At Bertram's Hotel
Acceptable with guidance. Age: 15+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
The book speaks plainly about evil. Miss Marple says the wish to murder defies God, and the policeman swears the young killer will not get away with it. The Canon is a gentle scholar and victim. The reservation is the ending. A mother lies to the police to shield her guilty daughter, then kills herself in a car, and the policeman admires her driving. The lie fails, but nobody calls the suicide a sin. Miss Marple only prays for mercy.
For parents
Read aloud from 14 if you wish. A teen can read it alone from 15. A mother takes the blame for her daughter's crime and kills herself in a car, and the daughter is not arrested on the page. Tell your teen this was a lie and a suicide, not a noble death (CCC 2281, 2482). Ask what real love for Elvira would have done.