A Caribbean Mystery
Dust-jacket illustration of the first UK edition
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| Author | Agatha Christie |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Crime novel |
| Published | 16 November 1964 (Collins Crime Club) |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 256 pp (first edition, hardcover) |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | The Clocks (novel) |
| Followed by | Star Over Bethlehem and other stories |
A Caribbean Mystery is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 16 November 1964 and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at sixteen shillings (16/-) and the US edition at $4.50. It features the detective Miss Marple.
Two of the major characters reappear in the novel Nemesis, published in 1971 and the last novel to be written featuring Miss Marple. Jason Rafiel reappears posthumously, and his assistant Esther Walters assists Miss Marple in the early chapters of the subsequent story.
This story takes place at the Golden Palm resort on the Caribbean island of St Honoré. Miss Marple's nephew has paid for her to holiday there after a bout of ill health - but she is bored. She is approached by Major Palgrave, a garrulous man avoided by the other guests due to his long-winded stories. She sits, half listening, until Major Palgrave tells a story about a man who got away with murder more than once. When Palgrave asks her if she wants to see a picture of a murderer, she listens intently - but after he fishes through his wallet for the photo, he suddenly changes the subject. Miss Marple looks up to see why and sees several people nearby.
The next day, when the maid Victoria finds Major Palgrave dead in his room, Miss Marple becomes convinced he was murdered. She asks Dr Graham to find the photo he mentioned, pretending it is of her nephew. Meanwhile, she interviews the others: Tim and Molly Kendal, owners of the hotel; the Prescotts, a clergyman and his sister; Mr Jason Rafiel, a tycoon with a weak heart and confined to a wheelchair; Jackson, his nurse/masseur/ attendant/valet; Esther Walters, his secretary; the vivacious American Lucky Dyson and her husband, Greg; and Edward and Evelyn Hillingdon. On the beach, Miss Marple sees Señora de Caspearo, a woman on holiday who says she remembers Major Palgrave because he had an evil eye. Miss Marple corrects her that he had a glass eye, but she still says that it was evil.
Victoria informs the Kendalls she did not remember seeing the high blood pressure medication, Serenite, in Major Palgrave's room before, although it was found on his table after his death. That night, Victoria is found stabbed to death. Molly begins having nightmares. Miss Marple finds Jackson looking at Molly's cosmetics, who says that if belladonna were added to it, it would cause nightmares. The following night, Tim finds Molly unconscious on the floor, apparently having taken an overdose of sleeping pills. The police are involved, and the cook, Enrico, tells them he saw Molly holding a steak knife before going outside. Miss Marple asks the others if Major Palgrave told people about the photo. Others claim Palgrave said it was not a photo of a wife killer but a husband killer. Major Palgrave is exhumed and the autopsy reveals that he was poisoned.
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