At Bertram's Hotel (Miss Marple #11)
If you turn off an unpretentious street from the Park and continue a little way down a quiet street you will find Bertam's Hotel on the right hand side. Bertram's Hotel has been there a long time - dignified, unostentatious, and quietly expensive. It has been patronised by the higher echelons of the clergy, dowager ladies of the aristocracy up from the country, girls on th...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
2002
by Harper
(first published 1965)
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From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
Miss Marple takes a holiday in London, but a violent chain of events at the hotel she stays at brings out her investigation expertise.
Miss Marple takes a holiday in London, but a violent chain of events at the hotel she stays at brings out her investigation expertise.
This is more like a 2.5 stars -- better than just okay but not really overly likable. Perhaps if it weren't my first Marple and only my third Christie my opinion would be higher, but it just felt underwhelming.
While maybe not up to her typical form, Christie still manages to craft an incredibly smooth narrative with rich characters. Canon Pennyfather was charmingly hilarious and particularly memorable in the midst of this large cast. I did find myself facing some confusion about which character...more
While maybe not up to her typical form, Christie still manages to craft an incredibly smooth narrative with rich characters. Canon Pennyfather was charmingly hilarious and particularly memorable in the midst of this large cast. I did find myself facing some confusion about which character...more
I feel bad for not liking this book, so to make myself feel better, I'm going to brainstorm the reasons why.
1) I don't think I've ever read a proper mystery before, much less an Agatha Christie mystery, so I feel I was a bit lacking in my prior knowledge of the author's style.
2) Maybe I should have read this book in one sitting, because I didn't really follow it too well. Maybe I forgot important overheard conversations, etc., but the main reason I didn't enjoy the book is because I pretty much...more
1) I don't think I've ever read a proper mystery before, much less an Agatha Christie mystery, so I feel I was a bit lacking in my prior knowledge of the author's style.
2) Maybe I should have read this book in one sitting, because I didn't really follow it too well. Maybe I forgot important overheard conversations, etc., but the main reason I didn't enjoy the book is because I pretty much...more
In the Joan Acocella article I referenced several months ago, Joan writes that Agatha did not exactly finish strong, with her best work written at the beginning and during the middle of her career. I agree, and am forced to suggest that "At Bertram's Hotel" is a minor work at best. Or perhaps I should suggest instead that it is an "interesting" work. It does not quicken one's pulse, and one isn't compelled to turn the page -- I found myself putting it down far more often than, say, "Pocket Full...more
Nov 13, 2010
Ramon Sunico
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
classic-favorite,
krimi
I'm an Agatha Christie fan and have always thought The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (with Hercule Poirot) her best, or at least, her most craftily-written novel. Recently though, I came across this novel at a second-hand bookstore and, although I consider myself a Poirot partisan, this Miss Marple mystery has quickly threatened the standing of Mr Ackroyd on my shelf. From the delicious first chapter of the novel where she introduces the hotel itself with the care any other author would reserve for a...more
I'm always grateful when I find a Miss Marple book where the title sleuth gets to actually be present for about half the story - this one, in fact, featured Miss Marple more than any of her other mysteries I've read. She still disappears for lengthy amounts of time, but this time it actually feels purposeful. Miss Marple doesn't appear at certain points because the other characters are busy doing important things, things that Miss Marple can't be present for because then the mystery would be ove...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Jun 22, 2010
Bluemoon
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Mystery/Marple Fans
Shelves:
agatha-christie,
mystery
3.5
This was the first Jane Marple novel that I actual read and it was very different from Christie's Poirot novels. In comparison to the Poirot novel, Marples, is hardly seen in the novel. I was expecting her to be doing the sleuthing and investigating, but was highly disappointed when the focus was on the police. Basically her role in the book is the "nosy neighbor", where she's just at the right place at the right time.
The novel starts out at the Bertram Hotel, a quaint and old-fashioned hote...more
This was the first Jane Marple novel that I actual read and it was very different from Christie's Poirot novels. In comparison to the Poirot novel, Marples, is hardly seen in the novel. I was expecting her to be doing the sleuthing and investigating, but was highly disappointed when the focus was on the police. Basically her role in the book is the "nosy neighbor", where she's just at the right place at the right time.
The novel starts out at the Bertram Hotel, a quaint and old-fashioned hote...more
I think I liked the idea of this book more than I actually enjoyed it. The feeling that there is something dark and thoroughly sinister behind the pleasant perfection of Bertram's Hotel and its highly trained staff maintained a heightened sense of suspense and kept the reader itching to find out what happened next.
