Caribbean affair

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Caribbean Affair (original title A Caribbean Mystery ) is the 55th detective novel by Agatha Christie . It first appeared in the UK on November 16, 1964 at the Collins Crime Club and the following year in the US at Dodd, Mead and Company . The German first edition was published by Scherz Verlag (Bern, Munich, Vienna) in 1966 in the translation by Willy Thaler, which is still used today.

It determines Miss Marple in her ninth novel in a hotel in the Caribbean.

action

Miss Marple receives a trip to the Caribbean from her nephew Raymond West and his wife Joan . She lives in the Hotel Golden Palm, recently taken over by the young couple Tim and Molly Kendal . The two seem like a very happily married couple. Guests also include Major Palgrave, who tells hotel guests stories from his younger years without realizing that everyone is terribly bored. Only when he talks about a murderer does Miss Marple prick up his ears. He even claims to have a picture of him. The next morning the major is dead. Except for Miss Marple, everyone thinks it is a result of his high blood pressure. The photo has disappeared. As Miss Marple learns, the major had countless other murder stories up his sleeve. Why are the other guests suddenly behaving so conspicuously? And what about Molly Kendal's hallucinations ? Some guests also seem to have numerous affairs. After a murder of local employee Victoria occurs, Jane Marple decides to act. You have to solve numerous puzzles and strange incidents, some of which are even far in the past (and on other islands) in order to bring the perpetrator to the track. In the end, she saves Molly Kendal's life at the last second after Lucky Dyson was murdered earlier. The murderer is her husband Tim, who turns out to be a notorious murderer of women and who recognized Major Pelgrave from an earlier, unsolved murder affair. Molly's hallucinations were due to belladonna poisoning. Victoria had died because she had seen Tim leave a medicine bottle in Major Palgrave's bathroom and try to blackmail him.

people

Hotel staff

  • Tim Kendal, hotel owner
  • Molly Kendal, wife of Tim
  • Victoria Johnson, a housekeeper
  • Jim Ellis, Victoria's husband
  • Fernando, the head waiter
  • Enrico, an assistant cook

Hotel guests

  • Miss Jane Marple, passionate amateur detective
  • Major Palgrave, a colonial officer
  • Dr. Graham, a retired doctor
  • Colonel Edward Hillingdon
  • Evelyn Hillingdon, his wife
  • Greg Dyson, a Canadian
  • "Lucky" Dyson, his wife
  • Canon Prescott, an elderly clergyman
  • Joan Prescott, his sister
  • Jason Rafiel, an irascible millionaire, has walking difficulties
  • Esther Walthers, his secretary
  • Arthur Jackson, Rafiel's servant
  • Señora de Caspearos, young Venezuelan

Investigator

  • Inspector Weston, the investigating detective from the CID
  • Mr. Deventry, employee of the administrator, friend of Dr. Graham
  • Dr. Robertson, police doctor

References to other works

In The Fate in Person , the eleventh novel with Miss Marple, she receives a posthumous commission from Jason Rafiel. He asks Miss Marple to clarify the fate of his son. The original title Nemesis of this thriller refers to a key scene in the novel Caribbean Affair : Wrapped in her woolen shawl, Miss Marple had confronted the murderer and presented herself to him as Nemesis , the Greek goddess of vengeance. Mr. Rafiel was so impressed by the performance that he remembered it until his death.

Raymond West and his wife, Joan, are familiar characters from other Miss Marple novels. The successful writer and his wife - still fiancée in the first books - are close confidante of the old lady, and Raymond admires his aunt very much. He is one of the few characters who are portrayed as being intellectually equal. He plays a central role in The Tuesday Night Club .

Film adaptations

The killer photo

The first film adaptation of the novel is an American television film from 1983. The role of Miss Marple is played by Helen Hayes .

Miss Marple series on the BBC

In 1989 the novel was filmed for the BBC TV series Miss Marple . The role of Miss Marple was played by Joan Hickson , the role of Mr. Rafiel was played by Donald Pleasence .

Miss Marple series from ITV

In the television series Agatha Christie's Marple of ITV , the novel has been filmed the first episode of the sixth season and aired in the UK, 2013.

