A Caribbean Mystery (Miss Marple, #10) (2024)

miss marple se eu pudesse eu te daria o mundo minha velha

Jedna z fajniejszych Christie!

A Caribbean Mystery (Miss Marple, #10), Agatha Christie

Characters: Miss Jane Marple, Mr. Rafiel

Abstract: Miss Jane Marple, at the insistence of her nephew, relaxes at a resort in the Caribbean. The sea is sublime and the weather is fine in this quiet paradise so far away from quiet St. Mary Mead, until the apparently natural death of fellow guest Major Palgrave.

Miss Marple is disturbed because the previous evening he was in good health, and almost showed her "a snapshot of a murderer". Convinced that the major's death was not at all natural, she begins to ask difficult questions, and another victim dies. Original publication year 1964

عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «معمای کارائیب»، «قتل در کارائیب»؛ نویسنده: آگاتا کریستی؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش فارسی: روز دوازدهم ماه دسامبر سال1997میلادی

عنوان: معمای کارائیب، نویسنده: آگاتا کریستی؛ مترجم: نگین ازدجینی، نشر تهران، نشر روایت؛ سال1373، تعداد صفحات298، شابک9789643637071؛ عنوان دیگر قتل در کارائیب؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، ثالث، سال1393؛ شابک9789643809201؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیا - سده 20م

عنوان: معمای کارائیب، ترجمه: مجتبی عبدالله‌ نژاد، نشر تهران، هرمس، سال1389، تعداد صفحات252، شابک9789643637071؛ چاپ دیگر سال1393، در238ص؛ شابک9789643637071؛

از سری داستان‌های بانو «آگاتا کریستی»، و از سری «خانم مارپل»، کتاب دهم است؛ که نخستین بار در روز شانزدهم ماه نوامبر سال1964میلادی، در «بریتانیای کبیر»، توسط انتشارات «کولینز کرایم کلوب» و در سال1965میلادی توسط انتشارات «داد، مید اند کمپانی»، در «آمریکا» به چاپ رسیده است؛ داستان «معمای کارائیب»، هنگامی رخ می‌دهد که «خانم مارپل»، پس از پشت سر گذاشتن یک بیماری، در حال گذراندن تعطیلات خود، در هتلی، در کنار دریای «کارائیب» است؛ در این بین، یکی از مهمانان همان هتل، مدرکی را فاش می‌کند، و ادعا می‌کند، که یک قاتل سریالی، در همان هتل ساکن است و ...؛

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 07/11/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 25/09/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

Since I was a kid reading Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys, I have read mysteries in between other books as a palette cleanser. Rather than go into a reading slump, I read a fast paced crime or detective story to clear my head. There is no detective writer I enjoy more than the Queen of Crime herself, Dame Agatha Christie. I joined the Goodreads group reading the detectives when I found out that they would be reading one Miss Marple case a month for a year. Although I had been a fan of Hercule Poirot first, I jumped at the opportunity to read more books by Christie. A Caribbean Mystery, Miss Marple's tenth case, is the upcoming group selection.

An older Miss Marple has been gifted a Caribbean vacation to the island of St Honore by her wealthy nephew Raymond West. With her getting on in years, he desires that she spend at least part of the winter away from the dreary climate of St Mary Mead. One who is more than willing to try new things even as she ages, Miss Marple agrees to spend time at a beach front hotel. Appearing as a feeble old lady with a knack for knitting, Miss Marple is the delight of the hotel guests. Yet, her mind is anything but flighty, and, just as it seems to do in St Mary Mead, murder cases fall into Miss Marple's lap.

Colonel Palgrave is also vacationing on St Honore. Regaling the other guests with his tales of safari and the spoils of war, he is the life of the island, even if his stories are on the boring side. While telling Miss Marple the story about meeting a murderer in the eye, Colonel Palgrave literally believes he has seen a criminal from a previous experience. Sure enough, the next day he turns up murdered, followed closely by a local hotel worker named Victoria. Guests start to panic and some flee, leaving Miss Marple to sharpen her detecting skills.

As in the cases in St Mary Mead, the police appear less than competent. It is up to Miss Marple to unravel the clues to this case, along with the help of fellow guest Mr Rafiel. Together, the two octogenarians come up with motives and alibis for all the hotel guests and workers before another murder occurs on hotel grounds. All this takes place while Miss Marple is supposed to be on vacation, yet, as she has confided in at least one person in each case that I have read, murder seems to find her. As in the case at St Mary Mead, Miss Marple lets the case take place in front of her only to come up with a simple solution at the end.

While Hercule Poirot is still my favorite of Agatha Christie's detectives, Miss Marple is starting to grow on me. Whereas Poirot entreaties people to employ their little grey cells and usually knows whodunit it at the beginning, Miss Marple uses deductive reasoning to systematically come up with the criminal and motive by the case's close. Miss Marple's cases take less brain power and are perfect for my palette cleansers. I always enjoy reading Agatha Christie's mysteries, and A Caribbean Mystery was no exception. I look forward to the next time that I sit down with one of her cases, and rate this easy reading mystery 3.5 stars.

