Nemesis (1971)

An intriguing premise for the last of the Miss Marple's books. The narration by Emiliia Fox made this a compelling audio to listen to and enjoy, also bumping it up, in my opinion, from three to four stars. Written in 1971, with a few out-of-date views, I managed to put those aside (though some readers may not find so easy to ignore) since I found myself hooked on the storyline. ( )

Miss Marple must investigate a mystery without even knowing what it is.

4 stars for the mystery, 2 stars for the Agatha Christie Problems.

Agatha Christie Problems: the dangerous and harmful myth that women claim to be raped after consensual sex is repeated multiple times by many characters.

They also like to talk about girls not being chaperoned by their mothers enough (a common Christie theme) and one mention that girls like bad boys instead of nice ones. ( )

After reading [b:Passenger to Frankfurt|310224|Passenger to Frankfurt|Agatha Christie|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1308808994s/310224.jpg|2277716], which I believe was the book Agatha Christie wrote before this one, this books was a huge relief.

Story: Friend of Ms Marple dies and gives her a mission to be a "nemesis" with no further details. Ms Marple being curious as ever agrees and soon things start happening around her. There are old stories and new actions interwoven into something that is a rather classic Christie I'd say.

It is a late Christie though, which means the mandatory rants against youth is ever present. The 1970s was not a good time for the UK and I guess Agatha Christie became a bit depressed by what she saw and she couldn't stop herself from putting complaints into her books. As her main characters, Poirot and Marple both are of an advanced age (somewhere between 70 and 130 years old) it is not completely out of character though so it is not disturbing. I also think this book has it toned down a bit.
( )

Enjoyed the concept of Miss Marple needing to figure out what the mystery is and slowly introducing the characters that are going to play a part in it. Liked how she used the idea of her being an old lady as a way to get information from people without them realizing it. ( )