Book #52 of 2024:
Nemesis by Agatha Christie (Miss Marple #12)
This 1971 title was the last Miss Marple novel that author Agatha Christie ever wrote, although Sleeping Murder, published posthumously in 1976, was the final entry in the series to be released. It functions as a fairly direct sequel to #9 A Caribbean Mystery, featuring the quasi-return of its major supporting character Jason Rafiel. That qualifier is because he’s dead at the start of this one — but remembering how he and Jane Marple previously collaborated as amateur detectives, he has left behind a request in his will for her to now turn her investigative attentions to a certain delicate issue. You don’t necessarily have to have read the earlier volume, as there are no relevant clues to be found there, but the extra background context and impression of light continuity are both nice if you have.
The worst thing about this story is that the exact nature and specifics of the immediate case remain vague for far too long. The old spinster eventually puzzles out what her deceased associate wanted her to look into, but the text never really justifies why he couldn’t spell it out for her or discuss it while he was still alive (or even whether he already had a suspect in mind). He’s certainly made all sorts of other arrangements to help her on her way: letters sent, tickets purchased, lodging reserved, assistants recruited, and so on. But for some reason, his instructions don’t just come out and tell her about the crime(s) she’s supposed to investigate, and the book is a little tedious before she’s solved that initial mystery and can focus in on the real one.
Once we get to the heart of the matter, it’s classic Christie for better and worse. The social commentary complaining about young people is dreadful. There’s rape apologia, homophobia, and an implausible homicide-by-falling-boulder, but also a few genuinely clever twists and a fun confrontation with the ultimate villain of the piece. The protagonist and her writer are each sharp as ever, despite their respective advanced ages (Dame Agatha being 81 at this point and Marple having somehow remained perpetually elderly across the four decades since her first appearance). It’s definitely not a high watermark or meaningful sendoff for the character, but it’s not the clunker that it could have been, either.
★★★☆☆
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