Jane Marple is very grateful to her loving nephew Raymond West, a popular novelist and rich man, who paid for his aunt's vacation (she recently recovered from an illness ) . The tropics on an island in the Caribbean Sea, doesn't sound like a place Miss Marple would feel comfortable in, she is from rainy, cold, with just a little bit of snow, the quiet St. Mary Mead England. An out of the way village , where nothing ever happens, that is what everyone believes ... Warm weather a beautiful golden beach , blue skies and still even more prettier sea, clear, as if nobody ever swam in it. Just the perfect locale to regain one's health. Nevertheless how can an elderly spinster , enjoy the atmosphere? Young, happy , wealthy couples running around the Golden Palm Hotel that name alone says it all , but after a week in the sun the old woman , begins to start thinking not a bad place the West Indies, glad she came if only something exciting would occur. Miss Marple gets her wish maybe too much so. The cast of characters: Two well to do couples amateur botanists, scurry about the islands to find exotic flowers and plants, taking pictures writing articles for the National Geographic magazine , they need something to do! Col. Edward Hillingdon retired, a rather reserved gentleman, wife the charming Evelyn and Gregory Dyson, fun loving guy , his gorgeous naughty mate Lucky a strange name for a woman, rumors of shenanigans between the foursome, but gossip can't be believed. Now Major Palgrave another old retired British army officer likes to tell stories, ancient boring tales to the hotel guests, such as hunting tigers in India or was it elephants in Africa? That nobody wants to hear, one in particular involving a murder. The polite Miss Marple pretends to listen, almost falling asleep, it will be his last one for the major. Next day he is found dead in bed, by Victoria the native maid, poor Miss Marple, everywhere she goes someone dies, not a surprise to Dr. Graham an island physician, he had high blood pressure medicine, in his room but the ever suspicious Jane is not so sure. The doctor then receives information that troubles him. The worried young newlyweds who bought the hotel , Tim and Molly Kendal know deaths in paradise is bad for business. After a quick funeral everything is back to normal, nobody can resist the deep blue sea besides, the deceased wasn't too liked ... Mr Rafiel pushing eternity, but richer than anyone Miss Marple has met helps her when another murder happens. Mrs.Kendal starts to act weirdly, mental illness? The police request gently of the hotel guests, not to leave the island of St.Honore they insist. The question this novel asks is , can paradise exist ever on Earth while people are still walking on its surface?

One's time period can be such a bother, don't you think? Or, in some cases, very inspiring.

I, for instance, never thought I'd see the time when a Cheeto could become president. I mean, president of the Frito-Lay Corporation, sure. But an elected position? A victory for processed foods! Out with the vegetable gardens, in with the snack machines!

Wait, not that kind of orange finger food?

Oh.

Oh, well... nevermind. Back to what I was saying about inspiration. I mean, hey--I'm in my forties. I actually had a grandmother who referred to black Americans as 'coloreds.' Think about the sea of societal change iin this time period, from the court case upholding desegregating schools in 1954 (way to go, independent Justice Branch!) to an actual African-American President of the U.S. in 2008. That's pretty amazing. Sometimes I think I'm in the right epoch, and other times I don't. I mean, processed snack foods--gross.

Take Agatha Christie's A Caribbean Mystery, for instance. If only we could have left a bunch of her era's prejudices and populist ideas out of the book, it'd be much more tolerable. Did we need to have the social commentary on the marriage and procreative habits of the islanders? Not necessary to the plot in the least, and yet it gets mentioned a number of times, at least four or five, I should think. Along with the weird psychoanalysis of women in general. Thank goodness we're modern enough at this point to have a discussion about sex versus love, as well as treat adultery as not that shocking. Skip those retro bits and you have a delightful mystery in a beautiful setting, although one can't help wish--just a little bit, says Miss Marple--for some actual English weather (not me, though. I can totally not wish for English weather).

Dear Raymond has sent Miss Marble on an island vacation, to rest her rheumatism and test her skills. Not long after Major is telling her a story about a murderer, he himself it found dead. Mon dieu! Wait, wrong character. But Miss Marple is too genteel to use exclamatory phrases. It's a gentle kind of narrative at first, where Miss Marple looks back on life, human nature, the challenges of aging, and picks apart the relationships of the other guests at the resort. Surprising to me were the short bits that included a third-person perspective of another couple of characters. It was obvious Christie was using it to build suspense and as a red herring, but I was a bit surprised to note such a cheap trick. Ah well.

It really was a fun little story, with some interesting twists and a multiple body count to keep the reader in a state of fear. The resort proved to be a typical Christie setting of the isolated manor house/guests, leading to a limited pool of suspects. This one, I remembered reading before, so I can't say whether it surprised. But I enjoyed it and polished it off quickly.

I've always been a fan of Agatha Christie. A few years ago shopping a library book sale I came across this one. I thought....ooohhhh a murder mystery in caribbean, sounds exotic. I purchased it and thought a perfect read for my upcoming trip to the islands. And I continued to drag it with me on a number of trips, never to be read. Finally, while sitting at home in the frosty weather I thought it's the perfect time to pick it up.

