History Literature / TheBodyInTheLibrary

* DoggedNiceGuy: Hugo [=McLean=], who has said to have been hanging around Adelaide Jefferson for years, even though she won't marry him because she's afraid of alienating her father-in-law. Surprisingly, it pays off in the end has they do get engaged.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: When Josie is brought to the scene and identifies the body as her cousin Ruby, the then asks "There isn't any gin?"

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Basil Blake presents himself as one of those loud, disrespectful and obnoxious jacknape who goes out of his way to annoy the "old geezers" in the village. He is also a good-hearted young man who risked his life to rescue a family (including their dog) from a burning building.

* GoldDigger: Played with; everyone pretty much accuses Ruby Keene of being one of these, but are (grudgingly) willing to point out that there was no malice in her, as a poor girl she could hardly be faulted for not turning down the possibility of coming into a large sum of money and that the other people surrounding Conway Jefferson, much as they might not have liked the situation, weren't exactly entitled to his money either.

* TheDitz: One of the suspects, George Bartlett, is a very absent-minded and inarticulate fellow who can't seem to get to his point, and keeps on forgetting what he's been doing. The police gets exceedingly annoyed trying to get anything useful out of him.

Adapted for TV [[Series/MissMarple in 1984 by the BBC]] and [[{{Series/Marple}} in 2004 by ITV]].

The body of a young pretty girl, Ruby Keene, is found unexpectedly on the floor of the respectable old couple Mr. and Mrs. Bantry. They have no idea who she is and how she got there. Mrs. Bantry, remembering her old friend Miss Marple, who is known for her deductive abilities, calls the latter so the two of them can investigate this murder alongside the local police.

Adapted for TV in 1984 by the BBC and [[{{Series/Marple}} in 2004 by ITV]].

* WellDoneSonGuy: It is said that Frank Jefferson got into trading to prove himself as capable as his father, who is a successful businessman. When his investments go wrong, Frank does not dare to ask his father for financial help, for fear that the old man would be disappointed in him.

* HypocriticalHumor: When Miss Marple briefly visits the vicar's wife Griselda, she finds her tending to her newborn son. Griselda informs her that she doesn't fuss or bother over or play with him much, because all the books she's read on parenting say that "a child should be left alone as much as possible" Naturally, as soon as Miss Marple has left, she is fussing and bothering over and playing with him as much as humanly possible.

* IdentifyingTheBody: The first part of the mystery, as the woman in the library is an out of towner that nobody in St. Mary Mead knows. [[spoiler:Josie ends up deliberately misidentifying the body to throw the police off when they're lining up testimony with the reported time of death -- the body is actually of a Girl Guide made up to look like Ruby, while the real Ruby was killed later and the body dumped elsewhere.]]

* MamaBear: A lot of emphasis is put on how devoted of a mother Adelaide is towards her young son Peter, and her desire to secure more money for the boy makes a very strong case against it. [[spoiler:In the TV series, this is one of the reasons why she was driven to murder.]]

* SlapSlapKiss: When Melchett confronts Basil Blake about the dead body, Basil's girlfriend, Dinah, interrupts them, and the two lovebirds had a huge row in front of the colonel, forcing him to leave. Such public display was how Miss Marple deduced that [[spoiler:the two are actually married.]]

* WellDoneSonGuy: It is said that Frank Jefferson got into trading to prove himself as capable as his father, who is a successful businessman. When his investments go wrong, Frank does not dare to ask his father for financial help, for fear that the old man would be disappointed in him.
* WidowWoman: Adelaide Jefferson has been married twice, and both husbands died shortly after the marriage. The second husband, Frank, even drove them into bankruptcy after a series of bad investments. [[spoiler:In the 2004 adaptation, it is implied that her disappointing marriages with men is what caused Adelaide to eventually be involved in a lesbian relationship with Josie.]]

----

* TheUnfavorite: While they're not his biological children, Mr. Jefferson clearly favours Adelaide to Mark, and the only reason he put up with Mark at all is because he's the husband of his favourite child, Rosamund. Of course, this is justified because Adelaide is the one who takes care of the old man and accompanies him in his loneliness (until Ruby comes along, that is), while Mark is a selfish JerkAss.