Agatha Christie

Book Review: Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel by Lucy Foley

Posted on by Libby Price

I realised it’s been over 11 years since I read my first book by this author, and I have thoroughly enjoyed Lucy Foley’s back catalogue, and so requesting her new novel from Net Galley was done without reading the blurb. I have always found them incredibly well written, with real literary clout, despite modern storylines. I’ve always enjoyed the stories being told from multiple perspectives and timelines. So it was a surprise when I found out that this was a Miss Marple mystery – but I can see that Lucy Foley would be the perfect person to pick up Agatha Christie’s mantel, as her books have always had a similar air about them.

Here is the blurb:

“High in the Swiss Alps, with glorious mountain views and exclusive access to powdery slopes, the Grand Alpine Hotel draws guests from far and wide.
The notorious actress
The high-flying politician
The inscrutable political wife
The reckless friend
The shrewd doctor
But when a guest enters a gondola alive, only to be found dead at the top of the mountain, it’s clear there’s a killer in their midst.
As tensions rise, and old grudges emerge like cracks in the ice, someone watches from the shadows. An unassuming woman with an extraordinary mind: Miss Marple.
She suspects everyone in the hotel, and she’s right to. For it isn’t just a question of who has a motive, but who’s next…
Arriving 50 years after Agatha Christie’s last MISS MARPLE novel was published, Lucy Foley’s Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel is a landmark event.“

I enjoyed the book from the start. As with Ms Foley’s more recent books – it has a ‘closed set’ feel, with the murder needing to be solved by a small group of people – how lucky that Miss Marple was one of these at the amazing hotel in the Swiss Alps!! It was nice to see she’d escaped St Mary Mead for a change.

The book twists and turns – and it wasn’t immediately obvious who either the victim or murderer would be – which I enjoyed.

The chapters were quite short so you could pick up and put down the book – and romp through it at quite a pace.

As with all of this author’s books – it was eloquently written, and really evocative of the setting. I always feel Ms Foley’s books are well researched and presented.

I think the author and Miss Marple are excellent bedfellows – and thoroughly enjoyed the book. I’ve been a little late in writing my blog post due to #life – so if you like the sound of it, then it is out already! It’s had loads of publicity (it was all over the London Underground when we were there during half term) so you might have spied it already – but now it has my recommendation to add to any others you’ve read!

Thank you to the publishers and Net Galley for my advance review copy.

Book Review: A Meditation on Murder by Robert Thorogood

Posted on by Libby Price

I was offered a copy of this by Mumsnet to review – and never one to turn down the opportunity of a free book – I jumped at the chance.

A Meditation on Murder

I must confess at this point that I have never watched the BBC series ‘Death in Paradise’ – it has always struck me as something my 86 year old Nan would like – real ‘Sunday night telly’ in the style of Bergerac but on a slightly more exotic island than Jersey. (Got to love a 1980s TV reference!) However – I’ve seen enough trailers to know what the original main cast looked like – and their mugshots are also on the back of the book – so the characters were immediately pictured in my head.

Here’s what Amazon says about it (and it’s pretty much the first page of the book too).

“An original story from the creator and writer of the hit BBC One TV series, Death in Paradise, featuring on-screen favourite detective, DI Richard Poole.

Enhance your enjoyment of the series as, for the first time, Robert Thorogood brings the characters to life on the page in an all-new locked-room mystery.

Aslan Kennedy has an idyllic life: leader of a spiritual retreat for wealthy holidaymakers on one of the Caribbean’s most unspoilt islands, Saint Marie. Until he’s murdered, that is. The case seems open and shut: when Aslan was killed he was inside a locked room with only five other people, one of whom has already confessed to the murder.

Detective Inspector Richard Poole is hot, bothered, and fed up with talking to witnesses who’d rather discuss his ‘aura’ than their whereabouts at the time of the murder. But he also knows that the facts of the case don’t quite stack up. In fact, he’s convinced that the person who’s just confessed to the murder is the one person who couldn’t have done it. Determined to track down the real killer, DI Poole is soon on the trail, and no stone will be left unturned.”

You are immediately transported to a spiritual retreat in the Caribbean – having been to a similar place in St Lucia, I could really imagine being there (rather than in a slightly damp West Midlands which is where I was actually reading the book).  The author really evokes the feeling of the tropical island throughout the book.

The prologue sets the scene (and at the end of the book I had to go back and read it again to see if I’d missed any clues) but within a few pages the murder has been committed and Aslan is dead.  The story then follows the murder investigation.

DI Richard Poole (a UK police officer now based in the Caribbean) hates the sun, sand and sea and living in Saint Marie.  His people skills are rubbish – but I must admit to really liking him.  His geekiness, analytical mind and sand-phobia all making him rather similar to me………

I have to say that I did guess the means of the murder very early on – if not the definite culprit or the reasons why – and I found myself shouting at the book a bit because neither the DI or his colleagues had sussed it out.

There are loads of twists and turns, with red herrings and seemingly random bits (the removal of the lizard from Richard’s ‘house’?) – but I can see how it would make great TV. In fact it almost feels like it’s been written for the TV rather than as a book.  There are a few places where the plot to date is summarised – like it’s the start of a new episode.  One thing I did really like is that at a three or four junctures in the book, the contents of the white board in the police station are written down giving details of the victim, suspects etc – and that was great – and I guess something, as a reader, you are always doing in your head.

The conclusion of the book comes quite quickly – and all the loose ends are very cleverly wrapped up.

Overall I did enjoy the book.  It was very ‘nice’ and ‘harmless’ in the traditional style of an Agatha Christie or Murder She Wrote episode. It was well written, excellent at bringing about the character of the Caribbean and concluded well.  It made a nice change from some of the more psychological and graphic thrillers that seem to be the genre of the moment. A pleasant, easy summer read.

Now maybe I’ll lend it to my 86 year old Nan…………