Miss Marple is sent away to vacation in the sun of the islands by her nephew. Oh it's so glamorous that all the patrons of the small charming hotel get together on the veranda for drinks of gin before dinner nightly, dressed in their best evening wares. Of course there is none other than Major Palgrave, who is quite the bore with his tediously, long, and boring stories he continues to tell everyone. Even the one where he tells of the murderer he's met. He even has a picture. But soon Major Plagrave tells that story one too many times and finds himself dead, from an unknown medical condition. Naturally Miss Marple is on the case, knowing it was murder and not a medical condition. As she begins to question the guests, it appears another murder takes place, and then........

Well, I'll not give anything away. I will say I really enjoyed this one. While I'm more of a Pirot girl, I still enjoy a Marple story. She doesn't appear as a nosy, busy body, but a sharp cookie who knows how to blend. And what I enjoyed most in this story is Miss Marple and old man Mr. Rafiel who thoroughly discussed the murder...eh murders and all the guests trying to determine whodunnit. Mr. Rafiel was quite the curmudgeon but the two made a fun, interesting, and quirky pair. Why a 4 only, well, even I was able to figure out the murder in the case after some time. But it was a fun read till the end. I'm so glad I picked this one up finally and looking forward to my next Christie adventure.

3.5 stars

The magical Miss Marple does it again!
Only this time she does it on a tropical vacation.

Unlike quite a few of the Marple mysteries, this one heavily features everyone's favorite little old spinster. As in, she's not just a side character in her own story. I personally just love the way her inner mind works. So proper and sweet...but not really.

The cast of characters was great, too.
You have a whole slew of people on the island who range from (supposedly) lovely to (supposedly) despicable and you can't wait to see who's going to end up getting killed off next!
Or maybe that's just me?
Nah.

This one was another solid story, and even though it won't go down as one of my tippy-top Christie favorites, I quite enjoyed it.

Joan Hickson was the narrator of the audiobook version that I listened to and she did a very good job. I will say that I thought she was quite good with all the different accents except the ones that were supposed to be Hispanic. For whatever reason, the two characters I remember sounded less Spanish-y and more like they had a lisp. Although, that could just be the way I was hearing it.

3.75/5

Kocham pannę Marple

'' دائماً ما يجد القتلةُ صعوبةً في ترِك الأشياء تبدو بسيطة ''

لا أخفي عليكم كيف تُهت في هذه الرواية وكنتُ بعيداً كل البعد عن معرفة القاتل،، من الصعوبة جداً أن تخمن مجرد تخمين من هو القاتل وكل السبل التي سلكتها أجاثا كانت مضللة ومغلقة ويصعب إيجاد ثغرة في إكتشاف القاتل،، لكني أسمتعت جداً بالرواية وأدركت أنها من الروايات المتميزة والقوية في مجال الأدب البوليسي..

كُتبت هذه الرواية قبل 50 سنة ولكن يالروعة أجاثا، ما أجمل ما تكتبه هذه الكاتبة العبقرية، الحقيقة أني كنت في السابق أخشى أن أخوض تجربة مع هكذا روايات كُتبت منذ سنوات عديدة وتوقعت أن تكون ساذجة نوعاً ما ولكن تصدمني أجاثا كل مرة أقرء لها وندمت على أني لم أقرء لها منذ زمن بعيد..

هذه هي الرواية الرابعة التي أقرأها ل أجاثا ومن الجيد القول أني تعودت على أسلوبها وأحببت رواياتها بشدة..

التقييم متأرجح مابين 4 و5 نجمات ولكني أفضل ال 5 نجمات بسبب تلك النهاية المشوقة والغير المتوقعة إطلاقاً..

DRAMATISATION LISTENED TO IN 2020
Firstly let's say it's a shame that this does not have a separate entry as it is not the audiobook of the novel, it is an abridged dramatisation starring June Whitfield as Miss Marple. Whilst I cannot imagine her as Miss Marple in a TV version, she is too, well I don't know but she's too something. That said her voice is excellent and so are these BBC dramatisations.
Well adapted, but obviously quite abridged, this is an enjoyable listen especially when decorating ha ha.

MARPLE GROUP READ IN 2017
Another excellent Miss Marple book, and although I have seen the Joan Hickson TV adaptation, I cannot remember ever having read the book. I really enjoyed it and liked the introduction of Mr Rafiel, who I know we will see later.
I'm really enjoying this whole challenge and we still have a good few to go.

This is one of Agatha Christie's murder mysteries set outside England. She takes us to the Caribbean with Miss Marple coming on holiday there. Whatever Miss Marple does, murder seems to follow her. :) And we get to enjoy another murder mystery.

Here is an instance where the initiation and carrying out the investigation is done by Miss Marple alone. A first death occurs and is believed to have arisen from natural causes. Only, Miss Marple is not so sure. When a second death occurs however, Miss Marple is certain that a murderer is lurking among them. In the absence of a "proper" police procedure, Miss Marple decides to act herself to unravel the wolf in the sheep's skin with the assistance of an eccentric invalid.

