THE FOLIO SOCIETY

A group of friends decide to tell unsolved mysteries to each other at Miss Marple's house in St Mary Mead. They expect little in the way of a contribution from their elderly host, so when she lifts her eyes from her knitting casually to deduce the truth about a case of domestic poisoning, they are flabbergasted. Village life, Miss Marple maintains, has taught her everything about the vicissitudes of human behaviour, but what is so startling in one so apparently unworldly is her extraordinary insight and intuition. As the stories are told - disappearing bloodstains, the cryptic last message of a poisoned man, a spiritualist who predicts death - Miss Marple's reputation grows, and before long she is being asked by the police to help them with their investigations.

There are 20 stories in all, neatly encapsulated by Henry Clithering's cry at the solution of 'Ingots of Gold': "Miss Marple, you are wonderful!"