Miss Marple parallel in the media!!!

I have discovered a character, the protagonist actually, of a prime-time television show on Fox that bears an uncanny resemblance to our dear Miss Marple. The similarity may not be physical - given that said character is a man, American and named Amsterdam - but you will pick up on it as i describe the plot for the show. The show is 'New Amsterdam', and this is the plot;

• A man in medival times offers up the ultimate sacrifice for another human's life: his own.
• For such a selfless act, while he is gasping for his last breath, he is granted the gift of everlasting life until he meets his true love.
• Therefore, Amsterdam has been around for ages and still looks like he's about 30 years old.
• In this lifetime, Amsterdam is a detective for the police and is very good at his job if i do say so myself.
• Amsterdam's unique ability to solve crimes is as a result of his infinite experiences with people throughout his numerous lifetimes. Amsterdam's age and wisdom make new and baffling cases appear commonplace...

...please tell me you can see the connection too...

Amsterdam's method is an exact replica of Miss Marple's, just that he is much older (though he looks younger) and enjoys (but mostly regrets) the perks of being unable to die.

Modus operandi

The biggest difference between Miss Marple and Holmes is in their method;

Holmes deduces...
As we all remember, Holmes uses his keen eye and his method of deduction in order to solve the most complex of crimes.

...while Miss Marple...well...she remembers, associates and attributes.
Miss Marple's method is simpler than it sounds. This is how it works;

1. Miss Marple is very old,
2. And she has met several people in her life,
3. And because of this, she has had or observed very many experiences of several people in the past.
4. As she observes these experiences, she begins to associate the way people act with their characteristic traits eg. a woman (let's call her 'lady x') may remind her of a past acquaintance ('lady y')who got cheated on because she was too trusting in her husband, this would make her atribute lady x with the memory of lady y and therefore would be able to tell what type of woman lady x is simply through her past association with lady y. So, if lady x's husband were to suddenly turn up dead, Miss Marple would not look too far to find a suspect and the motive - perhaps lady x, upon discovering her husband had cheated on her, killed him, not so much out of contempt, but out of disbelief that her husband, whom she loved and trusted, could do such a thing to her. All this Miss marple would consider, simply because she knew someone else who went through the exact same thing.

Miss Marple under the microscope

Okay, this is the point in my quest for answers that i compare and contrast my sleuth with all the previous sleuths i have encountered. Miss Marple, i have discovered, is not too different from the achetypical detective himself, Mr. Sherlock Holmes...

Marple meets Holmes, and they enjoy a cup of English tea;

• Miss Marple, just like Holmes, is English.
• Miss Marple and Holmes are both unofficial detectives whom, at first glance, appear mere amateurs
• Miss Marple, at one point during The Mirror Crack'd, is approached by an actual police inspector to assist with the case...sound like someone we know? Definetly.
• Miss Marple has her own method of solving crimes that is unique to her. Though it may not be the same as Holmes' method of deduction, it is just as effective, as is evident in the several crimes she solves.
• Miss Marple surprises people with her intelligence and just how mentally acute she really is...need i say more?
• Miss Marple abides by Holmes' theory that there is no new crime under the sun, though in a slightly different manner: she believes that people tend to follow the same trends of behavior. This, she believes, is only human.

However similar these two may seem, there are evident digressions in their characteristics...

Marple and Holmes get into a heated argument, and part ways;

• Miss Marple is very old, by any time period's standards - Holmes is still around his forties for most of the stories.
• Miss Marple cannot take care of herself the way she used to anymore due to her ripe age - Holmes is comfortably self-sufficient.
• Miss Marple is very modest when it comes to her unique eye for crime - Holmes, though he is not pompous about it, always acknowledges his achievements and makes it know that it was "simple, really, just common sense".
• Miss Marple does not have a 'side-kick' - Holmes does.

The Miss Marple stories

Okay, its been a long time coming, but i have finally decided to post again. I have read two Miss Marple stories and am currently half-way through the third. In all three (two-and-a-half, rather) stories, Miss Marple constantly recurs as the heroine and protagonist of the plot. Here is some background information about our little old sleuth.

Miss Marple;

• is a ripe eighty years old
• lives in a little village named St. Mary Mead
• apparently (in other words, as far as i have read) has never been married
• lives with a maid in her little home to assist her with all the tedious jobs
• has known (met) a lot of people throughout her lifetime (this is very very important, as will be elucidated in the subsequent post)
• has a famous author-of-a-nephew named Raymond who generously foots all her medical bills and pays foranything she might need
• now finds it difficult to perform all the tasks she used to do such as first rate gardening, and therefore has to settle with knitting all day.