The Larches (The Idol House of Astarte)

In the short story The Idol House of Astarte, the Larches is a house in St. Mary Mead. Miss Marple said that it was an unhappy house. The first owner she mentioned was Old Mr Smithers. After him Johnny Carslake and Mrs Carslake lived in the house. When they left the house, the Burden family moved in.

In the novel A Murder is Announced, there is also a house in St. Mary Mead named the Larches. Since the short story was published more than thirty years before the novel it is unlikely that Christie intended that the two houses should be the same house.