At Bertram's Hotel

By: Agatha Christie

Narrated by: Stephanie Cole

Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's Summary

When Jane Marple comes up from the country for a holiday in London, she finds what she's looking for at Bertram's: a restored London hotel with traditional decor, impeccable service - and an unmistakable atmosphere of danger behind the highly polished veneer. Yet not even Miss Marple can foresee the violent chain of events set in motion when an eccentric guest makes his way to the airport on the wrong day....

©1965 Agatha Christie Limited (P)2002 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

One of my favorite Agatha Christies

I enjoyed the twists and turns, and the intricate plot lines. I like the stories where Christie developes her characters to this extent. One of the 'kinder, gentler' mysteries.

5 people found this helpful

Hotel Mystery is Just What You Need!

Would you consider the audio edition of At Bertram's Hotel to be better than the print version?

I didn't read the print version, but I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the story.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

The plot had a number of twists and turns, and at one poimt I was sure I knew who was doing the killing, but Ms. Christie fooled me again.

Which scene was your favorite?

Early in the book, Miss Marple was exploring the people in the tea room with a commontary about all of the guests, their backgrounds, and the gains and begottens. Now you were ready to find the culprit.

Any additional comments?

I just thoroughly enjoyed listening to the book, and did it in one day because it was so terribly intriging.

4 people found this helpful

Classic Christie

I love listening to Agatha Christie stories while knitting. This one was no disappointment! Enjoy.

3 people found this helpful

You Won't Want to Check Out Early, But...

It’s funny about great or wildly popular authors. Their reputations are so firmly established that, when you’re less than enchanted by their output, rather than suspect the writer is not up to his or her usual high standards you doubt your own ability to keep up with them.

It doesn’t happen that often, but in such circumstances I turn to the critics. The last time this happened was when Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot had me wondering what it was all about. To my relief, the critical consensus was that Mr. Dostoyevsky had “lost control of his material” in that outing.

Now Agatha Christie has me wondering.

In the case of Bertram’s, I get that the place is the epicenter of a crime ring. But why all the elaborate fancy dress? Why does the ring feel compelled to play-act the presence of prominent individuals—individuals who all stay at Bertram’s—at the scenes of the crimes they commit? Wouldn’t that necessarily bring suspicion on the hotel that is their GHQ?

And the ending; when I saw the TV version of this story I thought the outlandish finish was the by-product of overexcited imaginations at the BBC (but then I also thought the novel would make plain what all the fancy dress was about, too).

Turns out that, at the time the book came out (1961) the critics had the same problems:

"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." (Maurice Richardson, The Observer)

"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." (Robert Weaver, Toronto Daily Star)

And later:

"The plot is rather creaky…but the hotel atmosphere is very well conveyed and used… the sharp eye had not dimmed, even if the narrative grasp was becoming shaky." (Robert Barnard)

Not that I wasn’t enchanted with the story—it is, as stated above, a reasonably snug listen. And the performance by Stephanie Cole was so good that I’ll be on the lookout for her name next time I’m in the market for murder. Also, as noted above, Christie is a wonderful writer. Her descriptions and character studies are always worth a pause so they might be fully relished. But, ultimately, in spite of Christie’s undisputed powers and Cole’s flawless performance, this one fails to give the solid satisfaction one usually feels at the end of a well-wrought who-dunnit.

7 people found this helpful

Who doesn't like MIss Marple?

Another fine MIss Marple book. I am so used to Hugh Fraser reading Agatha Christie books, that at first I was disappointed with Stephanie Cole's voice. But once I got used to her deep voice, it was fine. The mystery itself, was interesting and there was a lot going on beneath the quietness of Bertram's Hotel.

1 person found this helpful

Agatha Christie is always enjoyable

Entertaining as always, although not one of her best. Although it's classified as a Miss Marple story, Miss M is hardly a player in the narrative. Good narration by Stephanie Cole.

2 people found this helpful

One of Christie’s best.

If you’re going to get a Marple story to must get one narrated by Stephanie Cole, nobody does it better.

Good Performance

Narrator did very well
she was enjoyable to listen to
the story was interesting and a good one
I liked the character Fathers

Worth a listen

This was an enjoyable listen, not my favorite Agatha Christie book though . Stephanie Cole was amazing.

Strange goings-on at a fancy hotel

Miss Marple has been offered a trip to the seashore by her niece, the famous artist Joan West, but Miss Marple decides she would much rather go to London and stay at the hotel where she stayed as a child in Agatha Christie’s At Bertram’s Hotel. There she is thrilled to discover that the hotel has not changed at all since she was a little girl. Or at least that is what she thinks at first. But time makes her begin to notice little things that just don’t add up.

This off-beat book is hard to summarize without giving away any spoilers. So it’s tricky to write a good review. The book changes points of view several times, from Miss Marple to the police inspector to the absent-minded Canon Pennyfather and to the infamous Bess Sedgewick and her more devious but vanilla daughter. The book is curiously enjoyable despite its not following a typical linear story.

Stephanie Cole performs the audio edition of this book. With a clear performance, Cole brings the book to life and uses strong voices for each of the many characters.

At Bertram’s Hotel was the second Miss Marple book and third Agatha Christie book I ever read, not the best introduction to the works of Christie. But once you get a stronger sense of Christie’s writing, you may be intrigued by the off-beat sense of this book to appreciate the Queen of Crime’s depths. I give the book four stars.