History Literature / TheMirrorCrackdFromSideToSide

* LetOffByTheDetective: It is subtly implied that Marina was poisoned [[spoiler:by her husband to save her from public disgrace and prevent more murders.]] Miss Marple suspects this is the case, but keeps quiet.

* CatFight: Played for laughs in the 1980 film. Marina and Lola exchange hilarious strings of snide insults.

* ObfuscatingInsanity: [[spoiler:Marina wavers between this and actual insanity.]]

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Jason uses this explanation when asked about the "previous relationship" between Marina and Heather. He explains that Heather was a fan of his wife's, and as a result, it was a big deal for her to get Marina's autograph. However, Marina has done hundreds of receptions with fans and signed thousands of autographs, so she simply has no memory of the event Heather described or one more autograph seeker among thousands. [[spoiler: Subverted, in that Jason is well aware that while Marina didn't remember Heather specifically, the earlier meeting was even more significant to her than it was to Heather.]]

* LiteraryAllusionTitle: From the moment in the poem "The Lady of Shalott" by Creator/AlfredLordTennyson when the title character falls under a curse. [[spoiler:There's no mirror in the novel, but there is a woman under a kind of curse.]]

* LiteraryAllusionTitle: From "The Lady Of Shalott".

* WomanChild: Marina Gregg.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The plot is remarkably similar to the real-life tragedy of [[spoiler:GeneTierney, who contracted rubella while pregnant, resulting in Daria being born premature, deaf, blind, and severely retarded. These problems contributed to (or, perhaps, outright ''caused'') Tierney's own depression and bipolar disorder. About a year later a woman approached Tierney at a party and said that she had sneaked out of her marine base, under a rubella quarantine at the time, to meet her when she appeared at the Hollywood Canteen, a wartime club that catered to service members where Hollywood stars would appear. Tierney simply stared at the woman, then turned and walked away. She later wrote, "After that I didn't care whether ever again I was anyone's favorite actress." It should be noted, however, the Christie was asked about the similarity and claimed she'd never heard about Tierney's story until after ''The Mirror Cracked'' was published.]]

[[CompleteTheQuoteTitle The title of the novel comes from the poem "The Lady of Shalott"]] by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The character of Marina Gregg--and the central plot driver involving a child born disabled after contact with a fan with German measles--is generally assumed to have been based on events in the life of American actress GeneTierney.

[[CompleteTheQuoteTitle The title of the novel comes from the poem "The Lady of Shalott"]] by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The character of Marina Gregg--and the central plot driver involving a child born disabled after contact with a fan with German measles--is generally assumed to have been based on events in the life of American actress Gene Tierney.

[[ComleteTheQuoteTitle The title of the novel comes from the poem "The Lady of Shalott"]] by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The character of Marina Gregg--and the central plot driver involving a child born disabled after contact with a fan with German measles--is generally assumed to have been based on events in the life of American actress Gene Tierney.

The title of the novel comes from the poem "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The character of Marina Gregg--and the central plot driver involving a child born disabled after contact with a fan with German measles--is generally assumed to have been based on events in the life of American actress Gene Tierney.

The title of the novel comes from the poem "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

* ActorAllusion: The very first episode of ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' starts with Jessica Fletcher watching the rehearsal of a murder mystery play and calmly pointing out who did it by the end of the first act. Angela Lansbury did much the same thing at the beginning of the 1980 film adaptation of ''The Mirror Crack'd'', in the role of Miss Marple.
* AllStarCast: The 1980 film adaptation starred Angela Lansbury, Creator/ElizabethTaylor, Kim Novak, Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson and Geraldine Chaplin.

* AllStarCast: The 1980 film adaptation starred Angela Lansbury, ElizabethTaylor, Kim Novak, Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson and Geraldine Chaplin.

* HollywoodOld: Having Creator/AngelaLansbury, famous for playing starring in ''Series/MurderSheWrote'', play Miss Marple in the 1980 film version of might seem like a very logical move. However, back then, Lansbury by her own admission was 20 years too young for the role.

* HollywoodOld: Having AngelaLansbury, famous for playing starring in ''Series/MurderSheWrote'', play Miss Marple in the 1980 film version of might seem like a very logical move. However, back then, Lansbury by her own admission was 20 years too young for the role.

* Blackmail: Ella tries this. [[spoiler:She calls up people left right and center to tell them she saw them poison Heather's drink. She eventually reaches the correct person, and gets killed for her pains. Christie ''always'' kills off her blackmailers.]]

