Miss Carruthers

In the short story Miss Marple Tells a Story, Miss Carruthers is one of two women staying by themselves at the The Crown Hotel in Barnchester, at the time Mrs Rhodes was murdered. Miss Marple was particularly interested in women fitting such a profile.

The solicitor Mr Petherick described Miss Carruthers as a rather horsey spinster who tended to drop her g's. She was about forty, wore pince-nez and had close-cropped hair like a man. She also wore mannish coats and skirts.

It turned out that Miss Carruthers is a false name. The woman was using the alias and had madness running in her family. She killed Mrs Rhodes for revenge. Her daughter had been killed in a car crash, caused by Mrs Rhodes. Miss Marple was suspicious of her because while dropping g's was often done by hunting characters in books, she did not think that many people did it in reality. According to Miss Marple most people who dropped their g's were over sixty, but Miss Carruthers was only forty. This suggested that she was playing a part and over-doing it.