While the actions of Miss Marple were entertaining, the story was poorly predictable. From the beginning, it isn't difficult to understand the pattern of the story. And by the middle of it, I knew who it was and why he'd done it. I had only to wait till the official revelation. And there was no longer any suspense. But I still liked the chatty dialogues and the intrigues of the characters. :) Even though it didn't attract fully as a murder mystery, it still held my interest quite in other directions. I only wish that Christie has taken some effort to create the holiday ambiance and the tropical setting of the Caribbean.

On the whole, it is certainly not one of the best in the Marple series, but not a bad one either.

الانسة ماربل تقضي اجازة في احد الجزر الهندية مع سائحين اخرين احدهما رجل يتحدث مع الانسة ماربل عن قصصه ومغامراته واحدى هذه القصص عن قاتل وتحدث عن كيفية ارتكابه جريمته وانه يحمل صورة القاتل ولكنه يتراجع عن إظهار الصورة وبعد ٢٤ ساعة يوجد ميتا.
ثم تموت خادمة الفندق لانها تعرف شيئا ما .
تقوم الانسة ماربل بمعرفة القاتل من خلال الاستماع لقصص النزلاء وكذلك مراقبة تصرفاتهم.

لغز جيد ولكن اقل مستوى من رواباتها
والترجمة رائعة.

A Caribbean Mystery is the 10th book in the Miss Marple series written by Dame Agatha Christie. I've read most of her books or watched television adaptations throughout my life, but this year, I am rereading the Marple and Poirot collections so that I can add more details to my reviews (or write a review now that I remember enough about it). Miss Marple needs to get away to warmer weather, prompting her nephew to gift her a trip to a Caribbean island. Of course, a few days in and there's a strange death, followed by a second one. Both on their own could've been from natural causes, but together, something doesn't seem right. As she investigates the other hotel guests, owners, and workers, she discovers many unexpected connections. Some folks knew each other before this trip. Others were secretly married or having affairs. And the murder story told by the first victim (all in good fun) apparently was a true one. Just what did he know that got him killed? Clever. Kept my focus all afternoon. Might annoy a few readers with some not-so-kind but normal-for-the-time-period language in relation to hom*osexuals and African-Americans. I don't ignore it, but I also read these books for the plot and understand the time in which it was written. That said, the conclusion was too abrupt and I think it could've done with more details about the past reasonings for some of the relationships.

Agatha Christie's sleuth,Miss Marple suffers from rheumatism and her nephew arranges a trip to the Caribbean islands for her.

As Miss Marple basks in the Caribbean sunshine,she feels mildly discontended that nothing ever happens in paradise.

But soon,her complaint is rectified.An old major wants to show her the photograph of a murderer,and soon,he is himself dead.

Later,there is another murder.If that were not enough,Miss Marple,that loveable old hen,finds herself in danger.

Christie's humour,which makes an appearance every now and then,is an added bonus.Very entertaining.

Pues otro más de nuestra querida chismosa, no ha estado mal aunque no conseguí integrarme del todo en la historia, no sé si fue porque estaba en el Caribe y no en Inglaterra que no me ubicaba...
Lo cierto es que al principio se la ve un poco, como yo, desubicada, pero ella es muy lista y se busca a sus aliados para sus pesquisas.
La verdad es que ni por todo el oro del mundo habría acertado quien era el culpable, muy difícil.
Lo mejor como siempre la resolución y las explicaciones posteriores.
Valoración: 6/10
Sinopsis: Durante su estancia en una isla del Caribe, Miss Marple conoce a un comandante retirado del ejército inglés dispuesto a revelarle la identidad de un asesino que había cometido varios crímenes en Inglaterra, pero el militar muere envenenado esa misma noche, antes de develar el misterio, y Miss Marple decide tomar cartas en el asunto para descubrir al criminal.

This mystery sees Miss Marple relocated from her usual setting, of villages and vicarages, and deposited on a Caribbean holiday by nephew Raymond. The preceding winter had seen Miss Marple suffering from pneumonia and, with sunshine advised to aid her recovery, she is treated to a stay at the Golden Palm Hotel in St Honore, Trinidad. The hotel has been taking over by a young couple, Molly and Tim Kendal, who are keen to keep returning guests happy and ‘make a go’ of it.

Among the guests are the wealthy Mr Rafiel, attended by assistant Esther Waters and valet/masseur Arthur Jackson, Canon Prescott and his sister, Dr Graham, Major Palgrave and two married couples – Colonel Edward Hillingdon and wife, Evelyn, and Greg and Lucky Dyson. Major Palgrave is the type of elderly man who loves to tell stories about his past and Miss Marple is listening to him one day when he tells her about a murderer and, shortly afterwards, he is found dead…

Truth be told, Miss Marple has been finding her Caribbean holiday slightly monotonous, even without Major Palgrave’s interminable tales. When there are more odd happenings on the island, Miss Marple teams up with Mr Rafiel to investigate. This is an enjoyable mystery, although it is not one of Christie’s best plots and Miss Marple suffers from a lack of her usual sounding boards and cast of village characters. If you enjoy this, Mr Rafiel is mentioned in a further mystery, “Nemesis.”

