Any of you who long, as I often do, for nostalgic time-travel back to those days in the Thirties when the detective story was a detective story, and not "a novel of suspense," can at least rejoice annually upon the appearance of a new Agatha Christie; and you'll be delighted to learn that "A Pocket Full of Rye" [represents Christie in top form]….

[This] is the best of the novels starring Christie's spinster-detective, Miss Marple (who has usually been more effective in short stories). Christie's unanalyzable gift for thumbnail characterization is also at its best and … you aren't apt to find a better job of professional craftsmanship this year. (p. 23)

Anthony Boucher, in The New York Times Book Review (© 1954 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission), April 18, 1954.

The solution of Ordeal by Innocence is certainly not below the level of Mrs. Christie's customary ingenuity, but the...