The expression “it’s hard to find good help these days” is the key to unlocking the mystery in this charming story.
We return to the golden days of yesteryear (actually 1942, when a lot of Brits probably had other things on their mind), and a time when hot water bottles were in use (remember them?) and everyone had a maid. Miss Marple has one of course, and the story begins with her maid trying to get Miss Marple to help out her cousin, who is also a maid but who is about to be let go because her employers (spinster sisters) suspect her of having tried to steal a brooch.
Specifically, this maid has been “given notice.” Which is something I don’t understand. I mean, I get that employees should be given notice and that their employers might want to keep them around until they can hire a replacement. That’s the case today in most jobs. But in this case the maid has effectively been fired on suspicion of her being a thief. Why would you want that person in your house for another couple of weeks? Isn’t that just asking for trouble?
Anyway, the unfairly targeted maid is dismissed even though the sisters have been warned that, you know, it’s hard to find good help these days. They luck out, however, and immediately hire a “paragon” of a maid. But is she too good to be true? It seems so when the sisters, and everyone else in the Old Hall they’re renting a flat in, get burgled and the perfect maid disappears.
You don’t win a prize for cottoning on to the fact that the new maid isn’t all that she seems. Miss Marple’s own suspicions are made clear. So what Christie is pulling is the simple trick of throwing suspicion on something that’s not right, in this case the perfect maid, in order to distract us from something that’s also not right, but less obviously so.
A simple trick, but it works. Even knowing Christie’s go-to solutions I still didn’t twig to what was happening. Miss Marple’s trick to catch a thief was a bit too subtle, but the criminal plot actually made sense, which is something I can’t say for all these stories, and I had a good time being played.
Alex Good 
Nice to be surprised now and then.
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As long as it’s a pleasant surprise!
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Ah yes, indeed.
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Naturellement.
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I wonder how having servants would work in today’s world? You know how expensive it would be? I guess I would probably be in the servant industry and not the one being served. I’m just not in that tax bracket…
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The rich still have them. Nannies, house cleaners, cooks, personal assistants. For the rest of us it’s just the service industry.
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So the easy solution is to BE rich. I’ll get right on that…
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You’d be surprised how many problems being rich will fix. Not all of them, but a lot.
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Well, here’s to a problem free life.
Where do I sign?
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I know a guy who runs an online emporium of souls. I’ll hook you up.
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Nice!
I’d like an extra large soul, the less use the better.
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I don’t know how much you can trust these used soul dealers. I think a lot of the merchandise has been used pretty hard.
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You have to kick the heels, like you’re kicking the tires on a car. That’s how you tell if a soul is good or not.
I read that online, so you know it’s gotta be good advice.
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What astonishes me is the importance of the cousin in olden times. Christie had lots of cousins in her books. All that English stuff from back then is full of them. I mean, I get it, but it’s just so far removed from my own experience. I had a mess of cousins, but only ever even met them once or twice growing up and never after becoming an adult.
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That seems to vary a lot from family to family. I’m like you, I don’t keep in touch with extended family and haven’t seen a cousin in decades. But I know other people who are very involved.
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My wife’s from the Philippines. She could fill out a family tree like you wouldn’t believe. I’d be struggling after my own parents. : -)
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