The Case of the Caretaker is a short story featuring Miss Marple. It was published in the short story collections Three Blind Mice and Other Stories (US, 1950) and Miss Marple's Final Cases and Two Other Stories (UK, 1978).
Plot
Poor Miss Marple is in bed with flu, when reading Dr Haydock's manuscript, based on real events which ended in a tragic death. But the doctor is convinced it was no accident and Miss Marple tends to agree with him.
Characters
- Miss Marple
- Dr Haydock
- Miss Harmon
- Harry Laxton
- Major Laxton
- “Mrs Harry”, Louise Laxton
- Mrs Price
- Miss Brent
- Mr Edge
- Mrs Bella Edge
- Clarice Vane
- Mrs Murgatroyd
- Prince Hal
The Case of the Caretaker's Wife
An early version of this story titled The Case of the Caretaker's Wife was included in John Curran's nonfiction work, Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making in 2011.
Miss Marple is not bedridden in this version and actively solves the case. Careful readers may also recognise aspects of this story in the 1967 novel Endless Night.
Publication history
- 1941, The Strand Magazine (Issue 613), January 1941
- 1942, Chicago Sunday Tribune, 5 July 1942
- 1950, Three Blind Mice and Other Stories
- 1950, Dodd, Mead and Company (New York), Hardback, 250 pp
- 1952, Dell Books, Paperback, 224 pp, (Dell number 633)
- 1960, Dell Books, Paperback, as The Mousetrap and other stories, (Dell number D354)
- 1984, Berkley Books, Paperback, 212 pp, (Berkley number 06806-4)
- 1978, Miss Marple's Final Cases and Two Other Stories
- 1978, Ulverscroft Large-print Edition, Hardcover, ISBN 0-7089-2346-1
- 1979, Collins Crime Club (London), October 1979, Hardcover, 140 pp ISBN 0-00-231596-3
- 1980, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins), Paperback
