Letitia Blacklock’s letter to her sister

Letitia Blacklock’s letter to her sister is a piece of family correspondence that turns into forensic evidence. Read alongside a later note and the household’s memories, its distinctive spelling and references to treatment for goitre help Jane Marple identify the woman living as Letitia as her sister Charlotte.

The Letter and Its Contents

The letter is found among old papers in a small attaché case marked with the initials C.L.B., which Jane Marple correctly recognizes as belonging to Letitia’s sister Charlotte. Its salutation addresses Charlotte directly, and its signature identifies the writer as Letitia. The surviving passages place the sisters in the orbit of Randall Goedler and his wife Belle: Letitia writes about Belle’s health, Randall’s business, and the tension surrounding Sonia’s relationship with an undesirable man.

The letter also records Letitia’s concern about iodine treatment, which she has investigated because it might make a substantial difference. That detail later matters because the supposed Letitia has implied that her sister died of consumption, while the medical history associated with Charlotte points instead toward goitre and treatment in Switzerland. The letter is therefore both a domestic document and a record against which the identity presented in the present can be tested.

A Linguistic Clue

Jane Marple compares the old letter with a note attributed to Miss Blacklock. In Letitia’s letter, the word “enquiries” appears twice, each time spelled with an e; in the later note, the writer uses “inquiries” with an i. Marple considers the change significant because people do not commonly alter their spelling habits as they grow older. The discrepancy helps distinguish the historical writer from the woman who claims Letitia’s identity.

The clue gains force through comparison rather than through either document alone. The old letter supplies a sample of Letitia’s established spelling, while the later note offers a contrasting usage. Marple’s attention to this small, ordinary variation turns handwriting’s verbal habits into evidence in the larger identity puzzle.

Medical and Personal Evidence

The letter’s reference to iodine connects with the treatment of goitre. Marple recalls that Switzerland was associated with leading expertise and skilled surgeons in goitre operations, and links that medical history to the pearls Miss Blacklock habitually wears. The necklace is out of keeping with her apparent style but can conceal the scar left by an operation. Craddock, in turn, recognizes that her agitation when the string broke had seemed disproportionate; the medical clue gives that reaction a specific explanation.

The correspondence also helps clarify the significance of names used within the household. Marple remembers that Letitia’s sister was Charlotte and that Dora Bunner had called Miss Blacklock “Lotty” on more than one occasion, becoming upset afterward. Marple had initially written “Lotty,” rather than “Letty,” in a note: the form of address connected the sister’s name to Dora’s slips and to the concealed identity. Together, the letter, the iodine reference, and the remembered nickname make a chain of mutually reinforcing clues rather than a single decisive proof.

Role in the Investigation

The letter’s evidence works through accumulation. Its contents establish a past in which Letitia wrote to Charlotte; its spelling provides a comparison with a later note; and its mention of iodine supports the medical history that exposes the imposture. The surrounding correspondence also preserves the sisters’ closeness and the circumstances of their life among the Goedlers, giving Marple material against which the present-day account can be measured.

When Marple returns the letter to Craddock, she is considering what picture of the writer it creates. Later, she explains how the document’s spelling contributed to her deductions. The letter thus changes from a private remnant in an old case into an investigative instrument: its ordinary particulars—initials, a habitual spelling, a treatment, and a sister’s name—help reveal that the identity at the center of the mystery has been exchanged.