Break out the tea and scones: Miss Marple is coming back to St. Mary Mead.
Publisher William Morrow announced that Agatha Christie’s famous sleuth will be the hero of the first-ever new story collection based on one of the author’s characters. The collection, as yet untitled, will be released next year.
Contributing authors include Naomi Alderman, Leigh Bardugo, Val McDermid, Kate Mosse, and Ruth Ware.
“This collection of twelve original short stories, all featuring Jane Marple, will introduce the character to a whole new generation,” the publisher said. “Each author included in the new publication will reimagine Christie’s Marple through their own unique perspective while staying true to the hallmarks of a traditional mystery.”
Miss Marple, along with Hercule Poirot, was one of Christie’s two most famous detectives. She made her debut in 1930 with The Murder at the Vicarage, and appeared in several of the writer’s most beloved whodunits, including The Moving Finger and The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side.
Christie’s great-grandson, James Prichard, said, “It feels very exciting to allow this formidable selection of authors the opportunity to come up with new adventures and mysteries for Miss Marple. It is time for readers to rediscover Marple and I personally cannot wait to read the resulting stories.”
The new collection is slated for publication in September of 2022.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
