History Literature / TheThirteenProblems

* WritingIndentationClue: In "The Tuesday Night Club", very shortly before his well-off wife dies, Mr. Jones writes a letter; the rather suspicious phrases "entirely dependent on my wife... when she is dead... hundreds and thousands" are picked up from the blotting-paper. He explains, however, that he was writing a reply to his brother who had asked for money; whilst he would have money after his wife was dead, he had none currently, and that hundreds and thousands of people were in the same boat. [[spoiler:He's lying, but the "hundreds and thousands" do not refer to money, but to the desert topping, which was his means of poisoning his wife.]]

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: "The Idol House of Astarte" implies that someone (unidentified) from Sir Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated Antarctic expedition of 1911-12 had committed murder back in England.

** In "The Companion", the victim was [[spoiler:a wealthy relative of the killer, who desperately needed money to help several of her ill younger siblings with medical expenses. It's mentioned that the killer did first try asking the relative for help, but was refused as she'd quarreled with their dead father.]]

* FrightDeathtrap: In "The Blue Geranium", Mrs. Pritchard is told by her fortune teller: "Beware the full moon. The blue primrose means warning, the blue hollyhock means danger, the blue geranium means death." At the next full moon, one of the primroses on her wallpaper turns blue, and at the full moon after that, one of the hollyhocks turns blue. She of a heart attack on the night of the third full moon, with the implication being that she was frightened to death by the threat. [[spoiler:She was actually poisoned by her nurse, who switched her bottle of smelling salts with cyanide crystals. The nurse set up the motif of the blue flowers as camouflage.]]

One year later, Sir Henry Clithering is staying with Colonal Arthur and Mrs. Dolly Bantry; asked to suggest sixth dinner guest, he recommends Miss Marple, citing her brilliant success in solving the mysteries of the previous year. She arrives along with Dr. Lloyd and an actress called Jane Helier. The Bantrys and their guests then take turns to tell real mysteries and attempt to guess each other's, covering the next six stories.

** In "The Companion", the victim was [[spoiler:a wealthy relative of the killer, who desperately needed money to help several of her ill younger siblings with medical expenses.]]

* TheBluebeard: The villain from [[spoiler:"The Blood-Stained Pavement"]] serially marries and murders young women for their money.

* TheIngenue: Joe Ellis from "Death by Drowning" is a NiceGuy who is innocent and trusting to a fault.

''The Thirteen Problems'', also known as ''The Tuesday Club Murders'', is a mystery short story collection by Creator/AgathaChristie, featuring the first canonical appearance of Literature/MissMarple. Although ''The Thirteen Problems'' was published as a collection in 1932, the individual short stories had been previously published separately in magazines between 1927 and 1931.

''The Thirteen Problems'', also known as ''The Tuesday Club Murders'', is a mystery short story collection by Creator/AgathaChristie, featuring Literature/MissMarple. It was first published in 1932.

** In "The Herb of Death", everyone at dinner suffers from digitalin poisoning, due to the foxglove leaves being inadvertantly cooked in the turkey. [[spoiler:This is done to disguise the murder of Silvia, who was secretly administered extra digitalin separately]].

* MrsRobinson: [[spoiler:In "Death by Drowning", the killer is the middle-aged landlady Mrs. Bartlett, who has fallen in love with her young tenant Joe Ellis.]]

* KillAndReplace: [[spoiler:In "The Companion", Amy Durrant drowns her employer and takes her identity, pretending Amy was the one who drowned.]]

* MeaningfulName: The young, beautiful woman who suggests a moonlit orgy to the Goddess of the Moon in "The Idol House of Astarte" is called Diana Ashley. Diana was the Roman Goddess of the Moon. [[spoiler:She actually dresses up as the Priestess of Astarte, which indirectly leads to the murder.]]

* ObviouslyEvil: Mr. Kelvin in "Ingots of Gold" is presented as an unpleasant and suspicious character. [[spoiler:He's actually been made a scapegoat in an elaborate plot.]]

* IHaveThisFriend: Jane Heiler narrates a strange thing that had happened to a "friend" of hers. Everyone at the party immediately assumes this trope, figuring that it was something that had happened to Jane herself. [[spoiler:They were half-right. Jane was the actress in the story, but it wasn't about something that had happened to her, but something she was going to do. She was planning to commit the crime described, and her story was a TrialBalloonQuestion to see if Miss Marple could figure it out.]]