Unfortunately, you'll reach a point when you find out the mystery is not as interesting or anywhere near as sinister as you thought it might be. There is nothing more disappointing to...more
Unfortunately, you'll reach a point when you find out the mystery is not as interesting or anywhere near as sinister as you thought it might be. There is nothing more disappointing to...more
Dari cerita-cerita detektif rekaan Agatha Christie, saya paling suka yang lakonnya diperankan oleh Miss Marple. Mungkin selera saya ini sedikit aneh. Apalagi Miss Marple sendiri bukanlah seorang detektif layaknya Hercule Poirot atau seorang penegak hukum. Tapi, itulah yang saya rasakan.
Dan dari buku ini sebenarnya saya mengharapkan Miss Marple akan memiliki andil yang cukup besar untuk memecahkan kasus di Hotel Bertram ini. Apalagi dengan gambar sosok Miss Marple yang mendominasi di kover buku i...more
Dan dari buku ini sebenarnya saya mengharapkan Miss Marple akan memiliki andil yang cukup besar untuk memecahkan kasus di Hotel Bertram ini. Apalagi dengan gambar sosok Miss Marple yang mendominasi di kover buku i...more
First read in 1975.
A very nostalgic book, as Jane Marple returns to Bertram's Hotel in London, where she once stayed as a young girl - despite two World Wars, Bertram's Edwardian elegance seems completely unchanged and, as Miss Marple reflects, almost too good to be true . . .
Christie is still in good form in this 1965 novel, successfully juggling two plots, and does a great job in the opening chapter of setting up the mis-en-scene of Bertram's Hotel in all its splendor and efficiency. I rememb...more
A very nostalgic book, as Jane Marple returns to Bertram's Hotel in London, where she once stayed as a young girl - despite two World Wars, Bertram's Edwardian elegance seems completely unchanged and, as Miss Marple reflects, almost too good to be true . . .
Christie is still in good form in this 1965 novel, successfully juggling two plots, and does a great job in the opening chapter of setting up the mis-en-scene of Bertram's Hotel in all its splendor and efficiency. I rememb...more
I have always liked episodes of `Hercule Poirot`on the T.V. but never read any books by the great creator of poirot; Agatha Christie. And so I got this audiobook to see if her writing was as good as the T.V. episodes. Àt Bertrams Hotel`is a story that ciculates around Christie`s other great creation; Miss Marple. Miss Marple, although frequently showed on the box, was a programme that I had seen only a few times before. So I said that I would give a go to this story.
Although this is essentially...more
Although this is essentially...more
I enjoyed this particular story very much. Not the most imaginative beginning to a review but that's the first thing I wanted to say! Gone here, are the orderly presentations of suspects. Mrs Agatha Christie here departs from her usual structure-although the style is as sterling as ever- and I can't for the life of me imagine who was she copying with such a fearless endeavor.
While reading the bits where Miss Marple appears, I was regretting that she doesn't exist-she is a relic as much as the Ho...more
While reading the bits where Miss Marple appears, I was regretting that she doesn't exist-she is a relic as much as the Ho...more
Aug 06, 2012
sabisteb
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
hörspiele,
krimi-thriller
1/5 Spinster sleuth Jane Marple's stay in London proves more eventful than planned.
2/5 Amateur sleuth Miss Marple's old acquaintance is about to receive a nasty shock.
3/5 The sleuth's morning paper brings some very alarming news - and a police investigation.
4/5 Just as one mystery is cleared up, the spinster sleuth becomes involved in another.
5/5 The police ask spinster sleuth Jane Marple to take part in a little experiment.
Frederick Jaeger as chief inspector davy
Sian Phillips as bess sed...more
2/5 Amateur sleuth Miss Marple's old acquaintance is about to receive a nasty shock.
3/5 The sleuth's morning paper brings some very alarming news - and a police investigation.
4/5 Just as one mystery is cleared up, the spinster sleuth becomes involved in another.
5/5 The police ask spinster sleuth Jane Marple to take part in a little experiment.
Frederick Jaeger as chief inspector davy
Sian Phillips as bess sed...more
Bertram's Hotel is an old-fashioned place, full of old fashioned people. Miss Marple takes a holiday down there and is disconcerted to find that even in this most respectable of institutions evil lurks.
Like with The Clocks, I was somewhat disconcerted in this book by the limited presence of the detective whose name is on the spine, in this case Miss Marple. The real hero of the book, who has most of the insights and does the footwork is chief inspector Davy, commonly known as Father. He has the...more
Like with The Clocks, I was somewhat disconcerted in this book by the limited presence of the detective whose name is on the spine, in this case Miss Marple. The real hero of the book, who has most of the insights and does the footwork is chief inspector Davy, commonly known as Father. He has the...more
Nov 01, 2012
rabbitprincess
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Christie fans
Shelves:
bibliotheque,
2012
Bertram's Hotel, in one of the more fashionable districts of London, is a blast from the past, harkening back to the Edwardian era while still boasting the mod. cons. that present-day travellers expect. Miss Marple is staying at the hotel for a couple of weeks and is amazed at how impeccably everything is restored. But is this time warp perhaps too perfect?
