Murder comes full circle in Agatha Christie's Nemesis. Miss Jane Marple, the "fussy old pussy" spinster from the quaint English village of St. Mary Mead, opens this mystery by relaxing in her cottage enjoying one of her favorite pastimes: reading the obituary notices.
Among the dearly departed, one name rings a bell with Miss Marple. The recently departed Mr. Rafiel was, before his death, a rather eccentric millionaire who had come to Miss Marple's aid a year earlier when she was vacationing in the Caribbean. Yes, Miss Marple recalled, Mr. Rafiel had been a difficult man. A rich man. A very ruthless man. Yet, when she had needed his assistance in solving the murder of Colonel Potheroe, Mr. Rafiel had come to her aid and, in the end, he had called dubbed her, "Nemesis".
Now Mr. Rafiel was dead and, reasoned Miss Marple, that was really not too surprising as he had been an invalid and in very ill health despite his bravado during their shared "Caribbean Mystery". What would surprise Miss Marple, however, was a letter she received a week after reading the obituary notice in her newspaper. The letter was from Mr. Rafiel's solicitors. It seems that Mr. Rafiel had, before his passing, arranged for Miss Marple to be offered a handsome sum of money in exchange for looking into a certain mystery where he strongly felt that justice had not been served.
Even more puzzling than wishing an elderly woman to solve a mystery was the fact that Mr. Rafiel did not provide any clues as to the nature of the crime itself, the identity of the victim or the name of the accused. Miss Marple, knowing instinctively that Mr. Rafiel would not have called on her for help without just cause, agreed to take the case.
Soon, she is off on a chartered bus tour of the Famous Houses and Gardens of Great Britain. Mr. Rafiel had, it seemed, also arranged that she be his guest on this upscale holiday adventure. Miss Marple realizes that there must be method to what seems like madness. How can she hope to solve a mystery if she is suddenly on a bus tour of English gardens and she doesn't even know what she is looking for? Reconsidering, Miss Marple realizes that in his final days Mr. Rafiel must have truly needed her help to solve a crime that has something to do with at least one of the other vacationers on the tour.
However, Miss Marple soon realizes that not all of the suspects are riding with her on her tour bus. When the bus stops for a few days of sightseeing in a local village, she is approached by three oddly sinister sisters who explain that their good friend, Mr. Rafiel, had asked them to welcome Miss Marple into their home as a house guest for a few days. Miss Marple realizes that Mr. Rafiel must have wanted her to stay with these women. Why else would they have asked her, a total stranger, to be their house guest? Sensing an air of evil at the sister's ramshackle estate, Miss Marple discovers that the crime she must have been sent to investigate is, as she always had suspected, a case of murder.
The three sisters who are her hosts had also been the guardians to a young woman, Verity Hunt, who had been savagely beaten and murdered several years ago. To her surprise, the young man accused of brutally murdering the young woman had been Rafiel's own son. So, Mr. Rafiel had sent her to investigate a murder that his son had been convicted of committing!
This is one of Dame Agatha's most intriguing tales. The mystery delves into the darker worlds of jealousy, revenge, and senseless rage while also giving us lighthearted looks at English village life.
Read our biography of Agatha Christie.
