A Caribbean Mystery (1964)
Blurb:
My review:
There is a rather modern feel to this book, with references to sex and perversion on the first two pages, half the characters up to their necks in murder and adultery, and others suffering from nervous breakdowns or the effects of drugs. When one considers that this is set in the Caribbean (West Indies), one is reminded of Dr. No more than of Murder on the Orient Express. Miss Marple takes this all in her stride (having spent her life investigating her neighbours' peccadilloes), and concentrates on the murder of a retired soldier who may have identified a fellow guest as a murderer, dithering throughout until she sheds her air of ineffectuality and becomes a rather improbable Nemesis. The book is very short for Christie, novella-length rather than novel, but makes the most of its length: the sudden shift in pace, and the great number of events, in the last thirty pages adds a greater sense of urgency to the tale, something lacking from the more rambling, incoherent and progressively senile later works.