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Major characters:
- Jerry Burton, our narrator, recovering from a flying accident
- Joanna Burton, his sister
- Miss Emily Barton, who rents her house to the Burtons
- Dr. Owen Griffith, the local doctor
- Aimee Griffith, Owen's energetic, masculine sister
- Dick Symmington, a lawyer
- Mona Symmington, his wife
- Megan Hunter, Mona Symmington's daughter by previous marriage
- Elsie Holland, governess to two young Symmington children
- Mr. Pye, a decoration and antiques enthusiast
- Agnes Wooddell, maid
- Caleb Dane Calthrop, the vicar
- Superintendent Nash
- Inspector Graves of Scotland Yard
- Miss Jane Marple
Locale: Lymstock, a small village in rural England
Synopsis: Jerry Burton is recovering from injuries received in an airplane crash. His doctor suggests some rest in the country, so he and his sister Joanna Burton rent a cottage from Miss Emily Barton in Lymstock.
Not long after their arrival, Jerry receives an anonymous letter - created by cutting words from a book, ransom-note style. The letter wrongly asserts that Jerry and Joanna not brother and sister, implying they are lovers - living in sin. As Jerry becomes acquainted with the locals, he learns that many of the them have received anonymous letters of the same sort, all accusing the recipients of some sexual infidelity.
Jerry becomes friends with Megan Hunter, 20-year old daughter (by previous marriage) of Mona Symmington. Megan is a sensitive loner and anti-social, but is comfortable with Jerry. Mona receives an anonymous letter, and is found dead - supposedly a suicide - by poison. Then maid Agnes Wooddell is found murdered in the house as well.
Review: This is a very enjoyable Miss Marple, although she does not appear until the end. Even with the large number of characters, I had no trouble keeping track of them. It is a tight mystery story, with a couple romantic entanglements thrown in which resolved nicely.
I enjoyed the character of the narrator, physically limited by his injuries, as he investigates the murders - and keeps running into Superintendent Nash who always just beats him to it. He did remind me of L. B. Jeffries in Cornell Woolrich's Rear Window.
Megan is an enjoyable character, well-drawn, and a perfect companion for Jerry.
I thought I had the murderer 'fingered' and was hoping I was wrong. I was wrong.
I suspect the title 'Moving Finger' is an allusion to the biblical account of the moving finger and the handwriting on the wall, as recorded in Daniel 5 (details); in which a disembodied hand wrote a mysterious message; similar to the unknown hand in this story which wrote the anonymous letters.
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