Nemesis

On one hand, Agatha Christie\’s 1971 \”Miss Marple\” novel, \” Nemesis: A Miss Marple Mystery (Miss Marple Mysteries Book 12) ,\” is one of the best \”Miss Marple\” books she wrote. On the other hand, it suffers from a pretty big deficiency in the mystery surrounding the actual, original, murder. Starting with the positive, the mystery surrounding what Miss Marple\’s supposed to be doing in this book is excellent. It\’s very well written and interesting. Moving on to the less-than-stellar aspect, once things get going, the final result becomes pretty obvious. But, who knows, maybe I\’ve just grown accustomed to how Christie writes these things. And then the negative. This book was first published in 1971. At that time, things like birth certificates, photographs, footprints, fingerprints, and dental records existed and were used by the police. Difficulty in identifying bodies should not be as important as described here. It weakens the story. Still the story is well done and enjoyable. So, I\’m rating the book at a Very Good 4 stars out of 5.

In this installment of the Miss Marple series, Miss Marple has been given a rather unique mystery to solve: one with very little details or clues. To begin, she has to figure out exactly what it is that needs to be solved, and then proceed. She is given details and notes from the late Mr. Rafiel which direct her somewhat, but she has to trust her own intuition to figure out what course of action to take. Mr. Rafiel has provided her the opportunity to go on a tour of famous British houses, and this is where small clues and ideas begin to form. There are fourteen other people on the tour with her, and she begins to take inventory of who they are. Little by little, small hints reveal themselves to her, and she begins to form a small idea of Rafiel’s intentions. When a mysterious “accident” happens, she tries to piece together who did it, and, furthermore, why it was done. She must discover who are friends, and who are enemies, in order to see this mystery solved. As usual with Christie, a very enjoyable read. That being said, I tend to like the Poirot mysteries a little better, and it was a little bit of a slow crawl the first portion of the book. For that reason, I don’t think Nemesis quite ranks with some of Christie’s top notch mysteries. Definitely a little darker than most of her work.

Mr. Rafiel first encountered in the Carribean Mystery has set a challenge for Miss Marple. He wishes her to become Nemesis, by solving a crime from the past. When Miss Marple first receives the request she is supplied with no information, but after she agrees she receives an invitation for a bus tour that will include Famous houses and gardens. The mystery from the past involves the death of a young woman who was planning on marrying Mr. Rafiel son. I enjoyed the plot in this book and the supporting characters were great, my favorite was Professor Wanstead. When you read a book from another time, This one was written in 1971, you have to take into account that opinions have changed. The references to how a woman behaved and how parents wanted their daughters to cry rape so they would not be thought of as loose was definitely not my favorite part of the book. The solution to the crime and the reasons behind it was incredible. Agatha Christie definitely has some dated ideas in her books but the attraction to her books remains because of her tremendous talent.

This is one of the better Miss Marple mysteries. It does get a little repetitive, at times but overall, is a good read. I thought it was interesting the way it tied in with one of her former cases & was almost like a scavenger hunt. The culprit was somewhat obvious but there are several red herrings, if you will, that sort of cast doubt on my original guess. I really enjoyed this one. Only one left to go in the series!

This story picks up where A Caribbean Mystery left off. Miss Marple\’s collaborator in that mystery sends her a mysterious letter asking her to solve a mystery, but gives her no clues. The gentleman has died and wants Miss Marple\’s help putting the scales of justice back in balance. She will inherit a substantial sum of money from him if she can solve the case. She is sent on a mysterious bus tour of English historic homes and gardens with a group of fellow tourists one of whom is murdered. Miss Marple is on her own, so she thinks. A great mystery by the Queen of Mystery writers.

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