A Caribbean Mystery

Miss Marple is on holiday in the Caribbean, at the Golden Palms resort in St Honore. Seated beside her at a dinner, Major Palgrave seems to recognise in the crowd a murderer from a photograph he has. When Miss Marple quizzes him on is comments he refuses to be drawn on the subject and head back to his room. He is found the next day, dead, apparently from a heart attack. Due to the reaction he had the previous night, Miss Marple suspects it was murder.

Reasonably intriguing mystery, with a great setting. The Caribbean vibe and the underlying current of voodoo and general sinister air help the intrigue. Not a particularly complex mystery ultimately, but it will do.

The non-mystery side of the Miss Marple series tends to be pretty dull and uneventful, due to the blandness of Miss Marple's character and the fact that she has no regular secondary characters around her (unlike Poirot with Hastings, Japp and Lemon). However, here we have a reasonably interesting sub-plot involving Ian Fleming, the author, and how he struck upon the name of James Bond for the hero of his books. Unfortunately this sub-plot is quite brief, but it is reasonably entertaining.

It wasn't too long ago that I watched the Joan Hickson version of this same tale and, while I enjoyed the color of it, I did feel that that version dawdled a bit too much and lacked forward motion, lingering in the characters and losing momentum the more it went on. So with the new ITV version I was pleased to find that the thing I usually dislike about them actually worked in its favor – the color, the liveliness and the pace. The mystery kicks in very quickly indeed and apart from a few sidesteps it more or less keeps things coming so that I felt engaged with the story. As is normal for me, I wasn't right there with the characters when the resolution was revealed, but I did feel like I was at least going with it.

The one exception is an odd moment where James Bond and Ian Fleming make it into the story; it is amusing perhaps but it served no purpose other than, if you're cynical, getting the writer a trip to the location for the sake of a few minutes of screen time. Higson probably deserved it though as he has done a good job as writer, making the story flow and having the material match the heat and color of the setting. The cast mostly get this too. McKenzie is still not really someone I like as Marple, but she is good here and in particular works very well with Antony Sher. The rest of the cast isn't quite that famous but has good turns from Webb, Brown, Wakefield and others.

Overall an enjoyable and lively piece of Sunday night mystery; it has color and energy and comes together pretty well.

Back in 1989, "Miss Marple" made a dandy version of "A Caribbean Mystery"...leaving little for me to complain about and I scored it a 9. As for this newer installment on "Marple", I didn't like it nearly as much...and it's mostly because of several unwanted things which were added to the story that were not in the original Agatha Christie story...such as voodoo and the addition of Ian Fleming and James Bond to the story.

The story begins on a Caribbean island where Miss Marple is vacationing. One of the guests of the hotel who has monopolized Marple's time is the Major...a bit of a blowhard who most of the hotel's guests tend to ignore. However, when talking with Marple, he does pique her interest when he talks about some murderer he knew long ago who got away with it. But he is soon distracted...possibly because he sees this murderer at the hotel! But he never has a chance to finish his story, as soon he's found dead in his room. Unfortunately, the local police don't take it seriously despite Miss Marple's and Mr. Rafiel's insistence that the death MIGHT be murder. More murders occur and the police finally take it seriously.

What there is of the original story is quite good...but the voodoo and Ian Fleming/James Bond bit are just distractions and do nothing to help the story. My feeling is that the older 1989 version is significantly better...see it first.

This is a picturesque adaptation of Miss Marple holidaying in the Caribbean. There is a permanent resident at the hotel where she is staying. He's Major Palgrave who is fond of drink and storytelling and zombies which are a hobby of his. He is about to show Miss Marple an old photo of a murderer when he suddenly stops and eyes the other guests. He's later found dead and Miss Marple is unable to find the photo he was about to show her. She starts out on a murder hunt. Nobody attends the Major's funeral except Miss Marple and the officiating Canon. He is lovesick for the hotel manageress, a nice lady but a bit unstable. While a vengeful spirit of the walking dead had been given a mention in the Joan Hickson version, Voodoo comes more to the forefront in this one. But is it just a Hoodoo decoy to add to the Caribbean flavor of the story?

I have a huge fondness for the Joan Hickson version and a surprisingly soft spot for the one with Helen Hayes, this one I thought really came up to the mark, they managed to reinvent it but maintain the essence of it.

It starts off brilliantly, it's visually stunning, Andre Toussaint's 'Calypso Island' sets the tone. It's a total contrast to other episodes in the series, it's very bright and colourful, but this story needed to be. The location is utterly stunning, surprisingly it was South Africa. The costumes are a visual feast, the designers were bang on the money.

Talk of voodoo in a Marple, shouldn't work, but it does, it helps add a smokescreen to the story. It certainly differentiates it from previous versions.

I disagree with those that think the novel was one of her weakest, it's one I really like, it's a perfect holiday read. This production manages to breath life into some of the characters that in the book are a little flat, Lucky seems way more interesting, or possibly it's just the way Myanna Buring played her (brilliantly.)

The acting as always if first rate, I think Julia is the standout once again, her performance seems effortless. Hermione Norris is especially good as Evelyn, she made her as cold as ice, she doesn't overplay it. Charity Wakefield gives us a very fragile and timid Molly, very much in character to the book. Anthony Sher is excellent as Rafiel. I suppose my only slight bugbear would have been Robert Webb's Tim Kendall, he was fair, but I feel he could have been better cast

The Ian Fleming bit apart it's brilliant 9/10