Sleeping Murder vs The Moving Finger: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Inspectrices de police, Marple, Jane Marple, Women detectives, England, English literature
Sleeping Murder
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"Let sleeping murder lie": this is the proverb (a variation on "Let sleeping dogs lie") which is not obeyed by twenty-one-year-old New Zealander Gwenda Reed, who has recently married and now comes to England to settle…
The Moving Finger
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The placid village of Lymstock seems the perfect place for Jerry Burton to recuperate from his accident under the care of his sister, Joanna. But soon a series of vicious poison-pen letters destroys the village's quiet…
Side by side
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Sleeping Murder has the widest readership — 55331 ratings behind its score.
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How to choose
Scores by source
| Sleeping Murder | The Moving Finger | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.0 (55331) | 3.9 (5252) |
| Hardcover | 4.0 (1) | 3.7 (132) |
| Google Books | 5.0 (2) | — |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (240) | 4.5 (191) |
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Reception
| Sleeping Murder | The Moving Finger | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 55331 | 5252 |
| Editions | 117 | 115 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 25552 | 25192 |
| Reading it now | 2181 | — |
| Written reviews | 3870 | 5252 |
| Wikipedia attention | 5633 | 4598 |
| Pages | 256 | 224 |
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Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: Sleeping Murder or The Moving Finger?
Sleeping Murder has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Sleeping Murder 4.0/5, The Moving Finger 3.9/5).
Which is shorter to read: Sleeping Murder or The Moving Finger?
The Moving Finger is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: The Moving Finger (224 pages, ≈ 4 h 09 m); Sleeping Murder (256 pages, ≈ 4 h 44 m).
Which is harder to read: Sleeping Murder or The Moving Finger?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Sleeping Murder: Challenging; The Moving Finger: Challenging.
Have both books been made into films?
Sleeping Murder: 1 film adaptation; The Moving Finger: no film adaptation on record.