Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel by Lucy Foley is, I am sure, the first of many in the new Agatha Christie series by a new author. Sophie Hannah has been the author, authorized by the Christie estate, to continue the Hercule Poirot series. Now Lucy Foley is continuing the Miss Marple series.
I am not sure that I felt the true Christie ‘s Marple character or the same style of writing, but it was all close enough that it was a pleasure to read. It was a great twisty mystery. Though I felt along the way that the murderer was too obvious, in the end of course I was wrong and the talented Foley managed to bring it all to closure in an unexpected way.
If you have followed and visited with Miss Marple in St Mary Mead, you will know her friend, Dolly Bantry. Dolly has taken the advice of her new young assistant, Diana Glass and brought Jane Marple along for a delightful cold weather vacation in a luxury hotel at the top of a snow covered mountain.
Reading this novel told from the perspectives of Diana, along with a few of the other guests at the hotel that week, we learn of the death of a prominent politician and another unlucky guest. The politician’s wife shares her story, the famous actress is also a guest at the hotel and after the two murders, a man announces he a French policeman on vacation, but he is happy to investigate until the police arrive.
Coincidences abound as the plot thickens and Miss Marple deploys her usual quiet, inquisitiveness as she listens and observes the surroundings. Knitting always in her hands she appears to be just a simple old woman and is often underestimated.
It was definitely a fun, intriguing mystery novel written by an experienced and excellent author of mystery.
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