The setting in this book is great. Bertram's sounds like a lovely place for a high tea. Pity about the whole (view spoiler)...more
The setting in this book is great. Bertram's sounds like a lovely place for a high tea. Pity about the whole (view spoiler)...more
Sadly, the weakest of the Christie novels I have so far read. It lacks the twists and turns of her better works and is too short really to do so. Possibly, this is because it is a later novel and her powers were waining and plots becoming scarce, I will need to read more of her later novels to be sure. However, don't fall into the trap of thinking this is an old person opining how things used to be better. The novel starts like that and I can imagine many people putting it down for that reason b...more
I liked this book a lot, but then I like everything Christie has written with the possible exception of the Mary Westcott books. This book is a bit more involved and subtle than a standard whodunit with a body in the library.
Miss Marple is one of Agatha Christie's classic characters, a little old lady crime fighter who deduces accurate solutions from village life parables. When Miss Marple goes to stay at Bertram's Hotel in London as a treat from her niece by marriage, she keeps her eyes and ea...more
Miss Marple is one of Agatha Christie's classic characters, a little old lady crime fighter who deduces accurate solutions from village life parables. When Miss Marple goes to stay at Bertram's Hotel in London as a treat from her niece by marriage, she keeps her eyes and ea...more
Not Agatha's best Miss Marple. In fact, Miss Marple is really only a supporting character.
Miss Marple is gifted a stay in London at a hotel she remembers from her youth. And to her surprise it is exactly like she remembers it. (which, eventually, makes her suspicious) At the same time there are a series of daring robberies happening across England. A famous daredevil and her estranged daughter staying at the hotel. And a dotty clergyman (who is a bit entertaining). Clergyman goes missing. Mothe...more
Miss Marple is gifted a stay in London at a hotel she remembers from her youth. And to her surprise it is exactly like she remembers it. (which, eventually, makes her suspicious) At the same time there are a series of daring robberies happening across England. A famous daredevil and her estranged daughter staying at the hotel. And a dotty clergyman (who is a bit entertaining). Clergyman goes missing. Mothe...more
Almost a single session read even for a slow coach like me. There is a perverse charm in Christie, a naive quality to her stories that intrigues me as much as the mystery itself. Despite the most convoluted of plots, some outrageous coincidences and one or two hilariously unlikely characters, everything is so certain, so black and white as if the world could not exist in any way other than it does in her book. The crisp, no-nonsense prose is redolent of the thirties or forties and yet this book...more
"At Bertram's Hotel" by Agatha Christie staff, guests and furnishings retain an elite Edwardian atmosphere "dignified, unostentatious, and quietly expensive" p1 in 1955. But guest Miss Jane Marple overhears fast platinum beauty Lady Bess Sedgewick threaten to shoot doorman Irish decorated soldier Michael Gorman if he publicly remembers their wild past in Ballygowlan, and uneasily observes more than average identities mistaken in the lobby. Flaxen heiress Elvira Blake hears the same blackmail att...more
Ah ! les muffins de l'hôtel Bertram... Ils n'ont pas leur pareil.
Non plus que le thé, le personnel stylé et les clients, ladies respectables, ecclésiastiques et officiers en retraite qui viennent y retrouver l'atmosphère d'antan...
Vraiment l'hôtel Bertram est plus victorien que nature, et Miss Marple se réjouit d'y passer une semaine.
Et pourtant, quelques détails la troublent : cette jeune fille, Elvira, qui s'est amourachée d'un pilote de course peu recommandable, sa mère, une aventurière dé...more
Non plus que le thé, le personnel stylé et les clients, ladies respectables, ecclésiastiques et officiers en retraite qui viennent y retrouver l'atmosphère d'antan...
Vraiment l'hôtel Bertram est plus victorien que nature, et Miss Marple se réjouit d'y passer une semaine.
Et pourtant, quelques détails la troublent : cette jeune fille, Elvira, qui s'est amourachée d'un pilote de course peu recommandable, sa mère, une aventurière dé...more
Brilliant. Absolutely enjoyable. If you're a fan of Agatha Christie's mysteries, I can most definitely and confidently (that doesn't happen very often) recommend this one.
