"Murder at the GRand Alpine Hotel," Lucy Foley (Agatha Christie)

 

 

As I wrote when I introduced this series ten years ago, these essays about books are not critical reviews; they are simply short pieces of books I have enjoyed.

 

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

Burrowing into Books

Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel

Lucy Foley (Agatha Christie)

November 7, 2026

 

“It is ‘her rich understanding of character and psychology gained

from a lifetime of observing people that allows her to solve things.’”

                                                             Lucy Foley on Jane Marple, in an interview with Ellen Gamerman

                                                              The Wall Street Journal, September 22, 2026

 

Agatha Christie and William Shakespeare, according to Wikipedia, are tied for best-selling authors of all-time. Estimates are that each has sold somewhere between two and four billion books. In all, Ms. Christie wrote sixty-six mysteries, including twelve Jane Marple stories, the first being Murder at the Vicarage in 1930, and the last being Sleeping Murder, published after her death in 1976.

 

This novel represents the first full-length official Miss Marple-continuation-novel published in fifty years. The book was commissioned by James Pritchard, CEO of Agatha Christie Ltd. Agatha Christie died at age 85. Lucy Foley, 40, was born ten years after Ms. Christie’s death. 

 

Fans of Agatha Christie, and especially fans of her sleuth Jane Marple, will be delighted with this story. And if you have watched Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple series, which aired from 1984 to 1992 on British television (and available today on Amazon Prime) with Joan Hickson (1906-1998) as Miss Marple, you will have what I believe is the perfect image of Miss Marple. 

 

Ms. Foley had to follow certain ground rules. Ms. Marple could not be young. She could not have a boyfriend. And she could be neither the killer nor the victim. In the interview with Ms. Gamerman cited above, Ms. Foley said that she read all twelve Miss Marple novels “at least four times.” In my opinion, Ms. Foley has captured the elderly, proper, observant Miss Marple. For example, here she is speaking to her friend Mrs. Bantry: “The English upper classes, in my experience, employ similar tactics to the breeding of young women as to horses.”

 

The time is 1950 (World War II plays a role), the season is winter and the setting a luxury Swiss hotel high up in the Swiss alps near the Italian border, reached only by cog railway. The guests are an assortment of British, European and Americans, most on holiday; others not. The story is told through the voices of four guests – Diana Glass (“the help”), Sylvia Sinclair (“the star”), Bruno Crane (“the friend”)), and Catherine Narracott (“the wife”). Jane Marple –  “the perfect image of a little old lady” – is there, of course, with her friend the widowed Mrs. Bantry and Mrs. Bantry’s companion, Diana Glass.

 

The story opens with a murder; more will take place. A storm cuts off all travel to or from the hotel, giving Ms. Marple time, using her powers of deduction she solves the crime. This reader, provided the same clues, was unsuccessful. Nevertheless, he had a delightful time, and I suspect you will too.