Emily Skinner

In the short story The Case of the Perfect Maid, Miss Emily Skinner is the sister of Lavinia Skinner. The two sisters were tenants of one of the four flats in Old Hall, in St. Mary Mead. Emily was the younger of the two and an invalid who needed to be looked after by her older sister. She was constantly seen in bed or on the sofa surrounded by pill boxes and fussing about her food and comfort.

Dspite her illness, Emily had consistently refused to let the local doctor, Dr Haydock, attend to her. saying that her illness was a rare type, too complicated to be understood by ordinary doctors. and that she was attended by a specialist in London. Most of the villagers of St. Mary Mead, however, considered that Emily's illness was more imagined than real and believed that there was nothing wrong with her.

Miss Marple later proved that Emily was perfectly well and that in fact she and her sister Lavinia were behind a spectacular series of burglaries of the neighbouring flats in Old Hall.

Portrayals
In the NHK anime adaptation The Perfect Maid, the portrayal of Emily is faithful to the original story, right down to her fussing about her hot water bottle, the desire to eat oysters and have lemon in her tea. The only addition is that she and her sister were arrested by Constable Hearst at the end. The voice actress behind the character was Miyuki Kawanaka.