Black Dog & Leventhal, 1964
221 pages
Miss Marple Mystery
4/5 stars
Source: Bought
Summary: Major Palgrave is a typical retired army Britisher who know spends his time sharing the stories of his life. One day in the Caribbean, he is about to share a photo of a murderer with Miss Marple but he suddenly hides it. The next day he is dead. She realizes that something is going on and that she may be the perfect person to solve who did it.
Thoughts: I thought this was a pretty good Marple. Again she is underestimated by most of the people around her because she is an elderly woman who blathers. But they are wrong of course and she does figure it all out. It was very interesting to see the part that rumors played in this novel as they serve to confuse the characters and the reader.
The characters are very colorful: Major Palgrave, Mr Rafiel, the Kendalls, the Prescotts, the Dysons, and the Hillingdons, among others. Rafiel proves to be an important ally to Miss Marple as they are both on the ball in hunting down the killer before s/he can strike again. Molly Kendall seemed like such a sweet lady and she was probably one of my favorites.
I did not figure out the murderer but I did figure out part of the mystery (I also did not like that that person was the murderer because I liked him/her). SPOILER (highlight to read) I guessed that Molly was being gaslighted and she was! END SPOILER
Overall: Fun story although not her best.
Cover: I love the purple!
Great premise! The major about to show a photograph of a murderer, then suddenly changing his mind and ending up being murdered himself. Very intriguing!
ReplyDeleteThe cover is great. I really love the covers of the editions of Christie novels you read. Very cool covers.