A Caribbean Mystery (utgåvan 1992)

Classic Christie mystery with an old lady getting the information by pretending to just be knitting but in reality observing and learning. Nice thinking conversation with old, wealthy, Mr. Rafael at the ways to think thru a problem. Liked the solution to the murders that occured. ( )

In which a pleasant holiday unites Miss Marple with a gruff millionaire and a long-forgotten murder… which leads to a new one.

"A Caribbean Mystery" is a lesser Christie novel, barely worthy of praise. As with the loose-sequel, "Nemesis", this novel at least sees Miss Marple do a bit of investigating (which oddly doesn’t happen much in her better works), but the setting is about the only thing of interest here. The inimitable millionaire Jason Rafiel is a fascinating character, but he isn’t really connected to the murder in any useful way, so turns out to be neither here nor there. The rest of the characters are perfunctory and – while the actual solution is still surprising – we know from the start roughly where our suspicions should lie, so the playing field isn’t as wide as Christie would have us believe.

The Joan Hickson adaptation is quite varied in style, but ultimately is not one of my favourites – coming late in the series’ run, when even Hickson was tiring. (Understandably, as she was in her 80s!) I’d recommend starting with one of the early Marple novels, and leave this until you’re stuck somewhere on holiday. At least it will be thematic.

Marple Ranking: 12th out of 14 ( )

One of the best of the Miss Marple series. Miss Marple has taken a trip to teh Caribbean, courtesy of her adoring and worried nephew, after a serious illness the winter before. Of course, murder is not far behind as an annoying but harmless old military man, Major Paulgrave, dies after telling Miss Marple a story about a murder he had heard about. Suspecting something, Miss Marple investigates. This is one of the few where we get inside the thoughts of Miss Marples head and she narriates most of the story. Classic! ( )

Not one of her greatest, nor worst. Weak mystery, a few good lines and a so-so atmosphere. ( )

The full cast audio recordings the BBC releases of these stories are the best. ( )