Nemesis (Christie novel)Dust-jacket illustration of the first UK edition

Author
Agatha Christie Country:United Kingdom Language:English
Genre:Crime novel
Followed by The Golden Ball and Other Stories
Nemesis is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie (18901976) and
first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in November 1971[1] and
in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year.[2][3] The UK
edition retailed at 1.50[1] and the US edition at $6.95.[3] It was the last
Miss Marple novel the author wrote, although Sleeping Murder was the last
Christie novel to be published.
Miss Marple first encounters Jason Rafiel in A Caribbean Mystery, where they
solve a mystery. Miss Marple receives communications from him, sent
posthumously, setting up the plot of this novel.
Plot summary[edit]
Miss Marple receives a post card from the recently deceased Jason Rafiel, a
millionaire whom she had met during a holiday on which she had
encountered a murder, which asks her to look into an unspecified crime; if
she succeeds in solving the crime, she will inherit 20,000. Rafiel has left
her few clues. She begins by joining a tour of famous British houses and
gardens, arranged by Mr Rafiel prior to his death. She is accompanied on the
trip by fourteen other people. Elizabeth Temple is the retired school
headmistress who relates the story of Verity, who was engaged to Rafiel's
ne'er-do-well son, Michael, but the marriage did not happen. Another
member of the tour group, Miss Cooke, is a woman she had met briefly in St
Mary Mead.

Her next clue comes from Lavinia Glynne; Rafiel had written to Mrs Glynne
and her two sisters before his death, suggesting that Miss Marple spend the
most physically challenging few days of the tour with them. Miss Marple
accepts Lavinia's invitation. She then meets Lavinia's spinster sisters,
Clotilde and Anthea Bradbury-Scott. On talking with the servant, Miss Marple
learns that Verity joined the family after both her parents died, becoming
quite attached to Clotilde. Verity is dead now, brutally murdered, and
Michael Rafiel is in prison.

On the morning of her return to her party, Miss Marple learns that Miss
Temple had been injured by a rockslide during the previous day's hike, and
was lying in a coma in hospital. The group stays over an extra night to wait
for news from the tour guide about Miss Temple's health. Professor
Wanstead, a pathologist and psychologist interested in the different types of

criminal brains, had been instructed by Mr Rafiel to go on the tour. He had

examined Michael Rafiel at the request of the head of the prison where
Michael was incarcerated; he came to the conclusion that Michael was not
capable of murder. He tells Miss Marple how uninterested Michael's father
seemed. He mentions a missing young local woman, Nora Broad, and he
fears she will be found murdered. Wanstead takes Miss Marple to see Miss
Temple; in a moment of consciousness, Miss Temple had asked for Miss
Marple. Miss Temple wakes long enough to tell Miss Marple to "search for
Verity Hunt", and dies that night. The three sisters extend their invitation to
Miss Marple when she decides not to return to the tour, and she promptly
accepts. That night, Mrs Glynne tells the story of Verity in their household to
Miss Marple.
After the inquiry into Miss Temple's death, Miss Marple is visited by
Archdeacon Brabazon, a friend of Miss Temple's. He tells Miss Marple that he
was going to marry Verity Hunt and Michael Rafiel in a secret ceremony.
While he disapproved of the secrecy and worried about their prospects, he
agreed to marry them because he could see they were in love. He was most
surprised when neither turned up for the wedding, nor sent a note. Miss
Marple decides to stay another few nights with the three sisters when the
tour moves on. Prof. Wanstead travels to London by train on an errand for
Miss Marple. Miss Barrow and Miss Cooke decide they will visit a nearby
church. Later that evening, Miss Marple talks with the sisters about what she
thinks may have happened and, while they are doing so, Miss Barrow and
Miss Cooke appear, to talk to Miss Marple. They stay for a time and are then
invited back for coffee that evening.
As they talk about Miss Temple, Miss Marple suggests, albeit dissembling,
that Joanna Crawford and Emlyn Price (two of those on the tour) pushed the
boulder, and their alibis are mere fabrication. As they get ready to leave,
Miss Cooke suggests that the coffee would not suit Miss Marple, as it will
keep her up all night. Clotilde then offers some warm milk. The two ladies
soon depart, although each returns to retrieve a forgotten item. At three
o'clock in the morning, Clotilde enters Miss Marple's room, surprised when
Miss Marple turns on the light. Miss Marple tells her that she did not drink
the milk. Clotilde offers to warm it up, but Miss Marple tells her she still
would not drink it because she knows that Clotilde killed Verity Hunt and
buried her body in the wreck of the greenhouse, because she could not bear
Verity leaving her for someone else. She also knows that Clotilde brutally
murdered Nora Broad to (mis)identify her body as Verity's and thus throw
suspicion on Michael Rafiel. Clotilde murdered Miss Temple as well. As
Clotilde advances toward her, Miss Marple blows on a whistle, which brings
Miss Cooke and Miss Barrow they are bodyguards employed by Mr Rafiel
to protect Miss Marple to her defence. Clotilde drinks the milk herself,
which is, of course, poisoned. Miss Marple tells the story to the Home
Secretary, including that Verity is buried on the property of the BradburyScotts. Michael Rafiel is set free. Miss Marple collects her inheritance,
confident she completed the task given her.