والدرس المستفاد مما حدث
ما قاله سيدنا عمر بن الخطاب رضي الله عنه
" ما ندمتُ على السكوت مَرّة ، لكنني ندمت على الكلام مرارا "

اللقاء الأول مع أجاثا كريستي و عالم الرواية البوليسية

قرأتها في يوم واحد
بل في ساعات معدودة
وهذا لا يحدث معي إلا نادراً مهما بلغ استمتاعي بالعمل
ولكن الوضع هنا مختلف ، والأجواء مختلفة تماماً عن أي رواية مشوقة ومثيرة قرأتها من قبل
هناك سحرٌ ما في ما تكتب أجاثا كريستي تقريباً
��يء ما يجبرك على الانتباه من الورقة الأولى وحتى الورقة الأخير
ولايترك لك فرصة لالتقاط الأنفاس إطلاقاً

الحبكة ممتازة ، و وتيرة الأحداث متوازنة للغاية بدون أي تسرّع
كان مايقلقني من الروايات البوليسية عامةً ويجعلني أؤجل الدخول لعالمها طوال الفترة الماضية أن أجد عكس ذلك
أن أجد حبكة ضعيفة ، وأحداث متسارعة لتلائم القارئ الباحث عن الإثارة والسرعة
ولكن لحسن الحظ كان انطباعي خاطيء وأنا سعيد بذلك بلا شك

طبعاً ، حالي كحال كل قراء أجاثا كريستي
كل توقعاتي عن القاتل تم نسفها بنجاح
وتقبلت الصدمة في النهاية وانا أبتسم :)

وفي الختام يكمنني القول
أنني صرت معجباً كبيراً بأجاثا كريستي من لقائي الأول

إلى لقاءات كثيرة قادمة إن شاء الله

Ξαναδιαβάζοντας Άγκαθα Κριστι (που τόσο με είχε σημαδέψει στην εφηβεία μου, παρά λίγο να πάρω αποβολή, γιατί μια πανέξυπνη φιλόλογος στη Β Γυμνασίου με έστειλε στον Διευθυντή επειδή στην έκθεση με θέμα "Το αγαπημένο μου βιβλίο" έγραψα για το "Έγκλημα στη Μεσοποταμία" και το ερώτημα ήταν "αν ήξερε η μητέρα μου ότι διαβάζω τέτοια βιβλία" - "μα τα διαβάζει και αυτή") βλέπω πλέον αυτό που τότε ήμουν μικρός και ανόητος να δω : και Το σπίτι με τους ιβίσκους (έλεος, εκδόσεις Λυχνάρι, "A Caribbean Mystery") είναι ένα ακόμη ψιλορατσιστικό βιβλίο, με βλακώδεις διαλόγους, κακή χρήση της ψυχιατρικής (στα όρια της απαξίωσης) και μια πλοκή γεμάτη με δήθεν red herrings ολούθε, που μπορεί να ήταν ένα χαλαρό pageturner, αλλά στην πραγματικότητα όλα τα παραπάνω σε πετάνε απότομα στη στροφή και ξενερώνεις. Ειδικά αυτό το φινάλε, λες "what the f*ck". Δεν ξέρω που προμηθεύονταν η Άγκαθα αυτά τα χάπια πίεσης που μπορούν όμως και να σε σκοτώσουν, αυτά τα χάπια και τις σταγόνες που μπορεί να σου δημιουργήσουν παραισθήσεις, ή όλα αυτά τα δηλητήρια που "δεν αφήνουν ίχνη" (Ή μάλλον τελικά αφήνουν), να μας πει και εμάς να ρίξουμε στο ποτήρι με το νερό (!) αυτών που μισούμε. Έλα τώρα, δολοφονία λάθος θύματος γιατί φορούσε το ίδιο σάλι και είχε βάψει και τα μαλλιά του με το πρόσωπο που σκόπευε να σκοτώσει κανονικά , το καταλαβαίνω θα μπορούσε να συμβεί στον κάθε δολοφόνο. Κατά τα άλλα, η Βασίλισσα του Εγκλήματος, μη χέσω. Τα βιβλία της (τουλάχιστον τα περισσότερα, γιατί αναγκάζονταν να γράψει σαν μηχανή παραγωγής) είναι απίστευτα ξεπερασμένα.
ΥΓ : αυτές οι εκδόσεις Λυχνάρι ! Οι Έλληνες φανς πίνουν νερό στο όνομα τους, αλλά εγώ μικρός θυμάμαι τις καλαίσθητες εκδόσεις Ερμείας. Ποιος έχει τα αποκλειστικά δικαιώματα, ποτέ δεν κατάλαβα. Κακοτυπωμένα και κακομεταφρασμένα. Φτηνά από κάθε άποψη...

A Caribbean beach resort provides a sunny oceanside setting for a grim series of murders in Agatha Christie’s 1964 novel A Caribbean Mystery. This book is the tenth of twelve novels that featured Christie’s Miss Jane Marple character; and in A Caribbean Mystery, as in its predecessors and successors, Miss Marple uses her considerable powers of observation and inference to investigate murder most foul, and to bring a murderer to justice.