* ItsAllAboutMe: Heather Babcock is a non-villainous example of this. She isn't mean, and actually goes out of her way to do nice things for other people, like rescuing Miss Marple after a nasty fall or taking in a homeless family. However, she is incapable of recognizing that her actions affect other people or that what something means to her might not be the same for other people involved. [[spoiler:The primary example of this was that when she got sick, she didn't recognize that the doctor's instructions to "Stay in bed and don't go out to meet people" might not have been just for her benefit…]]

* SympatheticMurderer: [[spoiler:Heather was unwittingly responsible for giving Marina rubella and causing her only biological child being born with birth defects. Marina suffered a breakdown as a result, and when Heather turned up telling with pride how she had snuck out of quarantine and kissed her, Marina flew into a rage and poisoned her in the heat of the moment.]]
** [[spoiler:Jason is implied to have killed Marina himself, to stop her committing more murders and to save her from public disgrace.]]

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The plot is remarkably similar to the real-life tragedy of [[spoiler:GeneTierney, who contracted rubella while pregnant, resulting in Daria being born premature, deaf, blind, and severely retarded. These problems contributed to (or, perhaps, outright ''caused'') Tierney's own depression and bipolar disorder. About a year later a woman approached Tierney at a party and said that she had sneaked out of her marine base, under a rubella quarantine at the time, to meet her when she appeared at the Hollywood Canteen, a wartime club that catered to service members where Hollywood stars would appear. Tierney simply stared at the woman, then turned and walked away. She later wrote, "After that I didn't care whether ever again I was anyone's favorite actress." It should be noted, however, the Christie was asked about the similarity and claimed she'd never heard about Tierney's story until after ''The Mirror Cracked'' was published.]]
* WomanChild: Marina Gregg.

The title of the novel comes from the poem The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

* InspirationNod: Jessica Fletcher of Murder, She Wrote seems to have been more than slightly inspired by Miss Marple, especially since series star Angela Lansbury had previously played Marple in the movie version of The Mirror Crack'd

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The plot is remarkably similar to the real-life tragedy of [[spoiler:GeneTierney, who contracted rubella while pregnant, resulting in Daria being born premature, deaf, blind, and severely retarded. These problems contributed to (or, perhaps, outright ''caused'') Tierney's own depression and bipolar disorder. About a year later a woman approached Tierney at a party and said that she had sneaked out of her marine base, under a rubella quarantine at the time, to meet her when she appeared at the Hollywood Canteen, a wartime club that catered to service members where Hollywood stars would appear. Tierney simply stared at the woman, then turned and walked away. She later wrote, "After that I didn't care whether ever again I was anyone's favorite actress." It should be noted, however, the Christie was asked about the similarity and claimed she'd never heard about Tierney's story until after ''The Mirror Cracked'' was published.]]

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The plot is remarkably similar to the real-life tragedy of [[spoiler:GeneTierney, who contracted rubella while pregnant, resulting in Daria being born premature, deaf, blind, and severely retarded. These problems contributed to (or, perhaps, outright ''caused'') Tierney's own depression and bipolar disorder. About a year later a woman approached Tierney at a party and said that she had sneaked out of her marine base, under a rubella quarantine at the time, to meet her when she appeared at the Hollywood Canteen, a wartime club that catered to service members where Hollywood stars would appear. Tierney simply stared at the woman, then turned and walked away. She later wrote, "After that I didn't care whether ever again I was anyone's favorite actress."]]

''The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side'' is a 1962 novel by Creator/AgathaChristie, featuring MissMarple.

The story has been adapted three times for the screen, with Angela Lansbury, Joan Hickson, and Julia MacKenzie playing Miss Marple.

''The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side'' contains examples of the following tropes:

* ActorAllusion: The very first episode of MurderSheWrote starts with Jessica Fletcher watching the rehearsal of a murder mystery play and calmly pointing out who did it by the end of the first act. Angela Lansbury did much the same thing at the beginning of the 1980 film adaptation of TheMirrorCrack'd, in the role of MissMarple.

* HollywoodOld: Having AngelaLansbury, famous for playing starring in MurderSheWrote, play Miss Marple in the 1980 film version of might seem like a very logical move. However, back then, Lansbury by her own admission was 20 years too young for the role.
* HonoraryUncle: Inspector Craddock starts calling MissMarple "Aunt Jane" — which he doesn't in any of the other books he's in.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Heather Babcock is a non-villainous example of this. She isn't mean, and actually goes out of her way to do nice things for other people, like rescuing MissMarple after a nasty fall or taking in a homeless family. However, she is incapable of recognizing that her actions affect other people or that what something means to her might not be the same for other people involved. [[spoiler:The primary example of this was that when she got sick, she didn't recognize that the doctor's instructions to "Stay in bed and don't go out to meet people" might not have been just for her benefit…]]

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The plot is loosely based on the real-life tragedy of [[spoiler:GeneTierney, who contracted rubella while pregnant, resulting in birth defects. Years later a fan approached her, proudly telling a story of having snuck out of quarentine while sick and met her during a performance. Unlike Marina, Gene did not try to kill the fan, but just turned and walked away.]]

The story is loosely based on the real-life tragedy of GeneTierney. The title of the novel comes from the poem The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.