The hotel is an excellent setting, and I hate the fact that somewhere as perfect as that wouldn't exist. Not to mention the slightly creepy air it through over the story. The characters, the intricate plot, it was all executed well. Miss Marple features a bit, too, though I'm starting to notice in her own stories she's almost...more
The hotel is an excellent setting, and I hate the fact that somewhere as perfect as that wouldn't exist. Not to mention the slightly creepy air it through over the story. The characters, the intricate plot, it was all executed well. Miss Marple features a bit, too, though I'm starting to notice in her own stories she's almost...more
This is more like a 2.5 stars -- better than just okay but not really overly likable. Perhaps if it weren't my first Marple and only my third Christie my opinion would be higher, but it just felt underwhelming.
While maybe not up to her typical form, Christie still manages to craft an incredibly smooth narrative with rich characters. Canon Pennyfather was charmingly hilarious and particularly memorable in the midst of this large cast. I did find myself facing some confusion about which character...more
While maybe not up to her typical form, Christie still manages to craft an incredibly smooth narrative with rich characters. Canon Pennyfather was charmingly hilarious and particularly memorable in the midst of this large cast. I did find myself facing some confusion about which character...more
Hay gente que critíca las novelas de Agatha Christie y eso es algo que siempre me sorprende. Algunos dicen que las tramas son repetitivas, otros que el final es previsible. Hay quién simplemente cree que sus novelas están pasadas de moda.
Luego estamos nosotros, los que creemos que estas novelas jamás pasaran de moda. Los que empezamos a leer a Poirot o Marple con 15 ó 19 ó 23 años y poquito a poco, novela tras novela, nos hemos ido enamorando. Forman parte de nuestra historia porque un día leímo...more
Luego estamos nosotros, los que creemos que estas novelas jamás pasaran de moda. Los que empezamos a leer a Poirot o Marple con 15 ó 19 ó 23 años y poquito a poco, novela tras novela, nos hemos ido enamorando. Forman parte de nuestra historia porque un día leímo...more
At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie
Black Dog & Leventhal, 1965
270 pages
Miss Marple Mystery
4/5 stars
Source: Bought
Summary: Bertram's Hotel seems like a nice old-fashioned hotel, hearkening back to Edwardian England. But something is off with a canon going missing, wild celebrities hanging around, and finally a shocking murder and a near miss. Luckily Miss Marple is there to aid the police in their investigation.
Thoughts: At first I wasn't sure what was going on as no crimes seemed to be hap...more
Black Dog & Leventhal, 1965
270 pages
Miss Marple Mystery
4/5 stars
Source: Bought
Summary: Bertram's Hotel seems like a nice old-fashioned hotel, hearkening back to Edwardian England. But something is off with a canon going missing, wild celebrities hanging around, and finally a shocking murder and a near miss. Luckily Miss Marple is there to aid the police in their investigation.
Thoughts: At first I wasn't sure what was going on as no crimes seemed to be hap...more
I had seen the television version with Geraldine McEwan, and that had been my favorite televised Miss Marple. I was startled how much the television episode differs from the original book. I enjoyed both, however. Miss Marple goes to the luxurious Bertram's Hotel for a nice holiday, but of course not everyone or everything is as they appear. A clever crime spree, a disappearance and a murder present themselves, and the lively spinster of course has some key pieces to the puzzle. One thing I real...more
"At Bertram's Hotel", while a good read like all of Christie's novels, was a litlle far-fetched. At the urging of her nephew, Miss Marple travels to London to stay at Bertram's Hotel because she has fond memories of staying there in her youth, when the Hotel was at the height of popularity. Now, the hotel is getting on in years but still presents a certain atmosphere. There Jane runs into a cast of characters such as Canon Pennyfather, Elvira Blake, Ladislaus Malinowski, Bess Sedgwick, among oth...more
At Bertram's Hotel is the first Agatha Christie book I have read. I started it yesterday and I finished it yesterday, I couldn't put it down. I had to know more especially as the story unfolded. What I found fun about this book is the great story-telling ability, you really get great pictures in your head about the scenes and the characters. It is no wonder there are many television series based on these books. Towards the end she throws in another unexpected aspect, that of horror more akin to...more
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Agatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.
Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born in Torquay, Devon, England, U.K., as the youngest of three. The Millers had two other children: Margaret Frary Miller (1879–1950), called Madge, who was eleven years Agatha's senior, and Louis Montant Miller (1880...more
More about Agatha Christie...
Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born in Torquay, Devon, England, U.K., as the youngest of three. The Millers had two other children: Margaret Frary Miller (1879–1950), called Madge, who was eleven years Agatha's senior, and Louis Montant Miller (1880...more
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Aug 15, 2012 03:42pm
Aug 16, 2012 12:42pm