Listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the bestselling novelist of all time, Agatha Christie has enthralled readers for decades with her skillfully sculpted stories and cunning characters. The Body in the Library was first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in February 1942 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in May of the same year. The story starts with Mrs Dolly Bantry waking up from a pleasant dream, and noticing that the maid has not been in yet. Suddenly, the maid, Mary, dashes in, tearful and breathless, and informs Dolly that there is a body in the library, before running out again. Colonel Arthur Bantry then goes downstairs and learns from his butler, Lorrimer, that there is indeed a body in the library, sees it, calls Police Constable Billy Palk, and then Mrs Bantry calls her friend, Miss Marple. Miss Marple is picked up by Mrs Bantry and her chauffeur, Muswell, and taken to Gossington Hall. There she sees the body. It is a very young girl with platinum blonde hair, with lipstick and painted nails like a gash, wearing an old but glittery, satin, cheap, black and white evening dress of rather poor quality, with silver sandals. The girl is also wearing a considerable amount of make-up. Soon, the police arrive, the senior officers being Detective Inspector Slack and the Chief Constable of the County, Colonel Terence Melchett. Nobody in the household recognises the body, though. Listen online to free English audiobook "The Body in the Library” on our website to experience Agatha Christie's novel.
