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'''4.50 From Paddington''' is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 4 1957 and in US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year under the title of '''What Mrs McGillicuddy Saw!'''. A paperback editon by Pocket Books in 1963 changed the title again to '''Murder, She Said''' to tie in with the feature film release. The novel features Miss Marple.

Contents

Plot summary

Characters in "4.50 From Paddington"

Major themes

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Trivia

Plot summary

Elspeth McGillicuddy has come down from Scotland to visit her old friend, Jane Marple. On the way, she sees a woman strangled in a passing train. Only Miss Marple believes her story, and soon sets about solving the mystery. The first task is to ascertain where the body could have been hidden. Comparison of the facts of the murder with the train timetable and the local geography lead to the grounds of Rutherford Hall as the only possible location. Miss Marple calls upon an acquaintance, Lucy Eyelesbarrow, who is a professional housekeeper renowned for her efficiency and organizational skills. Lucy agrees to take a position at Rutherford Hall, and the hunt is on.
Rutherford Hall was built by Josiah Crackenthorpe, purveyor of tea biscuits. His son, Luther, now a semi-invalid widower, had displayed spendthrift qualities in his youth. To preserve the family fortune, Josiah's will provided Luther with a home and income for life but otherwise left everything in trust for the grandchildren. They share equally in the estate, but only if they live long enough to inherit it.
Two of Luther Crackenthorpe's children, Edmund and Edith, died during World War II. The remaining heirs to the estate are Cedric, a painter and lover of women who lives on Ibiza; Harold, a cold and stuffy banker with a hidden passion for the ballet; Alfred, the black sheep of the family and a man known to engage in shady business dealings; and Emma Crackenthorpe, a spinster who lives at home and takes care of Luther. At the time of the story the brothers are visiting for Luther's birthday, as are Edith's surviving husband, Brian Eastley, and their son Alexander. A frequent visitor to Rutherford Hall is Dr. John Quimper, who looks after Luther's health and is quietly romantically involved with Emma.
Enter Lucy, who uses golf practice as an excuse to search the grounds for clues to the murdered woman. She eventually finds the body of a woman hidden in a sarcophogus in the old stables, amongst Luther's collection of dubious antinques. But who is she?
The police identify the victim's clothing as being of French manufacture. Emma reveals that she has received a letter from a Frenchwoman named Martine, who claims to have been married to Edmund just before his death in the War. The letter explains that Martine was pregnant when Edmund died, and that she now wishes their son to have all of the advantages to which his parentage should entitle him.
The plot thickens, and so does Lucy's curry, which is found to be mysteriously laced with arsenic. The whole family takes ill, and Alfred dies. Sometime later, after returning home to London, Harold receives a delivery of some tablets that appear to be the same as the sleeping pills prescribed to him by Dr. Quimper. They prove to be poisoned, and Harold dies. One by one, the heirs to Josiah's fortune are vanishing.
Lucy arranges another tea time visit to Crackenthorpe Hall for Miss Marple, and Mrs. McGillicuddy is invited down from Scotland again. She is instructed to ask to use the lavatory as soon as they arrive, but is not told why.
Miss Marple is eating a fish sandwich when she begins to choke. It seems she has a fish bone stuck in her throat. Dr. Quimper moves to assist her. Mrs. McGillicuddy enters the room, sees the doctor's hands at Miss Marple's throat, and cries out, "But that's him! That's the man on the train!" Miss Marple had deduced that the strange angle and poor lighting conditions on the train had caused Mrs. McGillicuddy to give an inaccurate description of the murderer's height and hair color, but correctly concludes that her friend would recognize the real murderer if she saw him again in a similar pose.
It transpires that the murdered woman, whose real name was Anna, had been married to Dr. Quimper many years before. They had separated but she was Catholic and would not agree to a divorce. He murdered her so he would be free to marry Emma and inherit Josiah's fortune through her. But first he had to get rid of the other heirs, and successfully poisoned two of them before his plan was revealed by Miss Marple.

Characters in "4.50 From Paddington"

★ Jane Marple – the detective, protagonist

★ Lucy Eyelesbarrow – Miss Marple's proxy at the Hall, serving as housekeeper-cum-spy

★ Elspeth McGillicuddy – the witness to murder, a friend of Miss Marple's

★ Luther Crackenthorpe – elderly widower and owner of Rutherford Hall

★ Cedric Crackenthorpe – Luther's son; a painter and lover of women

★ Harold Crackenthorpe – Luther's son; a banker with a hidden passion for the ballet

★ Alfred Crackenthorpe – Luther's son; makes his living as a sort of genteel con artist

★ Emma Crackenthorpe – Luther's daughter who lives at home and takes care of him

★ Brian Eastley – husband of the late Edith Crackenthorpe, Luther's daughter

★ Alexander Eastley – Edith & Brian's adolescent son

★ John Quimper – Luther's doctor

Major themes

This book has Miss Marple give voice to Agatha Christie's view on the death penalty when she remarks, "I am really very, very sorry that they have abolished capital punishment because I do feel that if there is anyone who ought to hang, it’s Dr. Quimper." In fact, capital punishment was not finally abolished in Britain until 1969 (1973 for Northern Ireland), but there were many periods, of one to five years' length, when the death penalty was temporarily suspended by the Government while Acts of Parliament for abolition were pending. One of these "temporary abolitions" happened in February 1956 but ended in July 1957. So, the death penalty was in moratorium when Christie wrote ''4.50 From Paddington'' but it was active again about the time the book came out.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Released by MGM in 1962 as ''"Murder, She Said"'' starring Margaret Rutherford, which substantially changed the plot. The name 'Lucy' is kept for Miss Marple's home help, but there is no Mrs. McGillicuddy or Lucy Eyelesbarrow. Instead, Miss Marple herself sees the murder, and it is she who takes the position of maid and cook at Ackenthorpe Hall. There, she finds the body while pretending to practice her golf shots. This Miss Marple's sidekick is her friend from the library, Jim Stringer (played by Rutherford's husband, Stringer Davis), and she telephones him to have him report the finding to the police. Schoolboy Alexander is here, but his chum, James Stoddard-West, is missing. Alexander functions as Miss Marple's "on-site" sidekick, as it were. The basics of the plot are the same, except that Harold's murder is disguised as a shooting accident. Miss Marple catches the doctor in the end just the same, then she departs for home -- after politely declining a proposal of marriage from Mr. Ackenthorpe.
The BBC stuck very closely to the original plot with its 1988 version, starring Joan Hickson, who had appeared in the Rutherford film as Mrs. Kidder. Departures from the original story include the absence of any food poisoning. Alfred is still alive at the end, though suffering from a terminal illness that Dr. Quimper apparently misdiagnosed deliberately. As in the earlier film version, Harold is murdered in what appears to be a hunting accident. The other major departure is at the end, where Miss Marple unambiguously opines that Lucy Eyelesbarrow will marry Bryan Eastley, a possibility that is only hinted at in the novel.
Another version was made by ITV in 2004 starring Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple and a cast that included David Warner, Griff Rhys Jones, Ben Daniels and Pam Ferris. It has been shown in the United States under the title ''What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw''.

Trivia

The first novel to feature a sidekick for Miss Marple, in the form of ''Lucy Eyelesbarrow'', a move welcomed by fans but apparently not by Christie, who did not feature Lucy Eyelesbarrow in any future novels.