Was that Marple at first?
No that wasn’t however Penelope Wilton did look very noticeably like Joan Hickson’s Marple when she first appeared on display (notably from the again). Miss Pinkerton is a standalone character in her personal proper however it’s value noting that one adaptation of Homicide is Straightforward did characteristic Miss Marple. This was a 2008 adaptation starring Julia McKenzie. Marple finally ends up being companion in crime to Fitzwilliam, moderately than Bridget, performed by Morfydd Clark right here.
It’s arguably necessary that this story doesn’t have a Poirot or a Marple as a result of it includes the antagonist manipulating the de facto detectives into concluding the flawed particular person is responsible – that is her entire MO. It will be an insult to such masterful minds. Bridget and Fitzwilliam are good as tacks however they aren’t seasoned detectives.
What’s an Ikenga and why is it necessary?
Within the ebook Fitzwilliam isn’t Black however on this adaptation he’s Nigerian. He’s within the UK to take up a senior diplomatic place in Whitehall. Fitzwilliam has a recurring nightmare the place he’s in a forest carrying an Ikenga. Within the dream, he drops it and it begins to burn.
An Ikenga is an artifact from Nigeria carried by necessary males (normally) and typically ladies, symbolizing the appropriate hand, the non-public God, an individual’s potential to find out their very own future – the phrase means “power of motion”. For Fitzwilliam the dream provides him a way of feeling misplaced and after the thriller is solved he interprets the dream as an indication telling him he ought to return to Nigeria moderately than staying with Bridget. There’s an Ikenga in Whitfield’s home too and Fitzwilliam notes that Whitfield likes accumulating issues that don’t belong to him. There’s discourse all through the present about colonialism and that is one other instance.
What was the motive for the killings and what’s the secret that’s alluded to?
Within the unique story it’s nonetheless Miss Waynflete who’s the assassin however her motive is that she had been jilted by Whitfield. On this model nonetheless it’s a bit extra difficult (as a result of the thought of a girl killing an entire bunch of individuals simply to arrange a person who jilted her is a bit tropey at the present time). Our Waynflete (Sinead Matthews) could be very adamant that she isn’t a cliche, not “a girl scorned” or jealous of Bridget. “All I wished was independence,” she says (though we do should do not forget that she isn’t essentially the most dependable of witnesses). Whitfield says they have been associates however that she had a secret and to avoid wasting his personal pores and skin (and most significantly job and standing), Whitfield instructed Waynflete’s father the key. Waynflete was sure for Cambridge however as a substitute her father locked her up “like a prisoner”. The key, we expect, was her plan to depart nevertheless it’s not all that clear – she says she was boarding the boat when she was apprehended, however you don’t get a ship to Cambridge… anybody care to elucidate additional please tell us within the feedback!
Then Whitfield did his racketeering through the struggle, made his dodgy fortune then purchased Waynflete’s home, leaving her mainly erased from her personal life. She needs vengeance towards him, however as Pinkerton factors out at first, she additionally needs to make the purpose to the remainder of the village that in case you are a rich white man you may get away with something.
