Agatha Christie's Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel by Lucy Foley. (Harper Collins, enhanced by AI)Have you ever been to an escape room, where a group voluntarily gets locked in a room and works out clues to find the way out? Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, in which Lucy Foley (of The Guest List and The Paris Apartment fame) brings back Miss Marple, one of Agatha Christie’s most iconic characters, is much the same.A murder in the Swiss snowSet in 1950, the book takes Miss Marple, her friend Mrs Bantry and her paid companion, Diana Glass, to a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps. Fellow guests include Anthony Narracott, a wartime hero turned politician; his 22-year-old wife, Catherine; his uncouth friend Bruno Crane; and the glamorous star Sylvia Sinclair.The luxurious Swiss holiday turns into a murderous nightmare when a lift attendant on a gondola ride finds the body of one of the guests. A train accident, followed by extreme weather, prevents the guests, including the murderer, from leaving, creating a ‘locked room’ effect.A different character narrates each chapter, each offering their own perspective. Sinclair’s commentary is arguably the most brilliant, if a trifle catty. Sample this: “And then the stall to the toilet opens, and she steps out. Catherine Narracott. I can tell she’s been crying, but on her there’s no make-up to streak, and it only looks picturesque, in the way that young women look picturesque when they cry. She’s not even that much younger than me! But a decade – and the rest – is a hell of a lot for a broad.”As the body count mounts, so do the suspense and the number of suspects.Also Read | What is Alpine Divorce? The chilling 1893 short story playing out in 2026Foley versus ChristieToo many subplots and narrators make the story meander at times. Foley also weaves in an element of feminism, toggling between the insecurities of different female characters and showing how patriarchy has affected each.Foley’s storytelling is vivid and fast-paced, which might not resonate with readers used to the Queen of Crime’s more leisurely pace. The risqué elements and the relative absence of the star of the show might also not go down well with classic Christie fans.Story continues below this adAlso Read | Agatha Christie is back but would she approve of this AI seance?In her need for speed, Foley leaves some pesky plot holes, such as how someone managed to take a decent photograph in moonlight in 1950, and mentions of Marilyn Monroe and paracetamol, neither of which was common in Europe at the time. None of these lapses materially affect the plot, and Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel kept us hooked for almost all of its 360-odd pages, while giving readers enough time to assemble the pieces of the puzzle.Foley builds the landscape and settings so well that, while grand and beautiful, they also communicate an unease. Yet, despite the 1950s setting and the elaborate characters, this seems more a Foley book than a Christie one.One wishes it had more of Miss Marple, but it is a page-turner with hardly any dull moments. Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel is a good pick for anyone looking for a gripping read with a twist in the climax.