The Body in the Library
First edition (US) | |
| Author | Agatha Christie |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Miss Marple novels |
| Genre | Crime novel |
| Publisher | Dodd, Mead and Company |
Publication date | February 1942 |
| Publication place | United States / United Kingdom |
| Pages | 245 (first edition, hardcover) |
| Preceded by | The Murder at the Vicarage |
| Followed by | The Moving Finger |
The Body in the Library is a mystery novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in February 1942 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in May of the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence. The novel features her fictional amateur detective Miss Marple.
The plot concerns the murders of two teenage girls of outwardly similar appearance. One was an 18-year-old dancer, and the other was a 16-year-old Girl Guide with aspirations to an acting career. Jane Marple eventually uncovers the murderer. The story begins at St Mary Mead, the setting of the first Marple novel.
Contemporary reviewers liked the shrewd feminine viewpoint, though they missed Poirot. Christie stated that while writing her own variation on a classic theme, she wanted the library to be completely conventional, but the body to be highly improbable and sensational.