“She is a woman in a man's world. She is smart, thoughtful, and not influenced by fashion. She, too, is not easily intimidated. She knows what is right and she does it even if it puts her in danger. This is how Kate Mosse defines Jane Marple, the famous detective who stars in a large part of Agatha Christie's novels. The English writer and television presenter is one of the twelve authors chosen to recreate the adventures of the British detective in the book Miss Marple. Twelve new cases (Espasa). It had never been done before by anyone other than Christie herself.
“So far, his heirs had only authorized the publication of four new adventures in the Hercule Poirot universe: The Monogram Murders, Closed Coffin, The Mystery of the Four Letters and The Kingfisher Hill Murders, written by the famous British novelist Sophie Hannah”, recalls the international fiction editor Míriam Vall to La Vanguardia.
The descendants believed that it was about time that the famous detective of the English countryside had the same opportunities and raised what was the best way to reach a new generation of readers. "We wanted him to have his moment again and we believed that the character would be well served through a variety of voices that represent our modern international audience," James Prichard, president and CEO of Agatha Christie Ltd, the company, points out to this newspaper. which manages the literary and audiovisual rights of the author's works worldwide since 1955.
Jane Marple introduced herself to the world in 1927 with a story entitled The Tuesday Night Club. Her creator had noticed that women of a certain age who had never walked down the aisle were patronized. For this reason, she decided to give them a voice, making one of them the protagonist. Her triumph was such that, a few years later, she dedicated an entire novel to him, Death at the Vicarage. She was followed by eleven other novels and several books of short stories. Her influence was unstoppable and continues today.
“Writing a reimagined Miss Marple story is a highlight of my career. But it is also something that scared me because she is one of our iconic crime hounds, ”admits Dreda Say Mitchell, another of the writers who are part of this project.
Several Dreda readers were surprised to see his name associated with Christie's, since the crime stories he usually writes are rather stark. “At first glance, it may seem that my universe is miles away from the English towns of Jane Marple, but the truth is that my writings have much more in common than it may seem. In the end, the goal is the same: to reveal why people commit murder and, in the process, to explore the world we live in."
The author claims to feel "very honored" to be able to give life again to a character who was "very innovative in the literary field and still is. An independent and principled woman, with a strong sense of justice and equity, but, above all, that he is not presented as someone's mother or grandmother".
Both she and Mosse explain that they had a lot of freedom when writing their texts. They only had to meet a few requirements imposed on them by their relatives: "that Miss Marple's age should not vary, that there be no romance involved and that she for no reason know Poirot. Beyond that, we had free rein to do what we wanted." we would like to", they both agree.
Along with Kate Mosse and Dreda Say Mitchell, also forming part of the project are Alyssa Cole, Ruth Ware, Lucy Foley, Val McDermid, Natalie Haynes, Naomi Alderman, Jean Kwok, Elly Griffiths, Karen M. McManus and Leigh Bardugo.
Espasa takes advantage of the launch to announce that, "within five years", it hopes to have the complete works of Agatha Christie available. "Between mystery novels, stories, essays and plays, we are talking about more than 80 titles. There are works that have been out of print for decades and editing them is a huge job. Right now I estimate that we will have published about 50 titles in Espasa and we hope sooner rather than later have the rest available", concludes Míriam Vall from the editorial.
