A Caribbean Mystery

Rating:
Summary: Don't make it your fist
Review: ..Agatha Christie to read.

This is not a good example of her writing. The pace was slow, the characters were a bit too "cookie cutter" and it didn't contain any of the wonderful puzzles that AC is well known for.

Miss Marple is on a Carribbean vacation, where, suprise, a murder occurs. Or is it murder? Only Miss Marple can solve the mystery.

Is anyone really suprised that the happy couple really aren't? Is anyone really suprised that characters aren't what they appear? This book was too stereotypical for me. AC is not an author strong on character development, however she usually does a better job than this. Similarly, she sends Miss Marple to an exotic locale, then barely describes it or utilizes the locale for differences in her writing. It could just as easily have taken place in St. Mary Mead.

If you're an AC fan, you may like this book. I found it readable, but not great. If you're looking for a "classic" AC, try something else: And then there were none, Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, or The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Don't get this book unless/until you're a bonafide fan.

Rating:
Summary: Caution!This Book Could Make You A Mystery Addict, too!
Review: Caution!This Book Could Make You A Mystery Addict, too!
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I first read "A Caribbean Mystery" at age 12, when we were away from our home in Boston, MA, and staying in Israel for a year's sabbatical. I was desperate for anything in English to read and resorted to my mother's paperback mystery collection. I was so excited and intrigued by this story, that it started me on a Mystery book addiction, now going on 32 years worth of mystery reading.
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I remember the chill down my spine at the intricacy and "rightness" of the solution to the mystery. The story is very simple. Agatha Christie's sleuth Miss Marple has been sent on a vacation to the Caribbean, supposedly to relax, by her wealthy nephew. She meets an interesting group of fellow travelers at her hotel, and watches them carefully. A retired Military gentleman is ruffling the other guests feathers in his blunt way, and is with a group that includes most all of them when he is suddenly very upset by something he has seen or heard. When he becomes the victim of murder, Miss Marple must deduce what it was that had affected him so, in order to find the killer.
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This is a wonderfully entertaining example of the "Classic" mystery, with a fixed group of suspects, a circumscribed location, and a wonderful sleuth to follow. I like Helen Hayes in the movie adaptations of Miss Marple. She seems as endearing, and as seemingly muddle headed, shy, and retiring as the Miss Marple of the story.
This book follows the unwritten rules that the clues were there all along, but you just don't see them, until the case solution is revealed.
On reading the solution to this neatly done mystery, I felt that spine tingling sensation- and it remains the standard that I use to judge the success of a mystery.
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You don't have to be new to mystery stories to enjoy this light, easily read, entertaining book. You don't even have to be new to Miss Marple. Any mystery story lover will find this a nice, light but satisfying read.

Rating:
Summary: The best Marple outing
Review: I find that my favourite Agatha Christie books are the ones set away from the normal places. (Death on The Nile, Appointment With Death, Death in the Clouds, Murder in Mesopotamia, Death Comes As The End, etc) This one is set, as the title suggests, in the Caribbean.

The unusual settings ALWAYS enhance Christie's stories. Normally, they are excellent mysteries, but when she sets them in uncharted territory, you have the extra dimension of the unusual setting, which adds to the atmosphere of the book, and the overall satisfaction of the plot. I cannot explain it very well, really.

This book is raised above the excellent Miss Marple norm by being set elsewhere, in the parching heat of the carribean, where relaxing and enjoying the sun should be the order of the day, not cold-blooded murder. But, this is an Agatha Christie novel, and she is no respector of venue.

The plot is excellent. Some of her Marple mysteries tend towards the tedious and boring, with very little real excitement or action. This one breaks that trend. there is action a-plenty, violent death, vicious murder, intriguing characters, intrigueing murders, the whole cavalcade.

Marple is at her best here, and Christie's solution is unexpected, and very good. There are also some really excellent characters. The colonel, and Mr Rafiel, to name just two. Well drawn and interesting, they both add strength to the plot, ...

Rating:
Summary: Mix up a Planter's Punch or Fresh Lime!!!
Review: I read this book when I was younger and am now re-reading it. Partly because it is an enjoyable book, but partly because it has been so cold and snowy where I live and I wanted to read a book about a warm, tropical place. It's one of my AC favourites, despite some of the characters being too stereotypical... , it's tropical and fun. Enjoy!!!

