The latest batch of Agatha Christie mysteries to hit the small screen and the DVD market, Miss Marple Series Four, propels our "biddy" old lady into the plot of four murderous conspiracies. While Hercules Poirot seems to be physically the match for many of his foes, Marple (here played by Julia McKenzie) is easily dismissed from the very beginning because of her old age and apparent fragility. But, as many of the criminals she meets might attest, there is more here than meets the eye.

The set includes four episodes: "A Pocket Full of Rye," "Murder Is Easy," "They Do It With Mirrors," and "Why Didn't They Ask Evans?" In each story, Miss Marple seems to "happen" upon the murder; sometimes she is introduced by someone she knows, or someone she at least has a faint connection to ends up embroiled in the case. Marple is the sort of nosy neighbor-turned-detective who is pretty hilarious to watch in action but would annoy the heck out of you if you lived next door!

In "Why Didn't They Ask Evans?" I very nearly got confused, which is saying something, because I find most of the common American criminal procedures to be so easy to figure out that this BBC option is challenging. Christie's trips and turns are clever and entertaining, even if they are sometimes convoluted, but the outcome always boils down to Marple (and an accomplice or two) tackling a murderer, figuratively not literally.

I found the mysteries to usually revolve on a long-lost relative or ancient hurt resulting in vengeance revisited upon the offending family member. In most if not all cases, Marple investigates on the periphery and ends up finding a second murder committed to cover up the first, and a person you'd suspect ends up as the secondary victim. In the big reveal, Marple plays out the story of hurt and pain, vengeance, murder, and finally resolution, but vengeance is rarely truly satisfying.

Marple is old school, and her tracking down of the truth in these post-World War II plots makes her old-fashioned in an old-fashioned world. But the fact of the matter is that secrets and plots never result in much good for anyone, and the truth is in fact what sets you free. Putting a murderer behind bars is good for the neighborhood, and vengeance never results in anyone's joy. These are all Marpleian truths, but they're pretty well gospel truths, too. I guess "what goes around, comes around" is probably more about karma than it is about gospel, but it seems to be pretty true for these mysteries as well.