Stories
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack’d from side to side:
“The curse is come upon me,” cried
The Lady of Shalott
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Marina Gregg, the famous film star, has brought some much needed glamour to St. Mary Mead. But when a local fan is poisoned, the actress finds herself centre stage in a real-life mystery. Which other characters from the Mary Mead cast will perish before the credits roll? And will Miss Marple produce yet another stellar performance to steal the show?
Christie may have drawn on inspiration from a real-life incident involving the actress Gene Tierney. In her autobiography, Self Portrait, Tierney recounts an incident when a fan, despite being quarantined with measles, snuck out to meet and shake her hand. That same fan would later perish, though from natural causes. In 1980 Hollywood adapted the novel into a film starring Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple alongside Elizabeth Taylor as the beautiful Marina Gregg. They shortened the title to The Mirror Crack’d. It was later adapted by the BBC starring Joan Hickson in 1992, under the full title and again in 2009 with Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple.
In the March of the year this book came out, 1962, UNESCO issued a report stating that Agatha Christie was the most widely read British author, with Shakespeare coming a poor second! This was also the year The Mousetrap celebrated its tenth anniversary.