At Bertram's Hotel

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At Bertram's Hotel
At Bertram's Hotel First Edition Cover 1965.jpg
Dust-jacket illustration of first UK edition
Author Agatha Christie
Cover artistBrian Russell [1]
LanguageEnglish
Genre Crime novel
Publisher Collins Crime Club
Publication date
15 November 1965
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages256 (first edition, hardcover)
Preceded by Star Over Bethlehem and other stories  
Followed by Third Girl  

At Bertram's Hotel is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 15 November 1965 [2] and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1966. [3] [4] The novel follows Chief Inspector Fred Davy as he investigates an upmarket hotel that is at the centre of a mysterious disappearance. Among the lodgers at the hotel is Christie's popular character Miss Marple; At Bertram's Hotel was marketed as a Miss Marple novel, despite the fact that Marple only appears in a few chapters and has a completely passive role in the investigation.

Contents

At Bertram's Hotel met with mostly positive reviews. Reviewers criticized the reliance of far-fetched coincidences, but found that Christie's gripping writing style makes the book enjoyable in spite of any weaknesses in the plot.

Plot summary

Miss Marple takes a two-week holiday in London at Bertram's Hotel, an establishment known for its scrupulously authentic recreation of the Edwardian era with the addition of modern conveniences. While she is taking tea with her friend Lady Selina Hazy, Miss Marple observes the other guests: the famous adventuress Bess Sedgwick; her daughter, Elvira Blake; Elvira's legal guardian Colonel Luscombe; the clergyman Canon Pennyfather; and the racing car driver Ladislaus Malinowski.

Bess Sedgwick recognises the hotel's commissionaire, Michael Gorman, with whom she once had an affair. Unknown to either of them, Miss Marple and Elvira overhear their discussion of details of their shared past in Ballygowlan, a town in Ireland.

Elvira works a scheme with her friend Bridget to get money to fly to Ireland for unspecified reasons. She visits the lawyer Richard Egerton, one of her trustees, to find out the size of her inheritance and who gets it if she dies. He tells her about the great wealth awaiting her.

Canon Pennyfather attempts to travel to Lucerne for a conference, but he leaves on the wrong day and misses the event. Upon his return to Bertram's late at night he disturbs intruders in his bedroom. Some hours later the Irish Mail train is robbed. Some witnesses of the robbery report having seen Pennyfather on the train.

When the Canon has still not returned home days later, his disappearance is reported to the police. Inspector Campbell and Chief Inspector Davy visit Bertram's to investigate the disappearance as well as the series of robberies that Davy begins to suspect may have some connection with the hotel.

After the Inspector questions everyone at the hotel, Davy meets Miss Marple. She tells him that she saw Canon Pennyfather back at the hotel after he had supposedly left for Lucerne. The Canon is then discovered to be alive, having been found unconscious and nursed back to health by some Good Samaritans. However, he has no memory of events after he set out to take his plane to Lucerne.

On Miss Marple's last day at the hotel, Gorman is shot with Malinowski's gun. Elvira Blake says that he was shielding her from gunfire by an unknown assailant.

With Miss Marple's help Davy discovers the links between Bess Sedgewick, Micky Gorman, Elvira Blake and Ladislaus Malinowski, and the truth about Bertram's Hotel: it is the base of a sophisticated criminal gang that commits large-scale robberies while impersonating distinguished hotel guests. Miss Marple realises that she saw a doppelganger , a younger man who closely resembled Pennyfather, at the hotel that night. This jogs Pennyfather's memory, and he remembers that he saw himself sitting on a chair in his hotel room just before he was knocked unconscious. The gang had expected Canon Pennyfather to be in Lucerne and had sent a double to replace him and take part in the train robbery.

Davy and Miss Marple confront Bess Sedgwick as the orchestrator of the daring robberies, along with the maître d'hôtel Henry, and Ladislaus Malinowski when fast cars were needed. The hotel staff co-operated with the gang and the owners handled the money side of the thefts.

Bess and Gorman had been married at one time, and the marriage was never annulled, making Bess's subsequent marriages void. Bess confesses to her part in the robberies, but also to the murder of Gorman. She then steals a car and speeds away recklessly, crashing fatally.

Miss Marple is not convinced that Bess killed Gorman, believing that she was covering for Elvira Blake. Elvira believed that, as the illegitimate offspring of a bigamist, she would be disinherited, and killed Gorman to keep him quiet. Davy will not let her get away with the murder.

