Agatha Christie is no doubt the queen of mystery! Even though there is a recent flood of detective novels in the world over from diverse backgrounds, she manages to be the most popular detective story writer along with Arthur Conan Doyle. And she is my favourite too.Till recently I had not read a single Agatha Christie book in a long time. I saw one of my classmates having one big fat Agatha Christie book with her and I borrowed it from her. It was titled ‘Miss Marple Omnibus-Volume 2.’ This omnibus has 4 novels featuring Miss Marple, Christie’s much loved, old, shrewd detective dame! These 4 novels are-1) A Caribbean Mystery 2) They Do It With Mirrors 3) The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side’ 4) A Pocket Full of Rye. All the four novels are really good and till the end they keep you guessing as to who the culprit is. The reader perhaps seldom finds out the real culprit as Christie always manages in most of her novels to direct the reader’s suspicion to characters who are not the culprits at all! Taken from blogadda.com ‘The Caribbean Mystery‘ as the title suggests is set in the Caribbean with Miss Marple enjoying a vacation in an opulent hotel. Now this doesn’t sound dramatic though, does it? But well, Miss Marple has the uncanny ability to get tangled in crimes that happen in the oddest of places! The murder of Major Palgrave, who was also staying in the hotel, and the disappearance of a photograph of a murderer about which Major Palgrave was telling a story to Miss Marple, sets a chain of events rolling! That story is connected to Major’s murder and other ensuing sinister murders! The story has a chilling end and I am sure if the reader is smart and keeps an eye out for things, they can guess who the murderer actually is. If you can’t, then you will certainly smack yourself in the end of the story for not solving such a simple mystery! The second novel, ‘They Do it With Mirrors’ is equally riveting. This one is very predictable if you use your brains. Miss Marple stays as a guest in a friend’s house, Carrie Louise’s house to be precise after the latter’s sister insists that there is something sinister brooding in the house. And I suppose, the sister’s intuitions are right because Miss Marple feels the same too and eventually a murder does take place in the most queer fashion when a hot, violent argument between Carrie Louise’s husband, Lewis and a deranged patient of his! It seems that the police would handle it but fame precedes Miss Marple and her help is sought out. It is predictable but still reading how Miss Marple arrives at the solution is marvellous. The 3rd novel,’The Mirror Crack’d From Side To Side‘ is a brilliant detective novel. The revelation of the murderer and how Miss Marple gets to it will leave the reader shell shocked. Miss Marple’s friend, Dolly Bantry, has sold her house to a famous actress, Marina Gregg. She holds a party in that house to commemorate her stay in it and an inexplicable murder takes place. The solution is far from simple and Miss Marple stretches all her talent to the limit to find out the murderer. This novel is by far the best among all four in terms of its shock value The last novel, ‘A Pocket Full Of Rye’ is another excellent novel. Rex Fortescue dies of poisoning. And so does his wife. Some rye in the former’s pocket and some other eccentric and strange incidents that happened in the house, allow Miss Marple to connect the crime to a famous rhyme. It is uncannily similar to it and Miss Marple gets down to helping the police in search of the cold blooded killer. The end is surprising as usual. This is because, Christie constantly tries to put suspicion on other members when in fact the culprit is someone else altogether! This omnibus is wonderful! An engaging book. A must read for all fans of Agatha Christie.