Here’s my Quick Take, Spoilers and a Q and A for Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel by Lucy Foley, brand new Miss Marple book set in a Swiss hotel in 1950. Can Miss Marple solve a string of baffling murders in a wintry setting?
Jen’s Quick Take on Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel
- A new Miss Marple mystery set in 1950 in a hotel in the Swiss alps
- Post-war intrigue, a closed circle element, a chilling winter setting
- Multiple third person POVs
- Publication Date: September 22, 2026 by William Morrow.
- I borrowed this from the library and read it in November 2026.
What is Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel About?
Suspense author Lucy Foley (The Guest List, The Paris Apartment, The Midnight Feast) created a brand new Miss Marple mystery featuring the beloved Jane Marple and her St Mary Mead friend Dolly Bantry. Dolly appears in The Thirteen Problems (1932), The Body in the Library (1942), The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side (1962),and Sleeping Murder (1976).
Dolly Bantry and Jane Marple arrive at the Grand Alpine Hotel with Diana serves as companion to the recently widowed Mrs. Bantry.
The story starts with the discovery of a body in the gondola, though we don’t know its identity. I think this is because the book gets a bit of a slow start (at least to me as a reader who chooses mostly suspense and thriller books.) We don’t find out the identity of the victim until about a third of the way into the book. Before then, we meet the cast of characters, which includes a Hollywood actress, a British politician and his wife, and a man that the politician is there to meet to conduct some shady-seeming business.
What I Thought of The Grand Alpine Hotel
What I liked about this cozy mystery is that the story lays out all the clues for you. I picked up on some of them and was able to figure a few things out. I thought the setting was fun, and a closed circle mystery is always a favorite of mine.
Also, I thought the solution to the mystery pretty ingenious, though I still have a few questions. Foley revealed the part each character played not with one big gathering, but with multiple characters reflecting on what they did, or by Miss Marple explaining things to Dolly and Diana. This made the ending confusing to me at times!
Check the questions out below and if you can answer them (or add to them) please leave a comment. NOTE: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS BELOW!
The Grand Alpine Hotel: Q and A
No, not at all. But I think it would be fun to have some backstory on Jane Marple and Dolly Bantry beforehand.
As Diana explains, during WWII, Germans with caravan of gold bars stealthily made their way from Germany, through France, and to Switzerland, where the Swiss would launder it. The Nazis stole this gold from the countries it took over and their citizens.
Diana and her fiancé, Fabian, served as part of a French resistance group tasked with intercepting the caravan as it traveled through France and stealing the gold.
Two British officers, Anthony Narracott and Bruno Crane, were to assist them in the heist. But Narracott and Crane shot Fabian and Diana, stole the gold, and hid it in the Swiss Alps.
Now that the war is over, Narracott and Crane head to Switzerland to retrieve the hidden gold and sell it to Kristoph Mauer (posing as Inspector Christophe Moreau.)
Miss Marple thinks Mauer intended to kill Anthony and Bruno, and steal the gold rather than pay them. Meanwhile, Diana wanted to find the gold, give it to the French government, and expose Narracott as a thief and murderer.
All this was thwarted because two other people were up to no good (see the questions below.)
It was Sylvia Sinclair. After she called the Narracott’s home looking for Anthony, she and Catherine met and decided to join forces.
When they found out that Anthony was planning to sell the stolen gold, they decided this was a perfect time to kill him. Sylvia was motivated by the death of her brother, who died in WWII, and she found Narracott’s actions despicable. (Plus, he tried to kill her in the bathtub in a Pretty Woman scene gone wrong.)
Also Sylvia. She was a good skier (pretending to be a terrible one). Bruno was the body in the gondola. She and Catherine move the gold, then send Bruno an anonymous note to meet near a gondola tournament. Sylvia wears a mask and hits him on the back of the head.
I think so, but I also think that was a total red herring or misdirection. Later on, Diana sees (a very much alive )Bruno fall out. He says he went to the Casino the night before and got drunk. That was confusing to me, and if you have theories, please leave them in the comments.
Catherine committed this murder. She was worried that he was looking at Diana’s photos (after he slept with Diana to steal them) and would find them out. Catherine wrote him a note asking him to meet her in Dolly’s room (signed JM for Jane Marple) and then pushed him off the balcony. She booked a sleigh ride for Dolly and Jane to get them out of the way.
We think he was poisoned, but with what? If you know, please leave a comment. Did Sylvia put almond oil in his coffee thermos? Since the train crash prevents the Swiss police from getting there, I’m not sure we ever find out exactly what killed him. Unless I missed it completely!
Do you have questions about The Grand Alpine Hotel? Leave me a comment and I’ll try to answer them!