Rating
Blurb
A holiday in London draws Miss Marple to Bertram's Hotel, where she can indulge herself in all the comforts of a bygone era. But she senses that something sinister lurks beneath the well-polished veneer ...
My thought
Bertram's Hotel in London, where Miss Marple is staying, has an old world charm and atmosphere. But beneath the placid surface, something sinister is brewing... Interesting, with two or three sub-plots tying in with the main plot. The story proceeds in phases, with the scene of action shifting from one locale to another, but coming back to the hotel. And that is how the novel is best read--in phases, rather than in one sitting. The weak point is the references to organised crime, and the chapter about a meeting in Scotland Yard, both of which ring false. But they take up little space, and the story retains its interest. This is my second favorite Miss Marple mystery (my most loved being Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side), and rightly so. The mystery itself isn't much of a mind boggler - although not easy to figure out, once the solution is presented it's not as neat and clean as most of Agatha Christie's novels. However, I did love this book because of the descriptions. Usually, I'm not a fan of scenery details - what a bouquet of flowers looked like as the light was striking it doesn't really capture my attention, I'd much rather get on with the book. Not so with this novel. In fact, the way Christie portrayed the hotel made me love a book that I otherwise wouldn't have enjoyed. If I read this novel before lunch, I'd become hungry for some English muffins. If I read it in a comfy sofa at home, I'd want to fall asleep in it like one of the old fashioned Bertram high chairs. The descriptions made me fall in love with this book, and I'd gladly read it again - if not for the mystery, then for the muffins.
 by Agatha Christie){kind=link}