No faffing around with endless heavy exposition before getting to the meat, which is always a delight for the reader.
It plunges straight into the main story, with Mrs McGillicuddy witnessing the murder on the third page. Much of the original plotline survived into the film, although Miss Marple plays a much more active part than in the book, as she basically assumes the Lucy Eyelesbarrow role.Ĥ.50 from Paddington is a very enjoyable read, with some excellent aspects to it, plus a couple of downsides. This change was not communicated to Dodd Mead until after the book was being printed, so in that edition the text references to the time show 4:54 rather than 4:50.Īs with After the Funeral, this book was the basis for one of the Margaret Rutherford Miss Marple films the first in the series, Murder She Said. The UK version was to be titled 4.54 from Paddington until the last minute, when the title and text references were changed to 4.50 from Paddington. The full book was first published the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in November 1957 under the title What Mrs McGillicuddy Saw, and in the UK by Collins Crime Club on 4 th November 1957 as 4.50 from Paddington, a complete year since the publication of her previous book, Dead Man’s Folly. With that same title, an abridged version of the novel was also published in the 28 December 1957 issue of the Star Weekly Complete Novel, a Toronto newspaper supplement. It was first published in the UK in five abridged instalments in John Bull magazine in October and November 1957, and in the US in thirty-six instalments in the Chicago Tribune from October to December 1957, under the title Eyewitness to Death. This is one of Christie’s comparatively rare books that contains no dedication. With Lucy’s help, and the professional expertise of Detective Inspector Craddock, Miss Marple gets to the bottom of it all eventually! As usual, if you haven’t read the book yet, don’t worry, I promise not to reveal whodunit – although there are a few plot spoilers I’m afraid! Is this the result of her overactive imagination? Her friend Miss Marple doesn’t think so, and engages the bright young cook and housekeeper Lucy Eyelesbarrow to do some snooping.
However, no murders or missing women have been reported.
In which Mrs McGillicuddy witnesses a murder from her train window as another train overtakes and she sees the back of a man strangling a woman.
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