4:50 From Paddington

A Miss Marple Mystery

By: Agatha Christie

Narrated by: Emilia Fox

In Agatha Christie’s classic mystery 4:50 From Paddington, a woman in one train witnesses a murder occurring in another passing one…and only Miss Marple believes her story.

For an instant the two trains ran side by side. In that frozen moment, Elspeth McGillicuddy stared helplessly out of her carriage window as a man tightened his grip around a woman's throat. The body crumpled. Then the other train drew away. But who, apart from Mrs. McGillicuddy's friend Jane Marple, would take her story seriously? After all, there are no other witnesses, no suspects, and no case -- for there is no corpse, and no one is missing.

Miss Marple asks her highly efficient and intelligent young friend Lucy Eyelesbarrow to infiltrate the Crackenthorpe family, who seem to be at the heart of the mystery, and help unmask a murderer.

I Picked the Right Suspect...for the Wrong Reason

As other reviewers have mentioned, Miss Marple is not front-and-center in this one. And I like that. Both she and Poirot tend, in my view, to suck up all the air in the room. Knowing they know (or will know very soon) what the truth is, I tend to let my own detective efforts slide and just go along for the ride.

But while things are different here, they're also the same: Miss Marple is right. The solution, as she insists, is simple. Very simple. So, as I say, though I put my finger on the right suspect, their motives were far less elaborate than Ms Christie led me to believe. It was all very engaging and enjoyable, in no small part due to Emilia Fox's fine performance.

Good Miss Marple story though longer than need be.

A good background listen for cleaning or paperwork. Story is good but longwinded. The narrator was good.

Emilia Fox's narration is superb.

Another great mystery by Christie. Kept my interest and the narration was superb. As usual, the ending was a surprise.

Amazing.

Great mystery! Fully recommend!!!!
Although I wish there was a little less cussing, but other than that it was awesome❤️

A delightful, different kind of Miss Marple!

This is a wonderful story, and quite different from the usual detective tales, in which the detective is in the forefront throughout the story.

In this book, Miss Marple is puzzled by how a man that a friend witnessed killing a woman on a train was able to dispose of the body in such a way that the police cannot verify that the murder even happened. She is determined to solve the mystery, but realizes she is not up to the physical tasks her investigation requires. She thus engages the help of an engaging, intelligent, and enterprising young woman to act as her agent. It's this character's actions that we follow through most of the story, along with a few other investigators Miss Marple brings in. Her agents' adventures are fascinating to follow, but Miss Marple's way of directing her actors is where the true magic of the story is found.

The result is very entertaining, and the narrator does a wonderful job of bringing the written word to life. This book became an instant favorite, and is one that I plan to listen to many times!