The Moving Finger
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- "The Moving Finger" is also a short story by Stephen King.
Plot
Jerry and Joanna Burton, disaffected siblings from London society, take a country house in idyllic Lymstock so that Jerry can rest from injuries received in a plane accident. They are just getting to know the town's strange cast of characters when an anonymous letter arrives, rudely accusing the two of living in sin. They quickly discover that these letters have been recently circulating around town, indiscriminate and completely inaccurate. But when a suicide is committed over the content of one of them, things flare up.
Scotland Yard sends someone to investigate, but progress is slow until a townsperson calls up an expert of her own, who turns out to be Miss Marple. During the journey of the book, the Burtons end up not only finding the answers, but themselves.
The book's title, The Moving Finger, plays twice. The first is how the accusatory letters point blame from one town member to another, the second is from the addressing of the letter, which the Scotland Yard agent determines the envelopes were all "typed by someone using one finger" in order to avoid a recognizable 'touch.'
Christie's thoughts
"I find that another one [book] I am really pleased with is The Moving Finger. It is a great test to reread what one has written some seventeen or eighteen years before. One's view changes. Some do not stand the test of time, others do." - Agatha Christie, An Autobiography, 1977.Film versions
Adapted for television in 1985 with Joan Hickson as Miss Marple. Re-made in 2006 with Geraldine McEwan as Marple.
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