The 1950s · the early 1960s, in St. Mary Mead

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side

The recap and the What changed on screen section are hidden. Turn SPOILER ALERT on to read them; turn it off to hide them again.

A Hollywood star buys the village manor, and a fan dies at the welcome party

Pages256 pagesWhere to buyAmazonIn your readingnot read yet

Build my reading plan

Watch it: The Mirror Crack'd →Watch it: The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side →Watch it: Marple · S5 →

Do you need to read it?

Yes. It's in the Main story, the list of only what moves the plot forward to the end of the saga.

Where it falls in the order

Main story8 of 12
Chronological10 of 14

Before4.50 from Paddington

AfterA Caribbean Mystery

Spoilers for this title

Quick recap

Film star Marina Gregg buys Gossington Hall and throws a charity party in St. Mary Mead. Heather Badcock, a chatty fan, tells her they met years before, in Bermuda. Marina's face freezes, like the Lady of Shalott in the poem. Minutes later, Heather is dead: her drink held a lethal dose of a sedative. Then the secretary and the butler are killed too. Miss Marple, now elderly and watched over by a live-in companion, solves it with help from Inspector Craddock and Dolly Bantry. The killer is Marina: Heather, sick with German measles, infected her while she was pregnant, and her son was born with a disability. In the end, Marina dies of an overdose.

No spoilersOpens once you mark the title as seen.

4 what changed on screen

What changed on screen

ChangeA columnist who isn't there
ITV (2010) invented Vincent Hogg, a gossip columnist and one of Marina Gregg's ex-husbands. He isn't in the book.
source ↗
ChangeThe Nefertiti picture
On ITV, Marina's comeback is a Nefertiti movie directed by her husband, Jason Rudd. Heather Badcock's husband is written out.
source ↗
Behind the scenesThe shorter title
The 1980 film with Angela Lansbury used the shorter US title, The Mirror Crack'd. Elizabeth Taylor played Marina.
source ↗
Behind the scenesHickson's farewell
It was the last of the BBC's 12 cases, aired on December 27, 1992, with Claire Bloom as Marina Gregg.
source ↗

No spoilersThe easter eggs give away parts of the title. They open once you mark it as seen.

Comments

Original text by Sagaspedia. Posters: The Movie Database (TMDB); character photos via Wikipedia. This site uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB. All trademarks and titles mentioned belong to their respective owners. Streaming availability may change.

As an Amazon Associate, Sagaspedia earns from qualifying purchases.

About · Contact · Privacy · email@sagaspedia.com