Sophie Hannah writes first new Miss Marple novel in 50 years — SkimNews
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- Sophie Hannah was commissioned by Agatha Christie's family to write the first full-length Miss Marple novel since "Sleeping Murder" was published posthumously 50 years ago this October.
- The new novel is set at the Grand Alpine Hotel in the Swiss Alps, a jumping-off point Hannah found after learning that "Death on the Nile" was originally meant to be a Marple story.
- Hannah uses multiple first-person narrators to replicate Christie's technique of revealing character through how others react to Marple, and says she wants to interrogate modern society's fear of ageing and toxic male egos.
- Though Hannah published authorised continuations of Christie's Poirot novels beginning in 2013, she is the first writer ever asked to create a new full-length Miss Marple novel.
- Agatha Christie created Miss Marple in 1927's "The Tuesday Night Club" short story; the character appeared in 12 of Christie's 66 detective novels and 20 of her 160 short stories, with Christie's books selling more than 2 billion copies worldwide.
Why it matters: Christie's estate has now commissioned its first new Marple novel in 50 years, extending beyond the Poirot continuations Sophie Hannah has written since 2013. For readers, the result is a novel set in the Swiss Alps rather than Christie's traditional English-village formula, with Hannah explicitly drawing modern parallels around ageing and male accountability.
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