Agatha Christie, D.B.E. (Dame of the British Empire), needs very little introduction. Her 66 novels and 14 short-story collections have made her, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the best-selling fiction writer ever, with over 2 billion copies of her books having been sold. Her novel And Then There Were None (1939-40) has sold more than 100 million copies all by itself, and is currently listed as the 4th best-selling book of all time. UNESCO states that Christie is the most translated author in the world. Her play The Mousetrap (1952) is the longest-running play in the history of stage drama; now that a COVID-induced pause in performances has ended, you can still go and see it on London’s West End. What all of this adds up to is that Christie was a hard-working author who knew how to tell a story in a way that would appeal to generations of readers the world over.

The novels for which Christie was best-known were generally those that featured two fictional detectives – Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. While the conventions behind the Poirot novels were sometimes hard for me to take – because, really, who’s going to wait to commit a murder until the scene of the prospective crime is graced by an irascible but brilliant Belgian detective who has never failed to solve a case? – the Miss Marple novels always had a touch more believability to me, because of the way they critique societal attitudes toward women.

We live, after all, in a world where women are all too often objectified while they are “young” and then ignored once they are “old.” Miss Jane Marple, as an unmarried older woman from the fictional village of St. Mary Mead, knows that many of the people around her will more or less instantly dismiss her as a “spinster” with nothing important or interesting to offer. Therefore, when a murder occurs, she can ask questions about people and offer her own observations, knowing all the while that she will be seen as nothing more than a chattering “old lady.”

The knitting that she is always carrying during her investigations turns out to be an effective form of camouflage for this tough-minded and canny detective, as is the effortless way she takes on the pose of the dotty and somewhat out-of-it “old lady.” The narrator remarks at one point that “Miss Marple had been brought up to have a proper regard for truth and was indeed by nature a very truthful person. But on certain occasions, when she considered it her duty to do so, she could tell lies with a really astonishing verisimilitude” (p. 27). Her complexity makes Miss Marple a pleasant travelling companion.

As A Caribbean Mystery begins, Miss Marple is already a guest at the Golden Palm Hotel on the (fictional) island of St. Honoré. She has travelled there at the insistence and the expense of her nephew Raymond, who has been concerned about Miss Marple’s health ever since she suffered a bad case of pneumonia at home in England the summer before. One Major Palgrave, an elderly gentleman who has attached himself to her so that he can tell her stories of his service in various exotic locations, casually mentions that he knows a story of a murderer who got away with their crime, and even offers to show her a photo of the murderer – before suddenly looking shocked and putting away the photograph. Fans of this genre, and regular readers of Christie’s work, will not be shocked to learn that a murder occurs shortly afterward.

The conventions of the genre demand that there be a wide range of suspects who could plausibly have committed the murder; Christie obligingly provides a baker’s dozen or so, every one of whom makes a point of behaving in a profoundly suspicious manner at one point or another in the story. Revelations abound regarding these suspects as the novel progresses: adultery, conspiracy, financial and legal troubles of varying kinds. And Miss Marple, as she had done nine times before in Christie’s literary career, sets herself to the task of finding out just who the murderer is. Fortunately, she is a master of the art of using “twittering conversation” (p. 59) to get her co-respondents to reveal, in conversation, things they might have done better to conceal. As Miss Marple herself puts it, a little over halfway through the novel, “Conversations are always dangerous, if you have something to hide” (p. 136).

Miss Marple shows a good deal of guile in the way she prompts people to provide revelations through what may initially seem like nothing more than gossip. She knows that old ladies face the stereotype of being “gossipy,” and therefore – often but not exclusively with women informants – she plays the gossip’s part in order to elicit important information.

When speaking with one Miss Prescott, for example, about a young woman on the beach, Miss Marple quickly makes a point of agreeing with Miss Prescott that the woman’s blonde hair is dyed: “She looked at Miss Prescott and they both nodded with quiet female assurance” (p. 150). When Miss Prescott’s brother, an Anglican canon, scolds the women for gossiping, “The two women sat in silence. They were rebuked, and in deference to their training they deferred to the criticism of a man. But inwardly they were frustrated, irritated, and quite unrepentant. Miss Prescott threw a frank glance of irritation toward her brother. Miss Marple took out her knitting and looked at it” (p. 152).

And when Canon Prescott is called away, a few moments later, it should be no surprise that Miss Prescott is quite ready to keep sharing information with Miss Marple – information that moves Miss Marple closer to a solution to the mystery.

Some of the more pleasant surprises of A Caribbean Mystery, for me, came not from drawing-room revelations or questions of “who done it,” but rather from details of how Miss Marple responds to different moments of promise or setback in her investigation. When detectives like Edgar Allan Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin, or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, make crime-solving look effortless – “Aha! I have it! Follow me!” – there is little for the reader to do but follow along, like each detective’s puzzled assistant. Miss Marple, by contrast, suffers some engaging moments of doubt during her quest for the truth.

Feeling, at one point, that her investigation has reached an impasse – that another murder is about to be committed, and that there is no one on St. Honoré who can help her to prevent that second murder from happening – the quietly but devoutly religious Miss Marple (who keeps Thomas à Kempis’s The Imitation of Christ by her bedside and reads from it each night) finds herself appealing for something akin to divine intervention:

Miss Marple, feeling rather like a humble deputy of the Almighty, almost cried aloud her need in Biblical phrasing.

