A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie Narrator: Emilia Fox
Series: Miss Marple #9
Published by Harper Collins on March 26, 2013 (first published 1964)
Source: Library
Genres: Vintage Mystery
Length: 6 hrs 38 mins
Pages: 242
Format: Audiobook
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As Miss Marple sat basking in the Caribbean sunshine, she felt mildly discontented with life. True, the warmth eased her rheumatism, but here in paradise nothing ever happened.
Eventually, her interest was aroused by an old soldier’s yarn about a murderer he had known. Infuriatingly, just as he was about to show her a snapshot of this acquaintance, the Major was suddenly interrupted. A diversion that was to prove fatal.
I love that Miss Marple is bored on her vacation at the Golden Palm resort on St Honoré in the West Indies. The weather is always the same, lovely and warm, and the nothing interesting ever happens. She spends most of her time knitting and observing those around her. She also ends up listening to a lot of her fellow guest, Major Palgrave’s, stories. When the major ends up dead, apparently of natural causes, Miss Marple is sure that his death was a murder and connected to a story he told her. She puts on her little old lady act and starts investigating.
She does rope in an assistant, Mr. Rafiel, a grouchy, wealthy elderly man in a wheelchair. He’s really a great character and I love how he and Miss Marple work together – both older and underestimated, but with their own outlooks and resources. We’ve got a nice batch of varied suspects and a lot of undercurrents of tension that help muddy the waters. I also watched the 1983 version starring Helen Hayes, which tones down the racism of the book, thankfully.
About Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English crime novelist, short story writer and playwright. She is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around her fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world’s longest-running play, a murder mystery, The Mousetrap, and six romances under the name Mary Westmacott. In 1971 she was elevated to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her contribution to literature.
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