Love this one too! You make such a good point about it not being as tied to the time in which it's set necessarily, which is also reminiscent of her earlier stories too. Also got a kick out of her attempting to read that modern novel in the beginning 😂.
I had trouble caring about the filler couples and their intrigues. Perhaps due to them seeming like cardboard figures propped up as stage decoration. I missed the typical St. Mary Mead sort of cast. As you pointed out, Christie used them as distractions or red herrings to sway her readers from the clear-cut path to the solution we should remember from that early revelation. As a detective story veteran, I never let go of that early knowledge of who the killer had to be. Lacking the typical village charm of a normal Marple, this one was never to be re-read by me. I love it when you point out common Christie tropes used across her stories. I don't care about spoilers in the least so that part of your reviews is always appreciated.
Yeah; I too think this is an excellent Christie. I love how she makes sort of gentle fun of Raymond , his novels, and his complete naivety. Miss Marple is a very canny old lady, who’s very aware of the strength of sexual motives. I also love the misdirection in this one. As one becomes more and more familiar with Christie’s work, one sees lots of repeated plot devices, but somehow she makes them entertaining almost every time. I’m living bing your Christie videos.
I love A Caribbean Mystery, and I don’t think it gets the love it deserves. Miss Marple might be ancient now, but she still has a mind like a bacon slicer 🥰
please do not take offence but ill try to give you something of england ireland around the time of miss marple. The class system is really a rigid thing based upon old wealth , contributions to society a strong family reputation, being super rich does not always play into it it may be that you are almost penniless but historically your family had an era of wealth. it not like modern rich and you now have permission to become a member. lots of english britain was poor hardworking and made a reasoanable comfortable life by becoming a maid a cook a butler for a wealthy family i e free bed and board free meals good clothes and being well looked after in a fond way depending on the family. things like funding for some child to get educated or damaged property repairs during a storm and a good wage which could easily be saved due to the other things this is what Agatha Christie is about not that she is having any sside to the argument where she believes its great to be looked after by indentured servants.
When I started reading Christie, I loved Poirot but felt Miss Marple was a bit boring. The older I get, the more I enjoy Miss Marple and especially her comments about human relationships. Carribean mystery is one of my favourites, too.
This book caused me to start reading Miss Marple again :D And I've actually enjoyed At Bertram's hotel, Nemesis, Murder at the Vicarage more than this. Looking forward to more Miss Marple! Agreed. I don't like the way she handles and describes people with mental illness, neurotic people, paranoia.
I listened to half of this and read the second half. The wonderful Emilia Fox does a great job on the audio book. I hadn't remembered how short this novel is! I really enjoyed it all, especially because we see so much of what Miss Marple is thinking, and how bored she is with nothing to investigate! She is very aware that her main interest in life is solving mysteries, whether it be small matters or multiple murders. Christie lays her clues and her traps with as much mastery as ever. I remember the first time I read this, she totally fooled me. A real highlight of Mission Marple. I'm not looking forward to the next couple, have to say.
She is very self-aware that her main enjoyment is eavesdropping & solving puzzles... good on her, she's like 90 something, so she should do exactly as she pleases! :) Yeah, the next 2 are rough :/
I think it is one of the good ones, and it films very well. Feels a bit more modern-breezy than some of her others. It’s a good reference bringing Rafiel into ‘Nemesis’ and that one films well also. At Bertram’s Hotel is one of my faves so I do think she had some good novels after Caribbean Mystery. Read on! Plus - there is a Murder She Wrote episode that very closely resembles ‘Caribbean Mystery’ - so there’s that!!!
Christie has a few story concepts that she enjoys repeating. In this instance,she reuses a plot element from the previous Marple book: someone looks over someone else's shoulder,and reacts badly to whatever it is that they can see - which turns out to be not what we originally thought it was. In the next book,she sort of reuses a concept from Orient Express - and not at all well,imo.
On the young women greasy hair thing Agatha is mourning that good old english values like education , being well groomed well spoken in a grammtically correct kind of way , she mourns that these things are crumbling that modern society hasnt brought these young people up well and what will befall the future england and being too liberal with pop attitutdes like hostels , drugs backpacking ,psychology greasy hair is seen as a crumbling of structure and too hippy. mostly she is a cold observer not being emotional and having an aggenda.
On old women in villages and gossip and detailed connections via relationships, often women were bored while men worked or did their business so they met talked shared speculations to spice up the day one of these type of things is for someone to bring up the family cousins or that so and sos in-laws were related to such and suches uncle who invented a new ball bearing for the car industry its just part of village life the oohs and ahhs when these listening women are shcked and make a connection with some observation that they hadnt done before evenif the evidence was sitting there in the back of their minds
I feel like a fan of Agatha cuz I eat up the adaptations done by BBC like it's my job, but I've only read one Poirot and some of her non-fic about her time with her hubby on digs.....what I'm saying is, I'm a fake fan =( educate me, oh my beauteous real fan!
Sounds like a real fan to me!! I mean, if you want to read more of her books, I wholeheartedly support that, but you can just enjoy the adaptations if that's what you're interested in :)
