By CHRIS SURPRENANT
Arts Editor
The Moving Finger
One thing Agatha Christie is never afraid to do is incorporate all different sorts of people into her stories. The Moving Finger, though relatively short in comparison to her other works, once again manages to fool the reader entirely with an expanse of characters.
Londoners Jerry and Joanna Burton decide to make a move to the small country town of Lymstock in hopes of Jerry making a recovery from wartime injuries. Out of place among Lymstock’s modest citizens, the Burtons receive an anonymously typewritten letter accusing them of being lovers rather than brother and sister. They soon discover that they are not the only ones to receive such lies.
In the wake of the anonymous accuser, Mrs. Symmington, wife of the local lawyer, commits suicide after being accused of bearing a child out of wedlock. This further complicates matters for her plain, awkward daughter Megan, who is not wanted by her stepfather. There aren’t any clues that seem to indicate anyone, until Mr. Symmington’s governess Elsie Holland too receives a letter typed on the same typewriter as all the others. The letter is traced back to the machine of the lively busybody Aimee Griffith. Was it the old biddy? Or someone else? Death continues to permeate the quiet village, and no one is safe. The murder-in-a-small-town mentality is one of the novel’s strongest assets.
Christie, once again, creates wonderful characters equal to her complex plot. The reader is able to get a true sense of all the townspeople based on their interactions with the Burtons. Notably, Aimee Griffiths jumps right off the page. The Burtons run into her on various occasions, and she is always up to something. She’s the church lady we all know who helps out with each and every event, even if she’s not wanted—she’s too involved.
When I first read this novel, I was surprised to find that neither of Christie’s famous detectives were immediately involved. I kept waiting and waiting for either Poirot or Miss Marple to show up. Not until the end does Miss Jane Marple make an appearance and helps save the day. Normally, I’d be a little miffed that neither of my favorite sleuths decided to show up until the last few pages of the book, but in this case, Christie can be forgiven. Narrated by Jerry, he’s very effective as a narrator; the reader will trust him.
Though it is a murder mystery at heart, Christie is somewhat of a romantic (she did write a few romance novels under Mary Westmacott). Megan, the lonely, misunderstood daughter of the Symmingtons, is met with kindness in her life from Jerry, which is really nice to observe. Joanna Burton, too, has a chance meeting with someone who gives her a glimpse of how the other half lives. She manages to pack a lot of sentiment into just a few pages of one great story.
A story of love, murder, blackmail, and heartbreak, The Moving Finger has something for everyone, from the morbid reader to the bright idealist. Who killed Mrs. Symmington? I bet you can’t quite put your finger on it.
