She is rebellious and her adventure with men (three times married) is not to be found in Anne Beddingfield, Tuppence Beresford, Bundle and Lady Francesca Derwent. Her portrayal as a ‘modern woman’ distinguishes her from the authoress’s previous female characters first and foremost. Nonetheless, it is the creation of Lady Bess Sedgwick (see her history in Clues) that is intriguing. There is not much about sleuthing until a day before she checks out not until she is approached by Chief Inspector Davy (whom will be referred as ‘Father’) about the disappearance of Canon Pennyfather. Furthermore, she appears to take a back seat from crime during her fortnight stay. Her character might have been much older than her yet a keen observer to her surroundings. Quite miraculously so, in her view, that things remain the same.Ĭhristie was in her mid-seventies when the book was published. Is Bertram’s still there? It comforts her to realise that time seems to stand still within the walls of the hotel – a short walk away from Piccadilly Circus. Yet the memories of her having come with her aunt as a young girl fill her with great excitement. To Miss Marple the capital, as busy as ever, has changed. In the swing sixties’ Britain, London is a different world. The Roadmaster in the sixties – a London icon. What connects a respectable London hotel, Malinowski, the clergyman with a robbery at a grand scale? ‘Why haven’t you told anyone this before?’ asks Davy. Meanwhile, at 3 am the female sleuth sees Pennyfather’s back as he leaves his room and goes down the stairs. For a witness has described a man whose appearance seems to have matched with the missing canon. The Irish Mail Train Robbery in the early hours of 20 th makes a big headline on the papers and brings Chief-Inspector Davy attention to Bertram’s.

Miss Marple feels uncomfortable when she happens to spot Malinowski on separate occasions with Lady Sedgwick and a young pretty girl, Elvira Blake. Ladislaus Malinowski’s flamboyant appearance but moreover is his enquiring about the aforementioned famous woman. Lady Sedgwick’s staying is extraordinary, given as a celebrity she would have been anywhere but Bertram’s. The latter is the case of Lady Bess Sedgwick, of whom the guest has known since she was a girl.

Miss Marple notices that a fellow guest has developed a habit of greeting a number of guests wrongly either she thinks she has known a face but they do not recognise her or she hardly makes of their presence in the Old World Charm of the hotel. A cover of Time featuring London, the Swinging City in the sixties.

Bertram's hotel