“At Bertram's Hotel” by Agatha Christie – Miss Marple the Witness

Literature may not be subjected to our laws of reality (as a matter of fact, it couldn't be more removed from them), we still strive to maintain a semblance of realism, even if it is to the disappointment of the fans.

More often than not, in a book series characters do grow older and older, though at the author's convenience. Still, sometimes it is impossible to keep our most beloved protagonists young and spry, especially when they were already older to start with, as was Miss Marple.

Over the course of many novels Agatha Christie made sure to age her sleuth realistically, which unfortunately meant that she began to take on slightly more of a background role at certain junctures, which led to some interesting novels, At Bertram's Hotel being one of them.

Before getting into it, despite what is said earlier you can rest assured that it is indeed a Miss Marple mystery... it's just that she gets to share the spotlight with someone else, and in this case that person is Chief Inspector Davy.

To put it as simply as possible, Davy does much of the investigating as well as the physical work, all the while consulting with Miss Marple and putting her extraordinarily-gifted intellect to good use.

If you are looking forward to seeing a lot of Miss Marple on the pages, then I'll have to say that you'll be slightly disappointed, as Christie seems to have preferred to place the focus on many of the surrounding characters, and let's face it, none of them really have her quaint charm and witticisms.

Moving on beyond that, you'll find that this novel is pretty much meets the high-quality standard that we have come to expect from the author. To give a quick review of the story, Miss Marple decides it is time to get away from all the blood and carnage plaguing her beloved countryside and take some time off in London.

She elects to stay at the Bertram's Hotel, and needless to say, she is plunged back into the world of crime following that one decision. She becomes entangled in a series of strange and violent events, culminating and murder, and all having started with the arrival of a strange and eccentric guest.

I will have to admit that compared to the many other mysteries she wrote, the conclusion left something to be desired, at least in terms of difficulty. If you have been reading Agatha Christie's novels for some time now, then chances are that it won't take you much time or effort to put the pieces together, or at least figure out who did it.

Of course, that doesn't mean the mystery itself isn't intriguing: the chain of logic is as strong as it always was, and going from one clue to the next trying to establish all the links is as fun as it gets.

All things taken into consideration, even though At Bertram's Hotel may not be Christie's most recognized work, strays a bit from what we have come to expect and doesn't challenge the reader like some of her other books, it still remains a very enjoyable and solid mystery, one that allows you to lose yourself in a calm and engaging piece of entertainment.

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Agatha Christie (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) Personal site Agatha Christie is thought of by many as being the grandmother of murder mysteries. Throughout her novels, which include the classics And Then There Were None and Death on the Nile, Christie developed many groundbreaking techniques for her time, most of which are being used in one way or another by modern murder mystery writers.