Murder mysteries are difficult for me to follow. when reading them, I’m constantly flipping back and forth through pages, trying to keep it all straight. when watching them, I make my guess on “who done it” fairly early, but then spend the rest of the time hopelessly lost! so when I happened upon an old notebook recently and found a set of notes I took while watching Miss Marple: ordeal by innocence, I had a hard time making heads or tails of them. adding pictures may help.
-Gwenda, the secretary, longs for her boss.
-Jacko (the villain) implores his Mother for money.
-Family, relaxing by the fire, hear argument but seem relatively(puns are fun!) unconcerned.
-Jacko tries to kill Mother, but family saves her. Mother wonders if she’s done right by her children, then tells Jacko’s brother (Bobby) that she shouldn’t have bothered adopting him & his brother.
-meanwhile: Housekeeper runs into Philip, who’s been behind closed doors with a woman who is not his wife.
-Housekeeper finds Mother dead.
-Phillip calls police.
-Jacko suspected of murder, yet he seems unconcerned. trusts his alibi of hitchhiking, claiming he can describe the driver. gets arrested anyway.
*Two Years Later*
-Gwenda the secretary writes to Miss Marple, inviting her to a wedding (her and the bossman are getting married). Gwenda is glad to have Marple with her because the family doesn’t like her.
-Philip is now in a wheelchair.
-family plays charades together, Phillip makes a correct guess.
Phillip has smiled. this is truly a momentous day!
-a rambling Professor shows up with an alibi for Jacko. too bad he’s already been executed.
*Break for Backstory*
Mother adopted a bunch of kids. she tried to make it a happy family, but she was more indulgent than loving. the family’s oldest daughter married Phillip, who was a pilot but now suffers from Polio. Bobby (the good son) & Jacko (the bad son) are twins. Hester seems simple minded and possibly unstable. Tina is the youngest, a bit wild, and especially close with her brother Mickey.
*Break over*
-Philip cynically asks which one of the children killed their mother.
-Wife takes Phillip back to their house. he taunts her and says he always knew she was capable of killing.
*Information Drop*
Housekeeper tells Miss Marple that Jacko had a secret wife. she came looking for money from the family while he was in jail. she said she knows Jacko committed the murder because he was found with the stolen money.
Bobby tells Miss Marple that he & sis visited Jacko while he was in jail. Bobby lamented that he should have been more like his brother; taking the blame for the murder was the best thing Jacko ever did.
Hester tells Prof that Mom & Brother’s death was a good thing.
-an Inspector is brought in to question everyone. Phillip smirks when his wife doesn’t mention him being with another woman during the night in question.
-Housekeeper is overheard discussing Gwen’s motive with Husband/Father. she says Gwen had a fight with the Mother because she wanted the house & money. Tina suggests that it was Gwen as well. Micky tells Prof that Bobby is the good son. Miss Marple influences the Inspector.
-Gwen searches for evidence in Mother’s room and finds a business card. Mom was having Phillip investigated, she suspected he was only married for the money. Mother had list with names of other women connected to Phillip.
-Prof is now convinced that Phillip is guilty and tells Gwen. they find Jacko’s wife to question her. she said he made a habit of conning older women out of their money.
-Bobby won’t hand over control of his sister’s money, which makes Phillip angry(er).
-a neighbor boy says Tina’s motorbike was at the house the night of the murder. Tina is questioned about the discrepancy, Mickey flips out. Dad is trying to stay positive through it all but Housekeeper is trying to turn all of the children against Gwen. she says Mother gave Phillip an ultimatum to leave, but wife doesn’t believe it.
-Dad breaks up with Gwen, asks her to leave. Bobby contemplates suicide. Phillip searches through papers in the Study…and someone kills Gwen.
-Police find weapon, arrest Dad. Miss Marple finds wheel tracks in Study. Phillip talks privately with Hester saying, “they might be onto us”. wife sees.
-Prof finds out Jacko did not con older women out of their money. their pants, on the other hand…
-Phillip argues with Bobby about money. Bobby drops a case filled with family silver, runs away. Prof finds Hester, seems suicidal. Bobby won’t help him calm her down. Bobby leaves in a rowboat instead and throws himself in the lake. he drowns.
-Miss Marple tells everyone that Bobby was involved in fraud and was about to be caught. Hester was the girl Phillip had an affair with. Mickey and Tina fell in love, Mother knew and was protecting them. meanwhile, Housekeeper was in love with Jacko. he told her to kill Mother.
-Housekeeper let Jacko die in prison because he didn’t tell her he was married.
*THE END*
Bonus Pic because: connections
Nowhere in Particular RA 