Marple mystery solved; Answers to Correspondents. From: The Daily Mail (London, England) | Date: June 26, 2001 | COPYRIGHT 2001 Solo Syndication Limited. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

QUESTION: Which knitting-mad elderly sleuth was created first: Agatha Christie's Miss Marple or Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver?

MISS Maud Silver was first on the scene, pipping Miss Marple by two years.

But when Miss Silver made her first appearance in The Grey Mask in 1928, her role in the book was secondary to another character, Charles Moray, and she had to wait until 1937 to appear again.

Miss Jane Marple, on the other hand, was the central c...