Reviews - Bertramin hotellissa

1.08k reviews for:

Bertramin hotellissa

Agatha Christie

3.52 AVERAGE

madamwobbles's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

fridabackjanis's review against another edition

4.0

My favourite Miss Marple!

mimelle__'s review against another edition

3.0

i think i was somewhat disappointed the first time round (i think this is one of the first of christie's novels that i read) and i am now. the setting isn't as big a part of the story as it might be and also it is about how time passes and can't be turned back, not nostalgia (which is fine but not what i'm looking for when reading cozy mysteries, maybe). there are some interesting characters, but i think the solution isn't that great and in the case of the girl also quite unbelievable in my opinion. definitely not my favourite

caitlancole's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

lesserjoke's review against another edition

2.0

This… is not a mystery. It's not even a spy thriller or an in-depth character study, two other genres where author Agatha Christie dabbles on occasion. Instead it's the story of a police inspector immediately suspecting an outlandish criminal conspiracy involving the staff and many guests at a prestigious hotel and then uncovering just enough circumstantial evidence to prompt one of the perpetrators into confessing that he's right. Miss Marple is there on the fringes of the case as well, although she doesn't contribute much overall.

While a couple elements suggest a more typical whodunnit -- the protagonist is brought into the affair when an old priest goes missing from his room; later in one of the final chapters, a security guard is shot dead by a temporarily-unknown assailant -- we're offered little by way of concrete clues, and the main character's initial theory of wrongdoing is never challenged. It's a maddeningly bizarre scheme, too, with doppelgangers providing alibis and identical cars with similar license plate numbers further confusing witness testimony, all to rob a train and smuggle the loot out of the country via luggage leaving the hotel. Everything is needlessly complex, and the whole novel feels like just an excuse for the writer to dwell on the sort of ornate hospitality establishment from her younger days that was then going out of fashion. It's an evocative setting, and Marple herself is fun as ever, but the plot is far too thin to be effective.

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