* Foreshadowing: Jane Helier's initial attempt to conceal the fact that she herself is the subject of her story, "The Affair at the Bungalow", foreshadows [[spoiler:her concealment of the fact that she herself is the mastermind of the crime she's describing - though it is just a plan and has not yet been committed.]]

Miss Marple hosts a gathering of six friends including her nephew Raymond West and ex-Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Henry Clithering. Raymond kicks off a conversation about unsolved mysteries, which leads to numerous members of the group claiming that their professions and situations make them ideally suited to solving crime. Artist Joyce Lemprière suggests that the group form a club that will meet every Tuesday night, with the members taking turns to tell a real-life mystery story and the others attempting to guess the solution. This is the framing device for the first six stories in the collection.

One year later, Sir Henry Clithering is staying with Colonal Arthur and Mrs. Dolly Bantry; asked to suggest sixth dinner guest, he recommends Miss Marple, citing her brilliant success in solving the mysteries of the previous year. She arrives along with Dr. Lloyd and an actress called Jane Helier. The Bantrys and their guests then take turns to tell real mysteries and attempt to guess each other's, covering the next six stories. The final story takes place some time later, when news of a death reaches Sir Henry as he is staying once again with the Bantries. He receives a visit from Miss Marple, who is sure of who the culprit is, but needs his assistance in unmasking them.

"The Blue Geranium" was adapted for an episode of the ITV series ''Series/Marple'' in 2010.

** In "The Herb of Death", the young man whose fiancee was killed had been seen kissing another young woman, and they were married some time after the death. [[spoiler:A subversion, as they were both innocent of her death.]]

* WritingIndentationClue: In "The Tuesday Night Club", very shortly before his well-off wife dies, Mr. Jones writes a letter; the rather suspicious phrases "dependant on my wife... when she is dead... hundreds and thousands" are picked up from the blotting-paper. The man, however, explains that he was writing a reply to his brother, who had asked for money; whilst he would have money after his wife was dead, he had none currently, and that hundreds and thousands of people were in the same boat. [[spoiler:He's lying, but the "hundreds and thousands" do not refer to money, but to the desert topping, which was his means of poisoning his wife.]]

* DirtyOldMan: [[spoiler:Sir Ambrose from "The Herb of Death" is more or less a [[TheYandere Yandere]] form of this trope. He's in love with his ''much'' younger ward and murders her to stop her from marrying someone else.]]

* IfICantHaveYou: In "The Herb of Death", [[spoiler:Sir Ambrose murders his much younger ward Sylvia to stop her from getting married, because he wants her for himself.]]

* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Miss Marple catches Mr. Sanders trying to do this to his wife in "A Christmas Tragedy", by "accidentally" falling against her on the stairs of a tram.

* NarratorAllAlong: [[spoiler:After actress Jane Helier tells her story about a theft, "The Affair at the Bungalow", Miss Marple deduces that Jane herself is the culprit in the narrative, but that the story hasn't actually happened yet and it is a plan that Jane intends to carry out, her motive being to cause a scandal to her ex-husband. After Miss Marple's subtle warning, Jane abandons the idea.]]
* ObviouslyEvil: Mr. Kelvin in "Ingots of Gold" is presented as an unpleasant and suspicious character. [[spoiler:He's actually been made a scapegoat in an elaborate plot.]]

* ReversePsychology: In "The Four Suspects", Dr. Rosen's niece Greta and his secretary Charles Templeton had been attached. After the murder, Greta visits Sir Henry to plead with him to confirm Charles' innocence. [[spoiler:Her intention in this is actually to throw suspicion on him.]]

* TilMurderDoUsPart: Crops up a few times in the stories, including [[spoiler:"The Tuesday Night Club", "The Bloodstained Pavement" and "A Christmas Tragedy"]].

* NarratorAllAlong: [[spoiler:After actress Jane Helier tells her story about a theft, "The Affair at the Bungalow", Miss Marple deduces that Jane herself is the culprit in the narrative, but that the story hasn't actually happened yet and it is a plan that Jane is planning to carry out, her motive being to cause a scandal to her ex-husband. After Miss Marple's subtle warning, Jane abandons the idea.]]

* TillMurderDoUsPart: Crops up a few times in the stories, including [[spoiler:"The Tuesday Night Club", "The Bloodstained Pavement" and "A Christmas Tragedy"]].