The Body Snatcher
Review of the William Morrow Paperbacks edition (2022) of the Dodd, Mead & Co. (US)/Collins Crime Club hardcover originals (1942)

“Downstairs in the lounge, by the third pillar from the left, there sits an old lady with a sweet, placid spinsterish face, and a mind that has plumbed the depths of human iniquity and taken it as all in the day’s work. Her name’s Miss Marple. She comes from the village of St. Mary Mead, which is a mile and a half from Gossington, she’s a friend of the Bantrys—and where crime is concerned she’s the goods.”

The Body in the Library is quite diabolical for a so-called "cozy". A murdered girl is found in the library of Mr. & Mrs. Bantry, both of whom have never seen her before in their lives. Meanwhile another girl from the village has gone missing. Then a stolen car is discovered burnt out with a corpse inside it. There is nothing to be done, except call in Miss Marple to sort out the suspects and the victims. The authorities, as usual, are lost without her.

See cover at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f5/The_Body_in_the_Library_US_First_...
The front cover of the original 1942 Dodd, Mead & Company (US) hardcover edition. Image sourced from Wikipedia.

Confusion for Completists
The Body in the Library is the 2nd Miss Marple novel. Some lists, including the Goodreads Miss Marple Listopia, count it as Miss Marple #3 as the short story collection The Thirteen Problems (1932) is counted as #1 only because some of those stories appeared in 1927.

Trivia and Links
The Body in the Library was adapted twice for English language television. Both of the adaptations are reasonably faithful to the original plot. I did not find any free trailers or postings of either of them, but they are both available on the Britbox streaming service here in Canada.
The first adaptation was as part of the BBC's Miss Marple (1984-1992) series as Season 1 Episodes 1 to 3 in 1984 which starred Joan Hickson as Miss Marple.

The second adaptation was as part of ITV's Agatha Christie’s Marple (2004-2013) reboot series as Season 1 Episode 1 in 2004 which starred Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple. Although faithful to the book for about 95% of the time, this version makes a switch in the final reveal about which it would be a spoiler to say more.

There was a French language adaptation for the Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie [French: The Little Murders of Agatha Christie] (2009 - ongoing) series. The episode based on The Body in the Library was Season 1 Episode 9's Un Cadavre sur l'Oreille (2011).This series does not feature a Miss Marple character and instead has a police detective and a reporter as the leads. The plots are transplanted to France and are considerably changed from the originals.

There was a Korean language TV adaptation for the Ms. Ma, Nemesis (2018) limited series. There were 32 episodes to this series which adapted several Miss Marple stories including The Body in the Library into a modern day plot of an prison escapee who seeks to clear her own name of her daughter’s murder and solves that and other crimes in the process. The lead role was played by Yunjin Kim, best known to English language television from the TV series Lost (2004-2010). ( )

Some interesting plot twists in this book. I really did not see the solution coming. Miss Marple is brilliant as always. Good read but probably not one I'm going to read again. ( )

4.5 rounded up to 5 stars
A body is discovered by a maid in the library of Col. and Dolly Bantry. Dolly calls her friend, Miss Jane Marple, to help solve the mystery. Marple views the body, a young woman dressed shabbily, but all made up. As she and the police interview various people, they discover that Conway Jefferson, a widower who lost his family and his legs in a plane crash, took an interest in the young woman, identified as Ruby Keene. His son-in-law, Mark, and daughter-in-law, Addie, are not impressed by this, although he had already provided for them financially. Suspicion is placed on Basil Blake who is in the film industry, and it increases when another girl is found dead.
Marple suspects something isn't quite right, and solves the mystery. ( )

I’ve never read Agatha Christie before and I really wanted to like it, I’m afraid this is not the right book to start reading her. I’ll try other stories. ( )

One thing I enjoy about Agatha Christie's mysteries is that often there are tiny breadcrumbs left for the reader to find which would point in the direction of the murderer. Often, as in the case of this book, I make note of certain things (like physical description) and think to myself that it will probably be important later, and then promptly forget about it only to be reminded of it at the very end when that tiny detail is used as part of the clue that shows who the real murderer is. ( )