Rex Fortescue collapses and dies in his office, poisoned with taxine from yew trees. Within a few days his wife and maid are also killed. Baffled, the police ask Miss Marple to infiltrate the household.

I fastened on the wrong suspect fairly early on. No little grey cells or village experience to help me out. Sigh. ( )

In this, Rex Fortescue dies after drinking tea at his office but it soon is discovered that he was in fact poisoned much earlier, probably at breakfast, with taxine a poison derived from the yew tree. Not by coincidence, Rex's home is the rather grand Yew Tree Lodge which has plenty of yew conveniently to hand. Various characters in the family - and also among their retainers such as the mysterious Miss Dove - could stand to benefit from the murder and the inspector in charge of tracking down the killer needs the razor sharp brain power of Miss Marple who arrives because a subsequent victim has a long standing connection with her.

The only things that held me back from a full rating on this was firstly that Miss M doesn't appear a lot - although her presence is essential as she sees the pattern behind the crimes and also works out who is responsible - but there also appears to be a continuity clanger. A certain person blackmails another who then sells possessions to raise the money, but there didn't appear to be sufficient time in the plot for this to occur before that person is then called to account. But otherwise a well deserved four stars. ( )

Nursery Rhyme Murders
Review of the William Morrow Paperbacks edition (June 14, 2011) of the Collins Crime Club (UK) & Dodd, Mead & Company (US) hardcover (1953) originals.

Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye.
Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie.

When the pie was opened,
The birds began to sing.
Wasn't that a dainty dish
To set before the king?

The king was in his counting house,
Counting out his money.
The queen was in the parlour,
Eating bread and honey.

The maid was in the garden,
Hanging out the clothes,
When down came a blackbird
And pecked off her nose.

A Pocket Full of Rye finds Miss Marple investigating a series of murders in the Fortescue household where one of her own former maid servants is now a house maid. The case becomes personal for Miss Marple when one of the victims is that same house maid. The murderer seems to be planning their crimes in accordance with the nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence", and the authorities are baffled as usual. Only Miss Marple perceives that the nursery rhyme is a cover story for a much more diabolical plot.

See cover at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/57/A_Pocket_Full_of_Rye_First_Editio...
The front cover of the original 1953 Collins Crime Club (UK) hardcover edition. Image sourced from Wikipedia.

Confusion for Completists
A Pocket Full of Rye is the 6th Miss Marple novel. Some lists, including the Goodreads Miss Marple Listopia, count it as Miss Marple #7 as the short story collection [book:The Thirteen Problems|31309] (1932) is counted as #1.

Trivia and Links
A Pocket Full of Rye was adapted twice for English language television series. Both of the TV adaptations are reasonably faithful to the original plot. I did not find any free trailers or postings of either of them, but they are both available on the Britbox streaming service here in Canada.

The first TV adaptation was as part of the BBC's Miss Marple (1984-1992) series as Episode 4 in 2 parts in 1985, which starred Joan Hickson as Miss Marple.

The second TV adaptation was as part of ITV's Agatha Christie’s Marple (2004-2013) reboot series as Series 4 Episode 1 in 2009 which starred Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple. ( )

So many red herrings in this delicious tale of murder and mayhem, and of course, Miss Marple. Poison enters this murder mystery many times, instead of violent death. Again, Agatha Christie employs a nursey rhyme into her story to list the order of deaths. The rhyme involving blackbirds baked into a pie follows the murders in this story. What a surprise to find the actual killer at the end of the tome, and not who I expected! A gold mine in Africa hinges on the murders. Could one of the children of Mr. MacKenzie hiding under an alias be the killer? Is the housekeeper, Mary Dove, a possible suspect? So many characters to study and analyze for a motive, but a delightful investigation. ( )

3.5* for this audiobook edition

Miss Marple plays a smaller role in this book than she did in the Joan Hickson dramatization, which I found disappointing. However, Richard Grant does an excellent narration. ( )