A wealthy, elderly businessman, Rex Fortescue, is murdered, poisoned. In one of his pockets is a handful of rye. His death brings his children together and it is apparent that none of them liked him much. Soon another member of the Fortescue household is also poisoned. Miss Marple takes a special interest in the case when the house's maid is murdered - she used to be her maid. It appears that the murderer is killing his victims according to a nursery rhyme...
Quite dry and unengaging, and, while she doesn't do anything wrong herself, not the most auspicious start for Julia Mckenzie. As when Geraldine McEwan was playing the part, Miss Marple is a bland character and needs colourful and/or engaging characters around her to make the story interesting. Unfortunately, in this case, there is nobody around to liven the episode up.
The mystery is quite interesting but even that feels subdued. The ending is particularly lacklustre, especially as you don't know the fate of the murderer.
Overall: watchable, but one of the dullest Miss Marple episodes.
Quite dry and unengaging, and, while she doesn't do anything wrong herself, not the most auspicious start for Julia Mckenzie. As when Geraldine McEwan was playing the part, Miss Marple is a bland character and needs colourful and/or engaging characters around her to make the story interesting. Unfortunately, in this case, there is nobody around to liven the episode up.
The mystery is quite interesting but even that feels subdued. The ending is particularly lacklustre, especially as you don't know the fate of the murderer.
Overall: watchable, but one of the dullest Miss Marple episodes.