They kill the money-hungry young woman, and attempt to kill the rich old man, in the hopes of getting their hands on the money. And there are the two villains, who turn out to be two women, who have fallen in love with each other. There's the dead woman, who was so extraordinarily successful in playing up to an elderly man that he decided to adopt her, and leave her a fortune in his will. We view Dolly as extraordinarily strong, because her husband retreats from the world when a body of a beautiful young woman, and all that implies, is found in his house. She empowers Miss Marple, taking her out to a seaside resort, and putting her up in the hotel where the dead woman worked, in order to tag along, and assist her friend, the great but quiet detective, in every possible way. How delicious: a body found in her own library! A murder for her friend to solve! But in the end, she solves the murder, and proves all the male police wrong, so there! Then there's her friend Dolly Bantry, who is thrilled to have found a corpse in her library. As she seems so odd, few people initially respect her. Of course there's Miss Marple, who dresses in dowdy clothes and mumbles strange phrases that no one understands. One thing I noted in the TV story was how many strong female character there were. Ms McEwan must have agreed, for she left the series after playing the character for a mere two years. I've loved Geraldine McEwan's work ever since I saw her playing Lucia in a London Weekend Television production of 'Mapp And Lucia,' and also as reclusive Miss Farnaby in the Fantasy Sitcom 'Mulberry.' In many ways, she seemed a perfect fit for the character of Miss Marple, but I always had trouble seeing her as that character. Recently, I watched a TV adaptation of the Agatha Christie story 'The Body in the Library.' This production featured Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple, and the vivacious Joanne Lumley as her friend Dolly Bantry.

Body in the library geraldine mcewan