A tightly constructed, expertly paced, and fiendishly clever mystery. It comes with the odd blemish, though ... Presumably Foley set out to delight aficionados with these scattered Easter eggs; instead, they prove irksome and feel like a contrived attempt on Foley’s part to tie her material to Christie’s ... In some respects, the book works best when Foley deviates slightly from Christie’s formula or puts her own spin on aspects of it. She keeps us guessing in more ways than one by ensuring the book is as much a whydunit as a whodunit ... It has taken a while to get here, but with luck Miss Marple is back for good.
Readers who persevere to the big reveal will discover that the mystery has been adroitly plotted and intricately clued, with a solution that will surprise many of them—providing compelling evidence against Raymond Chandler’s famous dictum that the ideal mystery is one you’d read even if the end were missing. The principal takeaway: It’s a lot harder to bring Miss Marple back to life than the higher-profile Hercule Poirot.
