Miss Marple at an Italian finishing school with Americans Ruth Van Rydock and Caroline "Carrie" Louise Serrocold. While Miss Marple is described as 'an old lady' in many of the stories, her age is mentioned in "At Bertram's Hotel", where it is said she visited the hotel when she was fourteen and almost sixty years have passed since then. Excluding "Sleeping Murder", 41 years passed between the first and last-written novels, and many characters grow and age. An example would be the Vicar's nephew: in "The Murder at the Vicarage", the Reverend Clement's nephew Dennis is a teenager; in "The Mirror Crack'd
Marple railway station buildings replacing the Midland's offices. From Marple to Romiley, the line passes through Marple Tunnel to the junction with the short branch to Rose Hill Marple, then over the long stone viaduct that crosses the River Goyt and the Peak Forest Canal. Alongside the viaduct is the Marple Aqueduct, which carries the Peak Forest Canal over the River Goyt. In 1902, when Agatha Christie was twelve, her sister Margaret married James Watts and they lived at Abney Hall, Cheadle. Christie, encouraged by Watts to write, was a frequent visitor to Abney Hall from a young age into adulthood. The area