La Hotelul Bertram

Miss Marple takes a break in London at Bertram’s Hotel. The rooms have the same old style she knew as a child. The staff serve her with the same skill and care. Even the muffins taste as she recalls them. Yet she senses danger beneath the staff’s and guests’ fine manners.

The guests include women of good standing and members of the clergy. There are retired officers and young women from boarding school, too. Then a confused guest reaches the airport on the wrong day. This sets off acts of violence even Miss Marple cannot foresee.

Agatha Christie’s crime mystery suits readers who like hidden threats in polite, refined places. The story sets the comfort of the past against a sense of danger.