Marple Retrospective #4 - A Caribbean Mystery

Marple Retrospective #4 - A Caribbean Mystery

This was rather a fun novel, and not half bad as a mystery. I confess it stumped me - I actually  paused reading to consider the suspects when I knew the plot was coming to a head, and I guessed mostly wrong, although I got one correct accomplice/accessory, and I was generally correct with the motive. 

Miss Marple is getting older (one character tells her "you look about 100 years old") and is sent to the Caribbean for her health - the warm weather and sun, taking in the airs, etc. - and ends up at the fictional island of St Honore, which is depicted as somewhere near Trinidad. In real life, Agatha Christie spent some time in Barbados, and this is based loosely on that experience. 

There is a resort hotel with the usual cast of British expatriates, and right off the bat Miss Marple is told some old gossip about a murder, and then the person telling the gossip is, themselves, murdered in the night. How these old sins cast long shadows in these books! 

Marple is immediately suspicious and uses her usual "mousey, innocent old woman" act to get information that convinces her that foul play has happened. 

Well, foul play keeps happening, and she gets more and more aggressive and involved in her attempt to stop any further murders. One consequence of her increased participation is that one particularly astute resort guest - a Mr Rafiel (I assume pronounced "Raphael" like the painter) - realizes she is, in fact, a murder genius and has put many of the pieces together. 

The last third of the book is the best, because she joins forces with this rich old wheelchair-bound man - who is quite a character and is well-written - and they bounce theories off each other about what is happening and why ... Marple takes a fairly direct hand in the events, much more than usual, and she does solve the crime. 

I have often noted that Christie struggles with effectively describing exotic locales. When he places a book in Iraq, or Serbia, or Egypt, you can sometimes forget because she tends to offer little in the way of details, doesn't always set the scene. Her books can feel like English villages that have magically transposed themselves to foreign countries. 

Here, happily, you do get lots and lots of Caribbean influence: rum punch is served with every meal (limeade for the non-drinkers); hibiscus bushes abound; a steel band plays at the resort pavilion every night; everyone relaxes at the beach; the heat is frequently referenced. I quite enjoyed this.

As for the mechanics of the mystery itself, although I was satisfied in the end, I would classify it right in the middle of her work - it's not a classic plot like Orient Express or Five Little Pigs, but it's certainly not one of the worst plots either. 

I will deduct a point or two for some racist caricatures of the Caribbean natives (who tend to talk in embarrassing pidgin English - "Woman, you no talk that. Bad mojo. Trouble come you.")  and a particularly nasty portrayal of a South American woman. 

I'm going to move the other Marple novel Body in the Library up in the rankings to reflect its relative position, and put this lumped generally in the middle of the middle. 

A fun read, and worth exploring if you like Marple or travel mysteries.