Major expenses

  • 1964 Collins Crime Club (London) November 16, 1964
  • 1965 Dodd Mead and Company (New York)
  • 1966 German first edition by Scherzverlag in the translation by Willy Thaler
  • 2014 new translation by Christa Broermann

Audio books

  • 2005 Caribbean Affair (5 CDs): only unabridged reading. Speaker: Ursula Illert. Director: Hans Eckardt. Translation by Willy Thaler: Publishing house and studio for audio book productions (Marburg / Lahn)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. Collins Crime Club - A checklist of First Editions . Dragonby Press (Second Edition) March 1999 (Page 15)
  2. ↑ John Cooper and BA Pyke. Detective Fiction - the collector's guide : Second Edition (Pages 82 and 87) Scholar Press. 1994. ISBN 0-85967-991-8
  3. ↑ American Tribute to Agatha Christie
  4. ↑ a b German first edition in the catalog of the German National Library
  5. ↑ Audiobook (complete) in the catalog of the German National Library
Works by Agatha Christie


Novels with
Hercule Poirot

The Missing Link in the Chain  (1920) • Murder on the Golf Course  (1923) • Alibi  (1926) • The Big Four  (1927) • The Blue Express  (1928) • The House on the Dune  (1932) • Thirteen at Table  ( 1933) • Murder on the Orient Express  (1934) • Nicotine  (1935) • Death in the clouds  (1935) • The murders of Mr ABC  (1936) • Murder in Mesopotamia  (1936) • With open cards  (1936) • Death on the Nile  (1937) • The dog playing the ball  (1937) • Death awaits  (1938) • Hercule Poirot's Christmas  (1938) • Morphine  (1940) • The secret of the buckled shoes  (1940) • Evil under the sun  (1941) • The Unfinished Portrait  (1942) • The Owl House  (1946) • The Death Whirlwind  (1948) • Four Women and a Murder  (1951) • The Wax Bouquet  (1953) • The Kleptomaniac  (1955) • Reunion with Mrs. Oliver  (1956) • The Cat in the Dovecote  (1959) • On a Double Track  (1963) • The Forgetful Murderess  (1966) • The Snow White Party  (1969) • Elephants Don't Forget  (1972) • Curtain  (1975)

Novels with
the Beresfords

A Dangerous Adversary  (1922) • Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf  (1941) • Lots of charming old ladies  (1968) • Age does not protect against ingenuity  (1973)

Novels with
Miss Marple

Murder in the Rectory  (1930) • The Dead in the Library  (1942) • The Shadow Hand  (1943) • A Murder Is Announced  (1950) • Fata Morgana  (1952) • The Secret of the Gold Mine  (1953) • 4:50 p.m. from Paddington  ( 1957) • Murder in the Mirror  (1962) • Caribbean Affair  (1964) • Bertrams Hotel  (1965) • Fate in Person  (1971) • Rough Rest  (1976)

Novels with
fellow investigators

The Man in the Brown Suit  (1924) • The Count's Memoirs  (1925) • The Last Joker  (1929) • The Secret of Sittaford  (1931) • A Step into the Void  (1934) • The Dying in Wychwood  (1939) • And then There was no more  (1939) • Shortly before midnight  (1944) • Avenging ghosts  (1944) • Hydrocyanic acid  (1945) • The crooked house  (1949) • They came to Baghdad  (1951) • The uncanny way  (1954) • Fatal error  ( 1958) • The pale horse  (1961) • Murder made to measure  (1967) • Passenger to Frankfurt  (1970)

Anthologies

Poirot accounts  (1924) • Pandora's Box  (1929) • The Strange Mister Quin  (1930) • The Tuesday Night Club  (1932) • The Dog of Death  (1933) • Something's Lazy  (1934) • Parker Pyne Investigates  ( 1934) • Hercule Poirot Never Sleeps  (1937) • The Labor of Hercules  (1947) • A Diplomatic Incident  (1960) • Poirot's First Cases  (1974) • Miss Marple's Last Cases  (1979) • The Murderous Tea Round  (1991) • As long as it bright is  (1997)