The Summer of Scandal continues with perhaps one of my favorite Miss Marple stories: A Caribbean Mystery. This one has it all – an exotic resort setting, a unique Marple challenge, and so many rich people behaving so, so badly. Affairs? Got ‘em (multiple!). Gossip? Got it. And it wouldn’t be a Miss Marple book without multiple murders, just to spice things up. Can you say, perfect beach read?

Compared to others in the series, A Caribbean Mystery sticks out for two reasons:

1. Miss Marple is very much out of her element. She knows nobody in the area, and there’s no chance that her reputation will help her or that a friendly Sir Henry will smooth things along. We’re getting to see Miss Marple in her purest problem-solving form.
2. We meet Mr. Rafiel for the first time here. Technically, I suppose, it’s his only appearance in the series… Regardless, Miss Marple impresses him so much in this entry that he ends up influencing another.

To the extent that this set of blog posts is about exploring Miss Marple as a series, there’s a lot to dig into about setup and payoff. It’s there at the macro level – why is Mr. Rafiel so impressed by Miss Marple? It’s also at the micro level – how Christie sets up the puzzle, to be solved later. (This is not a universal take, but I quite liked the setup and payoff here.)

Miss Marple, alone

Let’s start with the most immediately distinct element of the story: Miss Marple, for the first time in the series, is entirely out of her element. Some might say that she’s been in this situation before – she has traveled from St. Mary Mead a number of times, after all. But A Caribbean Mystery places Miss Marple far from her English home, and it’s fun to watch her find her footing and set up her process.

This setup takes two forms: understanding the people, and building her capital. Miss Marple starts A Caribbean Mystery a bit lost without her village setting. To her, the islands seem boring and altogether too peaceful. But she quickly realizes that people are people everywhere, and we get the same flood of village personality analogies that we’re so used to. For those of us who regularly read Miss Marple, we know that these analogies are probably right. So fairly early on, we get a lay of the land – an understanding of the game board, so to speak.

(Interesting to note here how much the characters are a lesson in contrasts – foils on foils. Miss Marple, of course, can be compared to the Prescott sister and Mr. Rafiel in different ways. Lucky Dyson contrasts both Evelyn – the proper English wife – and Señora de Caspearo – the consummate flirt. Evelyn has not only Lucky but Molly to serve as foils, and Molly further contrasts with Esther as the two working women. You’ve got Esther and Jackson, and the tension in their relative class. Then among the men there’s Greg vs. Edward vs. Tim, Mr. Rafiel vs Dr. Graham vs. the Canon… A veritable microcosm of character types to explore.)

How to win friends and influence people, Marple edition

So – the intellectual piece is somewhat settled. Unfortunately, the harder part remains: building her social network and influence on the island. And it’s here that we get to see the full power of Miss Marple’s deep psychological knowledge. Because she’s at a hotel full of strangers, Miss Marple can use different tactics with different folks, without coming off as too strange. After all, it’s not like anyone is comparing notes on her behavior.

And thus, we get to see the many flavors of manipulative Miss Marple. There’s the kind social smoother, giving Major Palgrave the audience he needs. There’s the dithering old lady, trying to get evidence out of Dr. Graham. There’s also the kindly pseudo-grandmother and the inquisitive gossip. This Miss Marple contains multitudes, depending on what her audience needs to give her the information she’s after.

But, after all of that, she’s still an old lady, and her social networking can only take her so far. She still needs to find a sponsor – someone who can amplify her voice and provide physical support if required. Enter Mr. Rafiel.

Judging character

Miss Marple is nothing if not pragmatic, and she knows her limits. People may humor her questions; if she warns them, they sometimes listen. But our heroine wants to prevent murder, and that takes more than just indulgence. Sometimes, it takes influence; at other times, it takes physical support. And luckily, there’s a character on the island who can provide both.

Mr. Rafiel is a crochety and wealthy businessman who initially underestimates Miss Marple. Superficially, he resembles Conway Jefferson – a rich old man, used to getting his way at the expense of others. He starts the novel, like others, dismissive of Miss Marple. (And she doesn’t exactly help matters, calling out how little she knows of the business matters that most interest him.) Unlike Jefferson, however, he recognizes Miss Marple’s potential independently. Once he does, he’s willing to encourage and support her efforts to identify the murderer, if only to satisfy his own curiosity.

It’s an interesting contrast, with Mr. Rafiel illustrating Christie’s opinions on the differences between men and women. In her 1928 essay, “Does a Woman’s Instinct Make Her a Good Detective?”, Christie posits that women are much more interested in the personal side of all things, including mysteries. Men, per her take, as much more methodical. Per Christie, women are also more likely to care about crimes that impact those they know – and then, they’re relentless. So here, we have Miss Marple, using her instincts to nose around the mystery. When she lays it all out for Rafiel, however, he’s impressed by her logic, not his personal instinct. Two great intellects, applied in totally different directions.

Setup and payoff

In many ways, this is a simple mystery. Christie lays out how and why a murder will happen, and then you fail to notice how it happens until it’s almost too late. There are plenty of red herrings, but plenty of hints that things are not as they seem. But for some reason, this is one of the novels where it’s most fun to go back and find the traces of evidence.

This may just be because the clues don’t require as much historical social context. For once, I don’t need to understand the role of the servant class to understand any of the plot. Any slightly complex social dynamics – for example, Jackson’s awkward role – are explained fully. And Miss Marple lays out her thought process on the different actors multiple times throughout the novel. It’s all there for the finding – you just have to look in the right places.

So it will be interesting, next week, to see how the adaptations handle this most fair play of mysteries. To what degree will they let Miss Marple flounder? How will they develop Mr. Rafiel? And, as usual, how will their writing change our understanding of Miss Marple’s character, her priorities, her perseverance?

We will dig deeper next week – but until then, stay cozy, and stay curious!