The Case of the Perfect Maid by Agatha Christie. Short summary

5 seconds

Gladdie’s maid was thrown out by her landlady. The occasion was a missing brooch, which was soon found. In Gladdie’s place Mrs. Skinner hired a new maid, the lovely Mary, who turned out to be a thief.

1 minute

Tiny Edna, who had served Miss Marple as a maid, asked the old lady to help her cousin Gladdie. The girl worked as a maid at Old Hall Manor, but recently she has been fired for a strange reason: first the hostess’s brooch went missing (which was soon found), and the next day a broken plate served as a reason for her dismissal.

Gladys suspects that the landlady thinks the maid first took it and then, frightened, returned it. Miss Marple goes to Old Hull to speak to Mrs. Skinner, the landlady. Gladys had already been replaced by a new maid named Mary.

But ten days later Mary had disappeared, taking Miss Skinner’s jewels. It was as if the maid had vanished into thin air. The police were powerless, and Miss Marple was the only one who knew where to look for the fugitive. It turned out that Miss Emily (Skinner’s neighbor) and Maid Mary were the same person. As Miss Emily, the thief got the keys and the jewels, and then took a job as Miss Skinner’s maid, disposing of Gladdie before she did so.