Nora Broad

In the novel Nemesis, Nora Broad was a young woman who lived in Jocelyn St. Mary with her mother Nancy Broad. She went missing about seven or eight years before the events of the novel, and was never found.

Nora was described as being a great one "for going with the boys". Miss Marple formed the opinion that she was a foolish girl, but was attractive to the male sex.

Nora had an aunt, Mrs Blackett, who was the cousin of Nora's father. Mrs Blackett told Miss Marple that Nora was idle, and had not done well at school. From the time she was twelve years old, she was "all for the boys".

Mrs Blackett said that Nora was pregnant when she disappeared. She had accepted a lift from someone, a stranger in whose car she had been seen once or twice. Mrs Blackett was of the opinion that Nora must have gone off with a man, probably someone who made her a lot of promises. She thought that Nora would one day come back, having learned her lesson that all these fine promises did not come to much.

Mrs Blackett mentioned that Clotilde Bradbury-Scott had always been kind to Nora, and had given her several girfts, such as a scarf and a summer frock. Clotilde had also tried to get Nora to take more interest in her schooling, and had advised her against the way she was going on.

Miss Marple realises that the badly battered body that Clotilde identified as the body of Verity Hunt years ago, actually was the body of Nora. Clotilde had killed her to place the body to be found and to frame Michael Rafiel for Verity's murder.

In the BBC 1987 adaptation of the novel, Nora Broad is renamed to "Nora Brent". Like in the novel, she is already dead during the events in the show. However, Professor Wanstead goes to interview Nora's mother Mrs Brent and during this fairly long scene, a photo of Nora Brent can be seen on a table.