Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel – A 5 Star Miss Marple Mystery From Lucy Foley

Last Updated on May 26, 2026

I can’t even imagine how difficult it must be to have to create a brand new Miss Marple story from scratch. Attempting to walk in Agatha Christie’s shoes is the kind of pressure I do not need.

But fair play to Lucy Foley for picking up the mantle and keeping one of the world’s favorite sleuths going well into 2026.

Of course, Lucy Foley is no stranger to putting pen to paper and is already one of the foremost thriller and crime writers of our time, turning out hit after hit, including The Hunting Party and The Guest List – both of which are bestsellers.

She was also one of 12 writers to create brand-new stories for Marple: Twelve New Mysteries, which was published in 2022.

Given all that, it was no surprise that she was given the green light to write a brand new Marple mystery, and luckily for me, I received an advanced copy of Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, so here are my thoughts (for what they’re worth!)

Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel

So let’s start at the start. It is 1950, and we begin our journey at the top of the Swiss Alps as Jane Marple and her friend Dolly Bantry are making their way up the mountain (on a train) in the company of Diana Glass, who is there as Mrs Bantry’s helper.

This story unfolds from the perspective of four characters, one of whom is Diana, so we only ever see Miss Marple from somebody else’s point of view, exactly as Christie would have written her.

And, as an aside note, from the get-go, I had actress Geraldine McEwan in my head – always quietly observing, knitting in hand, nodding along.

So the ladies in question make it to the luxury hotel foyer, and it’s there that we meet the rest of our cast.

Cue the second narrator, Catherine Narracott, a politician’s wife who has traveled on holiday with her husband. Catherine is the epitome of a devoted wife, and one whose raison d’être appears to be making her husband look good.

However, we soon discover that being married to Anthony Narracott is no picnic, especially as he seems hell-bent on spending every penny that Catherine brought to the marriage.

Speaking of which, there to spoil the party is our third narrator, Sylvia Sinclair, a slightly aging Hollywood movie star who appears to have her eyes set on Anthony.

Standing in her way, aside from his wife, is Bruno Crane, our fourth and final narrator. Crane is a friend of Anthony’s, the two having met during the war, and despite life turning out very differently for him, he is still bound to Narracott for reasons that are revealed later in the book.

The Plot

So, now that we have the lay of the land, let’s get into the plot. Somebody dies. That isn’t the mystery; this is Miss Marple after all.

In a bit of a twist in Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, it almost becomes a locked room mystery insofar as the guests get cut off at the top of a mountain in a blizzard, giving us a nicely contained whodunnit.

Helping Jane Marple to unravel what is going on at the hotel is Inspector Christophe Moreau of the French police, who is also staying there. The duo then set about interviewing guests and piecing the puzzle together, but can they do it before another guest ends up dead?

I really wish I could give more details on the plot, but as I think back over the book, I realize that anything else I mention may give the game away, and where would the fun in that be?

Suffice it to say that there is far more going on than meets the eye, and as the murder doesn’t actually occur until nearly halfway through the book, everything that comes before it is just as important as what comes after. So pay attention!

Perfectly Channeling Christie

This is where I say ‘hat’s off’ to Lucy Foley for genuinely creating a Miss Marple story that could have been written by the Queen of Crime herself.

The characters are so well-rounded that I could see them in my mind’s eye.

We know the stiff-upper-lip society woman, Catherine, who spends all day being the perfect wife, always in her husband’s shadow, a shell of the person she could be.

We understand the real fear starlet Sylivia has about aging out of Hollywood when her looks start to fade, and who is desperate not only for attention but for something resembling the security she has never known.

We empathize with Diana, a woman so heartbroken that she has retreated into herself, content to be a helper and to live out her days in relative obscurity.

And we also know that people are very seldom who they pretend to be. That behind the public facades are secrets and lies, and even the desire to kill to get what they want.

So who committed Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel? Well, that would be telling, and trust me when I say, the fun is in finding out for yourself…