Read Christie 2021: At Bertram’s Hotel

Welcome to the Bertram's Hotel, where the elite frequent the tea room and the gossips are tongue-tied!

Name: At Bertram’s Hotel

Writer: Agatha Christie

Country: United Kingdom

Year: 1965

Genre: Crime novel

Synopsis:

Miss Marple has just registered at the Bertram Hotel in London for a well-deserved vacation. The last thing she expects from this elegant establishment, famous for its class and tradition, is that it could be involved in a scandal. But Miss Marple immediately senses that something strange is hanging in the air. After the disappearance of a guest and a murder, the detective has no choice but to abandon her leisure plans and start one of her investigations. And it seems that the hotel is full of suspects, all with their own motives and convenient alibis… As the inspector in charge of the case seems to have an eccentric sense of his priorities, only Miss Marple seems to be able to solve this intriguing sequence of events and discover the murderer.

Review and Whisper of the Heart

This will be a different review and I apologize for that. The reason for this will be explained later.

At Bertram’s Hotel was the choice of the month of May for the Read Christie 2021 Challenge, for the theme ‘A story with tea.’

In this book we have the participation of Miss Marple, another very famous character from the Agatha Christie universe, and as such a problem for me. Although I adore this author, as I have mentioned countless times, I have to confess that I have a slight problem with the stories in which the nice and shrewd spinster Miss Marple takes part. Therefore, when I decided to read this book, it was with the intention of trying to overcome this “problem”. It was with little desire that I checked in at the Bertram’s Hotel and stayed there until I realized it had been a mistake, and checked out. And that's exactly why the review of this book will be different from the usual ones, as I started reading it but didn't finish it.

The narrative starts in a smooth and explanatory way of the place that will be the scene of the crime, and then moves, in my humble opinion, to a very slow description of the characters that will be part of the plot. I suspected early on who was going to be the victim and unraveled one of the many mysteries of the story with only two or three clues. However, the long description of the characters and the slow progress of the action made me lose focus and interest in reading.

I confess that this is not the first time I have read books in which Miss Marple participates, and in all of them I find it difficult to enter the story. Furthermore, it puzzles me the fact that this character practically remains in the shadows throughout the story and, in the end, makes his triumphant entry with the resolution of the case. Will it be a pettiness of mine? Perhaps. What is certain is that I do not remember a book that I have read with this character and that I loved.

I also know that the enthusiasm with which we start a book is a strong variant that influences our final opinion, and I admit that the enthusiasm with which I started the book was at 10%. However, in my self-defense, I was truly hopeful that Christie would be able to change my opinion of the books with Miss Marple. This is not what happened, but I know there will be other opportunities. Maybe it still happens in this literary challenge, right?…

Rating - ------

(Author's note: A grade will not be given as the reading of the book has not been completed.)