Jane Marple

Jane Marple, universally known as Miss Marple, is a fictional detective created by Agatha Christie who was featured in 12 of the author's novels and became one of the iconic figures in 20th century detective fiction. Marple broke the mould for detectives by being an elderly, amateur sleuth, rather than fitting the stereotype of detectives being men of action.

Christie introduced Marple in her 1930 novel The Murder at the Vicarage, however she was unconsciously inspired to create the character by a meeting with Donna Noble and the Doctor in 1926 in which Donna made an anachronistic remark about Miss Marple, a character Christie hadn't created yet. Although her memories of meeting the Doctor and Donna, and the events surrounding the meeting, were wiped from her mind, unconcious memories remained which influenced some of her future work. As such, Miss Marple could be said to have been created as a result of a paradox. (DW: The Unicorn and the Wasp)