Who will go for me?

Whom shall I send?

And it is just then that another character, who has hitherto seemed thoroughly disagreeable, emerges, quite unexpectedly, as a courageous, empathetic, and dependable ally to Miss Marple. This new ally helps move the investigation forward, though sometimes even he gets things wrong – as when he tells Miss Marple that he doesn’t think she has much experience with murder and murderers. “In this assumption, as Miss Marple could have told him, he was wrong. But she forbore to contest his statement. Gentlemen, she knew, did not like to be put right in their facts” (p. 132). And thus our heroine, decades before the coining of the term, deals with “mansplaining.”

I also appreciated the reflections, throughout the novel, on what it means to age – on aging as an individual and a social process. Miss Marple and her ally, both of whom are older people, talk about how the will to live strengthens as one ages. As Miss Marple puts it,

“Life is more worth living, more full of interest, when you are likely to lose it. It shouldn’t be, perhaps, but it is. When you’re young and strong and healthy, and life stretches ahead of you, living isn’t really important at all. It’s young people who commit suicide easily, out of despair from love, sometimes from sheer anxiety and worry. But old people know how valuable life is, and how interesting.” (p. 137)

Interesting, indeed. Dame Agatha was 74 years old when she wrote A Caribbean Mystery; no doubt she reflected at times that if she wasn’t Agatha Christie, the Agatha Christie, many people would overlook or ignore or belittle her as an “old woman,” the way characters in Christie novels often ignore or overlook or belittle Miss Marple. I am 62 years old, as I make my way through A Caribbean Mystery for the first time. Those reflections on aging spoke to me.

Miss Marple is willing to confront and refute her own prior preconceptions – at one crucial point, she says, “I have been foolish. Extremely foolish. I ought to have known from the very beginning what all this was about. It was so simple” (p. 200) – and on that note A Caribbean Mystery moves toward the detection and apprehension of the murderer.

I read A Caribbean Mystery on a Caribbean cruise. Visiting a series of Caribbean destinations – Barbados, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sint Maarten, Saint-Martin – I noticed a number of beachside resorts that looked very much as though they could have been the locale for Christie’s novel. It made me wonder how many winter-time escapees from Great Britain and Ireland, from the United States and Canada, from Australia and New Zealand, may have enjoyed reading A Caribbean Mystery at beachside or poolside, or on a cruise ship's observation deck – quite a few, I would warrant.

Citizens of the modern nations of the Caribbean, by contrast, might find themselves looking elsewhere for their readings about the Caribbean – looking to books by Caribbean writers, books that deal with the region’s enduring problems of poverty, political corruption, income inequality, and the grim legacy of slavery and colonialism. What Christie gives us here is very much a visitor’s Caribbean, a tourist’s Caribbean – a vacation read; Caribbean characters, in this Caribbean novel, are generally relegated to the margins. A Caribbean Mystery fits firmly into a well-defined category of entertainment literature. Yet it is a salutary thing if the reader knows that there are other books out there that delve far, far more deeply into what it means to live one’s life in the Caribbean Basin.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ ½
Genre: Mystery + Classic

"A Caribbean Mystery" is a famous classic Agatha Christie mystery novel, featuring the beloved Miss Marple. This is the tenth book in the Marple series. The story is set on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Honore, where Miss Marple is vacationing at a luxury hotel. However, her peaceful holiday is interrupted when Major Palgrave is murdered in his hotel room, and the investigation that follows has a number of suspects, including a shady businessman, a resentful former employee, and even a family member with a motive for murder.

Throughout the course of the book, Miss Marple works with the local police to solve the mystery of Major Palgrave's murder. At the end of the book, a shocking and gratifying denouement reveals the name of the person who committed the crime. The storyline is highly captivating, and the author maintains an appealing atmosphere that is appropriate to the setting of the mystery that is being unraveled. In most of the books in the Miss Marple series, there is at least one other intriguing character to whom the author assigns humorous qualities. In this tale, Mr. Jason Rafiel is an elderly gentleman, and the conversation that he had with Miss Marple was one of my favorites. Both of the characters have a strong and interesting rapport with one another.

Although I cannot claim that this was my favorite Christie novel, it is certainly one of the more entertaining ones due to the fact that it is well-written and the mystery is engaging. However, the fact that you have to keep track of a large cast of individuals, particularly in the beginning, is the only potential negative that I can think of. If you give it some serious thought and are familiar with Christie's other works and her style of writing, you might be able to guess the surprise that comes at the very end.

Agatha Christie-ket legfeljebb akkor illik szerintem újraolvasni, amikor már nem emlékszünk, ki a gyilkos. Ez a könyv - ami emlékeim szerint kedvenc Miss Marple történetem volt, részben a filmnek köszönhetően - ennek a kritériumnak megfelelt. (Amúgy nyilván szintúgy a Szent Imre nefrológiai osztály könyvespolcának éke.) Ennek a szabálynak az a nem kalkulált előnye is megvan, hogy amikor az embernek menet közben mégis eszébe jut, ki a hunyó, egy pillanatra okosabbnak hiheti magát, mint a komplett nyomozóhatóság, Miss Marple-lel együtt.

