemer , Kurt Meister and Hansjörg Felmy .
The playing time is 83'20 minutes. Unfortunately, the recording is no longer available in any ARD broadcasting company.
Web links
- The Body in the Library on the official Agatha Christie website
- The Body in the Library (1984) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Body in the Library (2004) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ American Tribute to Agatha Christie
- ↑ Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. Collins Crime Club - A checklist of First Editions . Dragonby Press (Second Edition) March 1999 (Page 15)
- ↑ a b German first edition in the catalog of the German National Library
- ↑ a b New translation in the catalog of the German National Library
- ↑ a b The riddle of the dancer (2004) in the catalog of the German National Library
- ↑ The Times Literary Supplement May 16, 1942 (Page 249)
- ↑ The Observer May 17, 1942 (Page 3)
- ↑ Audiobook (complete) in the catalog of the German National Library
- ^ Audiobook (licensed) in the catalog of the German National Library