FROM BOOK TO SEDRIES: MISS MARPLE

 FROM A WEEK AGO!

SPOILER ALERT

Right off the bat .... there is no way I can do this without giving away a LOT of information ... because while the BBC episode and the book are close - they are different just enough to make a bit of a difference.

So .... yes ... straight off the start.

THE MOVING FINGER
Quite the name for a book - in the BBC show it opens with the main character (NOT Miss Marple) gets into a motorcycle accident .... and while he's laying on the ground, we see his finger twitch ever so slightly - if you blink, you'll miss it~

They next thing that pops up is this same guy sitting in a passanger seat, and the car is beinng driven by his sister ... and it was her idea to go off on a vacation to some small town/village where they don't know anyone ... so he can finish his recovery.

She is totally an Uptown girl, like Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast At Tiffany's" ... and he's just, well, kind of like Arthur Fonzerelli - a nice kid, from the back alley ... and yes, he supposed to have a fondness for the booze and the ladies (but during the show, he isn't commited to perfecting either habit) .... 

His sister in the show has RED hair ... and seems very much like a gal born before her time ... she seems more of modern day lady.  an Uptown girl ... and you don't get anyn sort of a feeling that she changes at all.

Then there's Megan ... not sure if that's how its spelled in the book, but its how I'm spelling it ... is pivotal in the story.  I nad never heard them mention her age before, but this time I did hear a single, in passing mention of her being 20 years old ... but she looks like about 14 or 15 years old ... pigtails, bike riding, immature.

And right away - the show jumps into things ... oh the book did this so much better, but the show only has 1 hour to develope and solve the crimes ... so ... they jump into the Poison Pen Letters right away.

Death Toll in the show? 3 ... Miss Marple shows up in the show to attend a funeral of a friend of a friend (a service buddy of her ex-lover) ...

The Book ...
Yes, I am leaving the show right there .... I think the book did so much better.  But the stories are so close to each other ... that I truly suggest you watch the show BEFORE you read the book, or listen to the book.

Miss Jane Marple doesn't show up until the story is over half done ... in the audiobook, she doesn't even get mentioned until 4 hours in on a 6 hour audiobook!

The book is written MOSTLY in FIRST PERSON!!! From the point of view of the MAN who is recovering.

Here's the first difference: in the show he was recovering from a motorcycle accident ... in the novel, the accident was with an AIRPLANE ... giving you the impression that it was an accident he got during the war.
This would make sense as to why Megan wouldn't be too young for him -- in World War 2, most pilots in England were between 19-24 (if they lasted that long) ... 
I think it's important to understand this - because one might think he's simply an older man, say 30 yrs old, who survived the war -- but pilots had much shorter carriers.
This one would have been a "lucky" one - most of those involved in crashes, died.

It also explains why his sister would have been so determined to stick around ... Oh ... in the novel - she is BLONDE, and flighty ... but later changes from simply being "Uptown" to being wowwed by the local doctor ... in fact, she has to act a nurse at one point - and it changes her entire life!

Megan is quite the character ... she starts out as a little thing, a bit mousy ... and blossoms into quite the gal ... very much like "Sabrina" (the Audrey Hepburn/Humphrey Bogart version is my favorite ... but Harrison Ford's remake was good as well).  She suffers from a great lack of love from her mother and her step-father ... so she doesn't quite know what to do when feelings begin to bloom around the main character ...

Oh ... and there is a wedding in the novel, which they do not cover at all in the episode ....

Novel Death Toll: 2 ... Miss Marple shows up when a friend of her's in the village invites her to look into the case.

While Miss Marple pluts together the last of the puzzle - the Main character (Mr. Burton) is the one who did ALL the work ... 

Here is the embed of the audiobook:
Again ... these are NOT MINE ... I simply put them in to make it easier for you.