AUDIO BOOK: At Bertram's Hotel
A Miss Marple Mystery [Unabridged]
Written by Agatha Christie; Read by Rosemary Leach
Audio Editions Mystery Masters; 6 cassettes tapes, 7.5 hours
Reviewed by Louise Johnson


Bertram's Hotel is a popular destination for visitors to London. Its charm comes from the old England it evokes. It looks exactly as it has for many years. Tea time is still observed there, served by a very proper butler-like gentleman in the comfortable lobby with its huge fireplace, with all of the old favorites available, like true muffins and seed cake. A real English breakfast can be had in the morning, served in bed if you like by your chambermaid. All of the modern conveniences one is used to are still present, but unobtrusively. For example, there is central heating, though you would never see any evidence of that. Much of the older aristocracy who stay there have been doing so for decades, and they help build the atmosphere that the rich American tourists come to absorb.

Miss Jane Marple, an aging Englishwoman with a doting rich nephew, stayed at Bertram's Hotel decades ago as a teen-ager, and when offered a holiday requested to visit the hotel and re-experience one of the joyful memories of her youth. She finds it incredible that nothing has changed, that the place is perfectly as she remembers it.

Miss Marple is a very observant woman though, and she soon realizes that indeed it has changed, and it is very definitely not perfect. As Agatha Christie's well-loved heroine has done so many times before, she senses evil in the place and helps the police detectives ferret it out. This story draws you in as it slowly builds the setting and lets you in bit by bit on what's happening behind the scenes at Bertram's. The murder, when it finally comes, is unexpected and doesn't seem to really fit in - not, that is, until Miss Marple starts to pull all of the strings together. The tension builds and the ending is quite surprising and exciting.

The excellent reading of Rosemary Leach is very important to the success of the translation of this long and twisting story to audio book. She has read aloud several of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple books and has a strong feeling for the character. She also very well distinguishes between characters with her voice, and portrays them in a manner that makes you feel their personality and care about them. I have read this book before, a long time ago, and had a faint memory of where the story was going and who the guilty parties were, and even so I was completely drawn in to listening to her reading of this book. Once again I was listening while commuting 60 miles a day, and once again I did extra driving in order to continue listening.

© 2002 - Louise Johnson