REVIEW: The Blood-Stained Pavement

 The Blood-Stained Pavement
Author: Agatha Christie

The Blood-Stained Pavement is the 4th story in the Tuesday Night Club tales, the first stories featuring Christie's classic character Miss Marple. In these stories, Miss Marple, her nephew and four others meet on Tuesday nights to share tales of mysterious or unsolved crimes. Each story features a different member of the group sharing a story. This one is told by an artist, Joyce Lempriere. On a vacation to Cornwall she thought she saw blood spatters on a sidewalk in front of her hotel....that seemed to disappear. Was the blood there? Did she imagine it? Or....did something nefarious occur?

These first stories featuring Miss Marple are all very short -- "one minute mystery'' type quick tales published in magazines. The Blood-Stained Pavement was first published in The Royal Magazine in March 1928 (UK) and in Detective Story Magazine (US) that June. In the US, the story was titled "Drip! Drip!'' This story is quite short -- only 10.5 pages long in the hardback version I'm reading (Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories, Putnam, 1985). But, it's still an interesting whodunit. 

I'm enjoying these short stories. They are entertaining quick reads and give insights into Miss Marple's character. She is quiet and unassuming....most people discount her entirely until they find out she is actually quite observant and wise. These stories sprinkled into detective magazines before publication of novels was really quite a marketing move on Christie's part (and her agent & publisher, of course). They give a nice introduction to the character and her sleuthing skills. I wish I could see the original magazines! It would be  fun to see the story layouts, artwork, covers and any advertisements on the pages! 

Usually I like to listen to audio of these stories while I read along in my book, but the old audio book I found is missing a disc....so no audio for Ingots of Gold or this story. I do have audio for the next story: Motive Vs Opportunity though! On to the next!!