Characters

Real-world model for Bertram's Hotel

Bertram's Hotel is believed[ by whom? ] to have been inspired by Brown's Hotel, where Agatha Christie often stayed when she visited London. However, Christie's authorised biographer Janet Morgan asserts that Bertram's was in fact based on Flemings Mayfair Hotel. Morgan cites correspondence between Christie and her agent Edmund Cork in which they decided to change the hotel proprietor's name and the street in which Bertram's was located in order to obscure the connection with Fleming's. [5] The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography also claims that Fleming's was Christie's model. [6]

Reception

Reviews at the time of publication considered the denouement too far-fetched. [7] [8] In The Guardian (17 December 1965) Francis Iles (Anthony Berkeley Cox) wrote that "At Bertram's Hotel can hardly be called a major Agatha Christie [novel], for in spite of the presence of Miss Marples [ sic ] the denouement is really too far-fetched. But does the plot matter so much with Mrs Christie? What does matter is that one just can't put any book of hers down." [7]

Maurice Richardson wrote in The Observer (12 December 1965) that "A C is seldom at her best when she goes thrillerish on you. This one is a bit wild and far-fetched, but it's got plenty of that phenomenal zest and makes a reasonably snug read." [8]

Robert Weaver wrote in the Toronto Daily Star (8 January 1966): "At Bertram's Hotel is vintage Agatha Christie: an ingenious mystery that triumphantly gets away with what in lesser hands would be the most outrageous coincidences." [9]

This novel was listed in Anthony Boucher's Best Crime Novels of the Year for 1966, one of thirteen listed that year. [10]

Brigid Brophy complained that the author offered "nothing like enough signposts to give the reader a chance to beat Miss Marple or the police to the solution". [11]

Robert Barnard wrote of this novel that "The plot is rather creaky, as in most of the late ones, but the hotel atmosphere is very well conveyed and used. Elvira Blake is one of the best observed of the many young people in late Christie. Note the reflections in Chapter 5 in the novel on the changed look of elderly people, showing that the sharp eye had not dimmed, even if the narrative grasp was becoming shaky." [12]

Publication history

The novel was first serialised in the British weekly magazine Woman's Own in five abridged instalments from 20 November to 18 December 1965, illustrated with specially posed photographic layouts by Abis Sida Stribley. In the United States the novel was serialised in Good Housekeeping in two instalments, in March (volume 162, number 3) and April 1966 (volume 162, number 4), with illustrations by Sanford Kossin and a photograph by James Viles.

The major editions of the book are:


Television and radio adaptations

A BBC television adaptation shown in 1987 starred Joan Hickson as Miss Marple and Caroline Blakiston as Bess Sedgwick.

A BBC radio adaptation by Michael Bakewell, broadcast in 1995–1996, starred June Whitfield as Miss Marple and Sian Phillips as Bess Sedgwick.

ITV broadcast its adaptation on 23 September 2007 as part of the third series of Agatha Christie's Marple , starring Geraldine McEwan. This version included substantial changes to the plot, characters, atmosphere and finale of the original novel, although the murder victim, killer and motive remained the same, and added overtly contemporary social themes.

Related Research Articles

Miss Jane Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Miss Marple lives in the village of St Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterised as an elderly spinster, she is one of Christie's best-known characters and has been portrayed numerous times on screen. Her first appearance was in a short story published in The Royal Magazine in December 1927, "The Tuesday Night Club", which later became the first chapter of The Thirteen Problems (1932). Her first appearance in a full-length novel was in The Murder at the Vicarage in 1930, and her last appearance was in Sleeping Murder in 1976.

<i>Sleeping Murder</i> 1976 Miss Marple novel by Agatha Christie

Sleeping Murder: Miss Marple's Last Case is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in October 1976 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed for £3.50 and the US edition for $7.95.

<i>The Mirror Crackd from Side to Side</i> 1962 Miss Marple novel by Agatha Christie

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, a novel by Agatha Christie, was published in the UK in 1962 and a year later in the US under the title The Mirror Crack'd. The story features amateur detective Miss Marple solving a mystery in St. Mary Mead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Hickson</span> British actress (1906–1998)

Joan Bogle Hickson OBE was an English actress of theatre, film and television. She was known for her role as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series Miss Marple. She also narrated a number of Miss Marple stories on audiobooks.

<i>The Moving Finger</i> 1942 novel by Agatha Christie

The Moving Finger is a detective novel by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the USA by Dodd, Mead and Company in July 1942 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1943. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence.

<i>The Murder at the Vicarage</i> 1930 Miss Marple novel by Agatha Christie

The Murder at the Vicarage is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in October 1930 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence and the US edition at $2.00.

