An Unwelcome change

Unfortunately the narrator has changed since I first bought this title, It was Joan Hickson (personally selected for the role of Miss Marple by Agatha Christie) who also acted the role on screen in 1987. Emilia Fox is a capable actress but an appalling substitute.

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A Different Kind of Marple....Not In The Best Way

cw: mention of sexual assault. Minor spoilers

I've been working my way through the Marples for the first time and as you approach Nemesis, you get the sense of age and finality. This is throughout the book. The story itself (the murder and reason for it) I actually quite liked, and thought it was on par for Agatha.

What I Didn't Like:
There was a lot more pontificating in this novel, and not for the good. It makes the book longer, there is a lot of needless repetition of both case facts and my own personal peeve - social issues. There are multiple monologues where characters talk about sexual assault, how it's either the girl or her mother's fault, how they asked for it ("girls are so much more ready to be raped these days") and then proceeds to brush it off as "well, that doesn't matter. Anyways, the case..."

There is no point to these multiple monologues except in a minor way trying to make the character of the unscrupulous son seem less sketchy. Which could be done, by the author, by not having his background include sexually assaulting a woman. You wouldn't have to try to explain that "well he was accused of sexual assault, but he didn't beat her or murder her, so he can't be that bad" if you didn't make him do that thing as part of the story.

I understand that these are Views held by many when this book was written (and honestly, still today) so I could've gotten over one monologue about it. But there are like 3 or 4, which is so excessive, and comes off as the author being angry at women/change/people being held accountable for sexual assault. It's also quite clumsily inserted, and feels out of place in the story.

Besides that, the book was good, but it left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Marple has always pursued justice (literally the theme of the entire book) but having these Views made me sad that she might not pursue justice for sexual assault. I'm glad there is one more book after this one (Sleeping Murder) which is much more classic Marple.

Will I reread Nemesis?
Probably, but not with as much excitement as the other Marples and maybe only once more (which is saying something).

Do I recommend it?
Overall, yes. It's a very different Marple novel. It's worth reading to get the continuity and worth it for the story. I watched the BBC episode first and was so confused about who Mr. Rafiel was and the connection to Marple. Turns out they aired A Caribbean Mystery after Nemesis. Reading the stories does clarify many things.

Narration:
I quite like Emilia Fox, I think she does a great job. She matches many times to the actors who played them in the BBC shows (eg. Bunch). I liked her narration here too.

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