Miss Politt

In the short story Tape-Measure Murder, Miss Politt is working as a dress maker in St. Mary Mead working from premises upstairs of the post-office shop. Several years before she had been working as a lady's maid in the household of Sir Robert Abercrombie.

Miss Politt is described as being "tall and gaunt, with a sharp nose, pursed lips, and meagre iron-grey hair". Her voice is "excessively thin and genteel in its accents".

At the beginning of the story, Miss Politt is knocking on the door of Laburnum Cottage, as she has an appointment with Mrs Spenlow for a fitting. She does not receive an answer, and asks Miss Hartnell if she knows if Mrs Spenlow has gone out. They then look through the window, and see that Mrs Spenlow is dead.

In reconstructing the death of Mrs Spenlow, Miss Marple linked it to events some twenty years earlier when Miss Politt and Mrs Spenlow were both maids of the Abercrombies. They worked together to steal some very valuable emeralds. Mrs Spenlow subsequently set up a flower shop with the proceeds and prospered. Miss Politt was unlucky and came down to just being a village dressmaker. In this respect, Miss Marple likened her to her cousin Gordon who was unlucky in everything he did.

By coincidence Mrs Spenlow subsequently moved to St. Mary Mead, and then had a religious revival and also met a religious friend Ted Gerard who urged her "to face up and to come clean" about her past. She probably told Miss Politt about this and she fearing that she might be sent to prison, decided she had to kill Mrs Spenlow to silence her.

Portrayals
Miss Politt is depicted in the anime show Tape-Measure Murder, NHK's adaptation of story of the same name. The depiction is fairly faithful to the original. Although she has a large speaking part, the actress who voiced the character is not credited. In the original, Miss Marple remarks that Miss Politt is the kind of person who breaks down easily when confronted with the truth. Here, she actually does break down when Miss Marple reconstructs her crime.