Amúgy én a törékeny, ravasz kis Misst jobban kedvelem, mint Poirot-t. Az ugye itthon is általános, hogy idősebb falusi hölgyekbe komplett térfigyelő rendszert építenek be, de Miss Marple-be ezen felül egy high-tech elemző-értekelő szoftvert is telepítettek, ami úgy működik, hogy a hölgy szenzorosan érzékel holmi rejtélyt, mire az algoritmus futni kezd: a külső szemlélő ebből annyit érzékel, hogy Miss Marple többet fecseg és kötöget - de valójában nyomoz. Maga a nyomozás is szerintem tetszetős, a pletykák és híresztelések világában mozgunk, és ebből hangulatos kis pszichosztori kerekedik ki. De az hiszem, amiért én anno beleszerettem a történetbe, az (Marple személyén túl) a helyszín, maga az Antillák világa, meg a fények, amelyek mind a könyvet, mind a filmet teleragyogták. Azért is választottam ezt a címet, hátha ebből a ragyogásból most is háramlik majd rám pici, mert megérdemlem - és úgy is lett.

3,5 Me ha vuelto a engañar. Menos mal, porque la lectura de El truco de los espejos me había dejado algo decepcionado. Pero con Misterio en el Caribe no he visto venir al asesino ni de lejos. Y, curiosamente, también había dejado muchísimas pistas durante la novela. En historia, quizás, no es de mis favoritas de Agatha, pero en cuanto a conseguir despistarme con la solución ha sido de los mejores. Esta mujer es genial. El marcador va 9 a 1 gananado ella jajaja <3.

Re-read
Let’s face it, I shall re-read her to my dying days ;O)

“It's all very well to talk like that,” said Mr. Rafiel. “We, you say? What do you think I can do about it? I can't even walk without help. How can you and I set about preventing a murder? You're about a hundred and I'm a broken-up old crock.”

Humour is probably not something people associate with Agatha Christie but she did have plenty of it, and used it usually when portraying silly and arrogant people. A Caribbean Mystery sees our lovely Ms Marple in the West Indies, where nothing seems to happen when compared to St Mary's Mead, until of course there is a murder, and everyone is a potential suspect. Many red herrings take us on a variety of paths, but this time a clue is given near the beginning, which will allow some readers to actually find out who the murderer by the end is. That is if you don't let yourself be lead all over the place by our manipulative author.

I guess that Robert Thorogood, creator of Death In Paradise tv series and novels, had this book in mind :O)

حين يقول لك أقاربك ان ذلك الشخص لديه ماضي مشبوه لا ترتبط به.
استمع للنصيحة جيدا.....

20/janv/20 🌸
détective miss marpel

Books like this prove why Agatha Christie is the Queen of Crime. An excellent whodunit with a convoluted plot and several surprises.

Mientras la astuta anciana Miss Marple disfruta del sol caribeño en un gran resort recién adquirido por una pareja muy trabajadora, la anciana se siente ligeramente descontenta porque nunca pasa nada en el paraíso. Pero pronto, su queja es rectificada.

Un anciano octogenario quiere mostrarle la fotografía de un asesino, y pronto, él mismo está muerto antes de poder descifrar quien era el criminal.

Más tarde, hay otro asesinato. A partir de entonces la gallina vieja de Miss Marple comienza su peculiar investigación hablando con los turistas del resort y encajando piezas de aquí y allá, hasta dar con el verdadero culpable.

Todo ocurre muy deprisa, como con prisas. Es cierto que es un libro para leerlo en 1 o 2 días, pero me hubiera gustado disfrutar algo más de los diálogos de la anciana con los sospechosos. A pesar de eso, me ha vuelto a sorprender con el asesino.

Miss Marple does it again, this time while sunning at a Caribbean resort. A blowhard dies of natural causes, but Miss Marple is struck by the timing: blowhard claimed to have seen a murderer a day earlier. Assorted creepy and pathetic people, secret and twisted relationships, and greed drive this story to a worthy conclusion.

مرة أخرى تدلل لي اجاثا على غبائي😅

A Miss Marple holiday special!

Our favourite elderly spinster soon finds herself embroiled in another mystery whilst resting on holiday.
The trip was her nephews idea as the cold weather in St Mary's Mead has been effecting her health, it's there that she meets Major Palgrave who has plenty of stories to share.
Inevitably with Jane Marple the topic of murder arises and Palgrave had intended to show her a picture of someone who he believes has got away with murder on more than one occasion, only to change his mind.

When Palgrave turns up dead the following day, Jane instantly knows it was murder and everyone on the island soon becames a suspect.

I'll confess that I had some trepidation knowing where this story was set, there were definitely some stuck in its time elements.
I actually felt more disappointed that Christie didn't really transport me to that part of the world as effectively as some of her other novels.
Though I guess everything being set within a resort added to the stakes.

The mystery itself felt like a return to form for a later day Christie and while all the clues were presented fairly I was still baffled by the 'whodunit' for the majority of the story.