41ewORf5n8L._SL500_Synopsis: “The owner of a seaside villa is plagued by strange feelings about its past…
Soon after Gwenda moved into her new home, odd things started to happen. Despite her best efforts to modernise the house, she only succeeded in dredging up its past.
Worse, she felt an irrational sense of terror every time she climbed the stairs. In fear, Gwenda turned to Miss Marple to exorcise her ghosts.
Between them, they have to solve a ‘perfect’ crime committed many years before.“

 

My Review

I really enjoyed this audiobook and think it’s one of my favourite Miss Marple stories. It’s actually the last Miss Marple, and was published posthumously in 1976.

I actually watched the TV dramatisation of this book a while ago, so I knew who the murderer was. I  still wanted to listen to it, as I wasn’t sure if it had been changed for TV. As I listened to the story unfold I realised that it had been changed quite a bit, with a completely new storyline and new characters added. I can understand why it was necessary as I don’t think it would have transferred well to the screen without the new additions. I actually preferred the original story a lot more than the TV episode.

I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery of the house, and how Gwenda and her new husband went about trying to find out what happened all those years ago. Fortunately Miss Marple was there to gently guide them along the way, and even warn them in the beginning to leave well alone. I loved how she ‘innocently’ manoeuvred herself to be staying in the same seaside town as the young couple. She isn’t in the book very much, which seems to be the norm, but I loved it when she did appear, as her gentle manner seemed to bring a calm to the story.

I enjoyed Stephanie Cole’s performance, but did find that some of her country accents were very simliar, fortunately it didn’t spoil the story because I loved her portrayal of Gwenda and Miss Marple.

Book 19/20