Characters[edit]
Miss Marple: Single woman who is getting frail with age, a natural detective.
She takes a request from Jason Rafiel, with little initial information, to solve
an unnamed crime for him.
Jason Rafiel: Millionaire, recently deceased, who first met Miss Marple in A
Caribbean Mystery.
Michael Rafiel: Son of Jason, now held on a murder charge. Jason considers
his son a ne'er do well.
Esther Walters: Mr Rafiel's secretary, who first met Miss Marple in A
Caribbean Mystery.
Verity Hunt: Engaged to Michael Rafiel, but the marriage never happens,
and she was found murdered, identified by Clotilde Bradbury-Scott several
years earlier.
Miss Elizabeth Temple: Retired headmistress of the school that Verity Hunt
attended, who shares the story of Verity Hunt's engagement with Miss
Marple, as they both take the tour of famous houses and gardens. She is
injured by a rock slide while Miss Marple takes her day of rest, and dies the
next day.
Miss Cooke: Young woman in the tour group, who Miss Marple recalls seeing
in near her home before the tour; later revealed to be sent on the tour by
Jason Rafiel, to aid and protect Miss Marple.
Miss Barrow: One of the fourteen on the tour with Miss Marple, she appears
with Miss Cooke. She is later revealed to be sent on the tour by Jason Rafiel
to aid and protect Miss Marple, working with Miss Cooke
Lavinia Glynne: A widow, and one of three sisters who live along the tour
route, near the point where the garden to be toured is taxing walk for a frail
woman; she was contacted by Jason Rafiel to allow Miss Marple to stay with
them for a day until the tour moves on to easier walks.
Clotilde Bradbury-Scott: Unmarried sister of Lavinia who became attached to
Verity Hunt, sent to live with them when her parents died. She seems the
most feminine and soft of the three sisters, and least likely to be a murderer.
Anthea Bradbury-Scott: Unmarried sister of Lavinia and Clotilde.
Professor Wanstead: One of the fourteen people on the tour with Miss
Marple, also at Jason Rafiel's invitation. He is a psychiatrist who examined
Michael Rafiel. Wanstead judges Michael as incapable of murder.
Archdeacon Brabazon: A friend of Miss Temple who tells Miss Marple that he
had agreed to officiate at the secret marriage of Michael and Verity. That is

an unusual procedure for him, a secret marriage, but he judged them to be

truly in love with each other.
Joanna Crawford: Young woman on the tour with her aunt.
Emlyn Price: Young man on the tour.
Nora Broad: Local woman in the area of the Bradbury-Scott home whose
body is disfigured Nemesis
In utter disbelief Miss Marple read the letter addressed to her from the
recently deceased Mr Rafiel an acquaintance she had met briefly on her
travels. Recognising in Miss Marple a natural flair for justice, Mr Rafiel had
left instructions for her to investigate a crime after his death. The only
problem was, he had failed to tell her who was involved or where and when
the crime had been committed. It was most intriguing.making identification
difficult.
Miss Marple receives an unusual bequest her old friend and one-time
partner in detection, has left posthumous instructions for an investigation
into a crime. She must follow the clues across England to discover the truth
of his bizarre request.
Mr Rafiel first appeared in A Caribbean Mystery and struck up a begrudging
alliance with Miss Marple in order to solve a multiple murder case. This
transformed to respect, which carries on through to Nemesis, despite the
fact that it isnt a sequel. They are partnered novels which complement
each other. Written in her eighties, Nemesis is a testament to Agatha
Christie's enduring skill at mystery and deception.
First adapted for screen in 1987, the story starred Joan Hickson. In 2004 BBC
Radio 4 broadcast a dramatisation, starring June Whitfield. It was adapted
again in 2007, with Geraldine McEwan and also featured Richard E Grant as
her nephew, Raymond West.