Rating:
Summary: One of AC's best mysteries
Review: Miss Marple escapes the rigors of an English winter, thanks to her nephew, the successful mystery writer Raymond West. He has sent Jane on a Caribbean vacation and it is at the Golden Palm Hotel on St. Honore that we find her with her ever-present knitting needles. After the eventful life she has led in St. Mary Mead, however, Miss Marple finds the island life a bit boring. But all that is about to change rather quickly. It begins one day when another elderly guest, Major Palgrave, is about to show Miss Marple a photograph of someone he claims is a murderer who got away. He stops short when four other guests approach, any of whom may have heard the conversation. A chambermaid telling tales and two murders are pivotal in this mystery that Miss Marple solves with her usual shrewd detection skills. Notable to this book is the introduction of Jason Rafiel, an ill, rude, and extremely rich guest we will hear of again in "Nemesis." He recognizes in Miss Marple a kindred spirit and together they form an effective partnership which prevents further murders.

Rating:
Summary: Miss Marple on Vacation....death follows
Review: Miss Marple is once again on holiday due to the kindness and generosity of her nephew. Where Miss Marple goes, death seems to follow,even on a Caribbean vacation. This is a real fun Christie, with a good plot, exotic (for that time, anyway) locale, good characters and good detective work by Miss Marple. Excellent reading,highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Out Of Her Element
Review: Miss Marple is sent to the West Indies by her nephew Raymond West who hopes the sunshine will help her rheumatism and speed her recovery from a touch of pneumonia. While there, she stays at the Golden Palm Hotel. In a conversation with retired Major Palgrave, she hears a story about a murderer who may be nearby. The discussion is interrupted and before Miss Marple can learn more the Major is murdered. She sets out to solve the mystery utilizing her best weapon which is conversation. Away from St. Mary Meade or similar environments, however, Miss Marple is out of her element and without her usual friends and contacts to discuss the case.

Rating:
Summary: Ave Caesar, ...
Review: So hailed of Ms Marple by Mr Rafiel, eccentric wealthy old man who was to feature in a later Agatha Christie mystery titled "Nemesis". To readers of this review, I mention this because I read Nemesis before this book and therefore could easily eliminate several characters from the list of potential suspects.

Ms Marple's brain could not rest even though she was supposed to be on vacation in a beautiful Caribbean resort, courtesy of her nephew Raymond. Just the day before, the retired Major Palgrave was yakking away to her his life experiences, the following day, he was found dead in his room. The verdict was heart attack, which Ms Marple found strange as the major had no history of heart problems. Or could it be related to the photograph of a murderer whom he was about to show her but changed his mind hastily?

Though set in the tropical West Indies, the background was quite incidental, similar to a number of Christie's other tales set in exotic locations. A failing of Christie in these books was to cause the rich background to fade to near obscurity. Perhaps this was her method to train the focus of the readers to the characters, underlining the customary emphasis of Hercule Poirot and Ms Marple that to understand a murder, one must look into the people, their character and their interpersonal interaction. While a legitimate claim, nevertheless, such an approach would render the titles of these books near to the category of false or misleading advertisement.

Another disconcerting feature of the book was the readers were offered many glimpses of happenings not available to Ms Marple. Thus while the clues were in abundance to the readers, they were not supposed to be so to Ms Marple. However, Christie revealed some of these information to Ms Marple in almost a ridiculous manner, female gossip.

As an avid reader of her mystery book, I pit my armchair detective prowess against the array of pieces presented and my correctly deducing the answers were not as satisfactory as I considered this one of the less hard mystery. The pattern is clearly discernible, one just needs to know where to look.

Rating:
Summary: Russia loved it!!!!
Review: This mystery is taking place on the Caribbean at Golden Palm Hotel. Miss Marple was supposed to be on vacation. One old major knew who the killer was but he talked to wrong people and he died. Everybody thought it was a heart attack that major died of, but then it became the big mystery. Miss. Marple comes for help and solves the mystery that was full of lies and rumors. This mystery would be really interesting for teenagers and adults because of its unusual plot. ****