<i>The Sittaford Mystery</i> 1931 novel by Agatha Christie

The Sittaford Mystery is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1931 under the title of The Murder at Hazelmoor and in UK by the Collins Crime Club on 7 September of the same year under Christie's original title. It is the first Christie novel to be given a different title for the US market. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6).

<i>The Body in the Library</i> 1942 Miss Marple novel by Agatha Christie

The Body in the Library is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in February 1942 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in May of the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence. The novel features her fictional amateur detective Miss Marple.

<i>Towards Zero</i> 1944 novel by Agatha Christie

Towards Zero is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in June 1944, and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in July of the same year. The first US edition of the novel retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6).

<i>A Murder Is Announced</i> 1950 novel by Agatha Christie

A Murder Is Announced is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1950 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in the same month. The UK edition sold for eight shillings and sixpence (8/6) and the US edition at $2.50.

<i>They Do It with Mirrors</i> 1952 Miss Marple novel by Agatha Christie

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<i>A Pocket Full of Rye</i> 1953 Miss Marple novel by Agatha Christie

A Pocket Full of Rye is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 9 November 1953, and in the US by Dodd, Mead & Co. the following year. The UK edition retailed at ten shillings and sixpence (10/6) and the US edition at $2.75. The book features her detective Miss Marple.

<i>4.50 from Paddington</i> 1957 Miss Marple novel by Agatha Christie

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<i>The Pale Horse</i> 1961 novel by Agatha Christie

The Pale Horse is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1961, and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at fifteen shillings and the US edition at $3.75. The novel features her novelist detective Ariadne Oliver as a minor character, and reflects in tone the supernatural novels of Dennis Wheatley who was then at the height of his popularity. The Pale Horse is mentioned in Revelation 6:8, where it is ridden by Death.

<i>A Caribbean Mystery</i> 1964 Miss Marple novel by Agatha Christie

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<i>Nemesis</i> (Christie novel) 1971 Miss Marple novel by Agatha Christie

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<i>Agatha Christies Marple</i> British ITV television series

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<i>Miss Marple</i> (TV series) BBC adaptation of the novels by Agatha Christie starring Joan Hickson

Miss Marple, titled Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the series, is a British television series based on the Miss Marple murder mystery novels by Agatha Christie, starring Joan Hickson in the title role. It aired from 26 December 1984 to 27 December 1992 on BBC One. All twelve original Miss Marple novels by Christie were dramatised.

In Agatha Christie's mystery novels, several characters cross over different sagas, creating a fictional universe in which most of her stories are set. This article has one table to summarize the novels with characters who occur in other Christie novels; the table is titled Crossovers by Christie. There is brief mention of characters crossing over in adaptations of the novels. Her publications, both novels and short stories, are then listed by main detective, in order of publication. Some stories or novels authorised by the estate of Agatha Christie, using the characters she created, and written long after Agatha Christie died, are included in the lists.

Raymond West is a fictional character who appears or is mentioned in several of Agatha Christie's novels and short stories featuring Jane Marple.

References

  1. ↑ "Existential Ennui: Beautiful British Book Jacket Design of the 1950s and 1960s". Existential Ennui Blogspot.
  2. ↑ Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. Collins Crime Club: A Checklist of First Editions. Dragonby Press (second edition) March 1999 (p. 15)
  3. ↑ Cooper, John; Pyke, B.A. (1994). Detective Fiction: The Collector's Guide (second ed.). Scholar Press. pp. 82, 87. ISBN   0-85967-991-8.
  4. ↑ Marcus, J.S. (May 2007). "American Tribute to Agatha Christie" . Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  5. ↑ Sanders, Dennis (1989). The Agatha Christie Companion: The Complete Guide to Agatha Christie's Life and Work (revised ed.). New York: Berkley Books. p. 312. ISBN   0-425-11845-2.
  6. ↑ Morgan, Janet (October 2008). "Christie, Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa (1890–1976)" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30926 . Retrieved 25 November 2012.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  7. 1 2 Iles, Francis (17 December 1965). "Review". The Guardian. p. 9.
  8. 1 2 Richardson, Maurice (12 December 1965). "Review". The Observer . p. 31.
  9. ↑ Weaver, Robert (8 January 1966). "Review". Toronto Daily Star. p. 42.
  10. ↑ "Book awards: Anthony Boucher's Best Crime Fiction of the Year". 1966. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  11. ↑ Brophy, Brigid. "Review". New Statesman– via Explore the world of Agatha Christie's Stories.
  12. ↑ Barnard, Robert (1990). A Talent to Deceive – an appreciation of Agatha Christie (revised ed.). Fontana Books. p. 188. ISBN   0-00-637474-3.
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