REVIEW: The Herb of Death

 The Herb of Death
Author: Agatha Christie

The Herb of Death is the 11th out of 13 stories featuring Miss Marple and the Tuesday Night Club. The story was first published in Story-Teller magazine in 1930 and included in the short story collection The 13 Problems in 1932. 

I love these little quick mysteries by Christie! She has been my favorite author since I was a little girl and fostered my life-long love of mystery novels. Before now, I only read her novels. I never delved into her short stories. These early Marple stories are just short snippets (like the earliest Hercule Poirot tales) meant to propose a problem and get quickly to the solution. Just a sort of showcase for the character of Miss Marple. So, the stories have no character or setting development or any real build to a climax. They are just one-minute sort of mysteries....just enough there to show how wonderful Miss Marple's mind can be. :) Fun to read! And the idea of a group of friends gathering to share strange stories is intriguing. One person tells a story....and the rest of the group have to figure out the truth of the matter. Wouldn't that make for a fun twist on the Murder Mystery night sort of party? 

This time it's Colonel Bantry's wife who tells her story.  It's quite an intriguing story of accidental poisoning. Did the cook accidentally mix foxglove in with the greens at dinner? 

I was curious so I looked up foxglove. It really is quite poisonous, but I don't see how those leaves could be mistaken for salad greens. I would suppose if you cut it up small and mixed it in with fresh herbs or some such that it could lurk un-noticed. It was quite a scary thought of it growing in among the the edible plants where it would be unknowingly mixed in the food for an entire supper party. Yikes! 

Great story! I read it in my HB copy of Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories while listening to an old audio version recorded by Joan Hickson. Hickson played the senior sleuth in the Miss Marple television series from 1984-1992.

Just two more Tuesday Night Club stories to go! The next story is: The Affair at the Bungalow.