This month for the Read Christie 2025 challenge, the theme is ‘amateurs’ and although I’ve read the suggested title, Crooked House, quite recently, there were some alternatives that I haven’t already read – including this one, A Caribbean Mystery. Published in 1964, it’s one of the later entries in the Miss Marple series and not one that had really appealed to me; Miss Marple belongs in St Mary Mead and it seemed incongruous to put her in a Caribbean setting! Now that I’ve read it, though, I can say that although it’s maybe not one of my absolute favourite Christie novels, I did really enjoy it.
You may be wondering why Miss Marple is in the Caribbean. Well, it seems she has been ill and her nephew Raymond has paid for her to spend some time recuperating in the sun on the island of St Honoré. Miss Marple is grateful, of course, and is enjoying the warmth and the scenery, but she’s also beginning to feel bored – every day is the same as the one before and nothing ever really seems to happen! This all changes when she falls into conversation with Major Palgrave, an elderly man staying at her hotel, who tells her a story about a man who got away with murder several times. He asks her if she wants to see a picture of a murderer but as he begins to dig out the snapshot, he suddenly stops abruptly and changes the subject as other people approach.
The next day, Major Palgrave is found dead in his room. High blood pressure is blamed, but Miss Marple is convinced he’s been murdered and that there’s some connection with the photo he was about to show her. To add to her suspicions, the photo now seems to have disappeared from the Major’s belongings. It seems likely that the murderer is one of the other guests, but which one? The most likely suspects seem to be the Dysons, Greg and Lucky, and their friends Edward and Evelyn Hillingdon, two nature loving couples who often travel together and who had been walking up the beach towards Major Palgrave as he told Miss Marple his story. But there are others who can’t be ruled out, including the Kendals, who own the hotel; Canon Prescott and his sister; and Mr Rafiel, an old man confined to a wheelchair, visiting the island with his masseur and his secretary.
I found this a very enjoyable mystery; it’s not one of Christie’s more complex plots but there’s some clever misdirection to send the reader along the wrong track. The first murder takes place early in the novel and the story continues to unfold at a steady pace after that, so it held my interest from beginning to end. Miss Marple also plays a big role, in contrast to some of the other books where we see very little of her. This time, she’s present for the entire novel, interacting with the suspects and victims and sharing her thoughts and deductions with the people she believes she can trust. As usual, people underestimate Miss Marple, dismissing her as a ‘fluffy old lady’, but in time some of them come to see that there’s far more to her than meets the eye!
Some of the characters in this book reappear or are referred to again in the later novel Nemesis, published in 1971. I read that one a few years ago, so it was nice to see how those characters were originally introduced and how Miss Marple gained her nickname ‘Nemesis’. I should probably have read the two books in the correct order as it also meant that I could quickly discount those two recurring characters as serious suspects, but it didn’t really matter. Now I’m looking forward to reading Christie’s memoir Come, Tell Me How You Live for Read Christie in July!
Book 4/20 for 20 Books of Summer 2025.
She Reads Novels 
This one hasn’t really appealed to me either but you make a convincing case and I’m glad she’s in it all the way through, she’s always the character I want to see the most of. I’m going to try and read The Crooked House before the end of the month, I’ve missed reading Christie for the last month or so!
Yes, some of the other books in the series have had a disappointingly small role for Miss Marple, but she’s in this one from the first chapter to the last. Crooked House is great as well, but I read it just a few years ago and didn’t want to re-read it already!
I enjoy this too, even though it’s later Christie and Miss Marple is out of her comfort zone!
I find in general the later Christies are often not as strong as the earlier ones, but this was a really good one – and it was interesting to see Miss Marple in such a different setting!
Ooh, tempting, and especially as Nemesis was the first ever Christie I read way back in the early 70s … and very nearly my last!
Now, a question. In the TV series ‘Death in Paradise’ the capital of the Caribbean island of Saint Marie is called Honoré; given that each programme’s format results in the principal suspects brought together at the end to have the guilty party revealed – a very Christie-like device of course – did the series creator pinch Christie’s St Honoré island’s name for the capital? And is the island itself called Saint Marie in honour of St Mary Mead?
I’m sure some DiP nerds will have an opinion on that, or may even have voiced the link years ago!
Nemesis is probably the weakest of the Miss Marple novels I’ve read and definitely not the ideal place to start!
I haven’t watched a lot of Death in Paradise, but the Wikipedia entry for this book states that the town of Honoré is named after Christie’s St Honoré – but doesn’t actually provide a reference, which is frustrating!
Nemesis not the best place to start then and then nearly finish! Anyway, glad my hunch about Honoré proved correct. 🙂
I thought this one was okay, which is essentially what you are saying. I keep getting it mixed up with the TV version, though, which I think might have a different murderer (but maybe not).
Yes, I enjoyed it but it’s not one of her best books.
I like this one too, although like you I don’t feel it’s really the kind of setting we expect for a Miss Marple novel. But I do like the clue that leads to the solution!
The thought of Miss Marple in the Caribbean just seemed wrong to me, but I enjoyed the book much more than I expected. Yes, that clue is great – very clever!
I definitely need to get back on the Miss Marple train… I *miss* the old dear….. [grin]
I love Miss Marple! I’ve only got one more left to read now, I think, plus some short story collections.