The Body in the Library

Dolly Bantry wakes up to the news that a blonde girl is lying dead on the library rug at Gossington Hall. The body seems to be Ruby Keene, a dancer at a Danemouth hotel whom the rich, disabled Conway Jefferson planned to adopt. Then a burned-out car in a quarry turns up a second body, which everyone takes for Pamela Reeves, a missing Girl Guide. Miss Marple notices the library victim's bitten nails: that wasn't Ruby. It was Pamela, made up and dressed as the dancer, and the girl in the car was Ruby. The killers are Mark Gaskell, Jefferson's son-in-law, and Josie Turner, Ruby's cousin.

1. ChangeA different killer couple

   In the ITV version (2004), Josie Turner isn't secretly married to Mark Gaskell. She's having an affair with Adelaide Jefferson, and the two become the murderous pair.

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2. ChangeA rocket instead of a plane

   In the book, Conway Jefferson's family dies in a plane crash. ITV opens with a V2 rocket hitting the house during a party late in the war.

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3. ChangeNo Sir Henry

   Sir Henry Clithering and Inspector Slack, major figures in the book, don't appear in the ITV version. Colonel Melchett gets a bigger part in the investigation.

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4. Behind the scenesJoan Hickson's debut

   It was the first case of the BBC series, shown in three parts from December 26 to 28, 1984.

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