The Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple Mysteries)

“It is difficult to know quite where to begin this story, but I have fixed my choice on a certain Wednesday at luncheon at the Vicarage.” And so begins “Murder at the Vicarage,” and the introduction of St. Mary Mead (and it’s most notable resident, Miss Jane Marple) to countless numbers of readers around the world. Up till somewhere into this book Jane Marple was just a resident minding her garden and perhaps other people’s business from afar, as one resident with keen ears and sharp eyes and an inability to turn them off to proceedings that occur around her.

She makes the case, consequently, that it is possible to be very learned about life and generally worldly even when living in a rather small place where nothing really happens……except life itself. Herein once she herself intones, “Dear Vicar, you are so unworldly. I’m afraid that, observing human nature for as long as I have done, one gets not to expect very much from it. I daresay idle tittle tattle is very wrong and unkind, but it is so often true, isn’t it?” And what is life if not what people say about others and how others react to such ‘gossip.’ Human nature is human nature, after all, regardless of the environment in which it plays out.

For example, women want to be taken notice of, generally speaking:

Vicar: “You were there then, Miss Cram?”

Miss Cram: “I was there all right. Fancy your not seeing me. Didn’t you see me? I feel a bit hurt about that. Yes, I do. A gentleman, even if he is a clergyman, ought to have eyes in his head.”

And often times the most simple and logical explanation for something is the only one that makes sense. Miss Marple: “I know that in books it is always the most unlikely person. But I never find that rule applies in real life. There it is so often the obvious that is true.” Which leads the Vicar in this book to conclude: “There is, as Miss Marple would say, a lot of human nature in all of us.”

And kudos to Agatha Christie for bringing forth Miss Marple, of small bucolic St. Mary Mead, to illustrate this point ever so entertainingly.

1930 was not a great year as the Great Depression put the damper on humanity. However, in Great Britain there was a new Agatha Christie for sale at the bookstalls and shops. "The Murder at the Vicarage" is the first novel to feature the inimitable Miss Marple of St. Mary's Mead. Along with Belgian Detective Hercule Poirot the venerable Miss Marple is one of the two iconic characters created by the brilliant mind of Agatha Christie. It is a delight!
The Plot: The story is narrated by the Rev. Lem Clement a Church of England vicar in the small English village of St. Mary's Mead. Clement is married to the much younger Griselda. Griselda is a beautiful woman of 25 with a keen wit who always manages to say or do the wrong thing in the confines of a small parish made up largely of gossippy old women!
One night Colonel Protheroe comes to the vicarage to meet the good reverend. Protheroe is wed to Anne who is carrying on a love affair with local artist Lawrence Redding. Protheroe is noted for his furious temple; he is not liked. His daughter Lettie is eager to flee the family home where she feels restricted by her grouchy father and stepmother Anne. Colonel Protheroe is found shot to death in the vicarage. Though Anne Protheroe and Lawrence Redding confess the murder the indefatigable Miss Marple considers there to be at least seven suspects. She. Rev. Clements and local police investigat the nettlesome case. A key suspect is the aristocratic Mrs. Lestrange, young Gladys Cram and Dr. Stone.
The case is replete with red herrings and complicated plot developments. As so often in Christie's work the answer to the murder puzzle lies buried in the past. Passion plays an important role in this well written and fascinating early work by a British murder mystery doyen. There is no better book to pick up to begin acquaintanship with the inimitable Miss Marple.
Enjoy this one!

Rating: 4/5

This is the first book of Miss Marple series, though the book doesn't give much background to Miss Marple but it shows the funny views and also the respect her neighbours have for her. I couldn't resist myself to laugh or to smile at some occasions reading the way people referred to her. The book is just a good faithful introduction if you would want to start reading the Miss Marple series by Agatha Christie.

I loved about the narrator his honesty, his view and sometimes his confusion whenever something occurred. The author also was very successful to grab your attention and make you wonder who is what and what is going to happen next. I found myself sucked in the story and loved every bit of it. Christie for sure knows how to completely make you live inside the book and at the same time keep using your mind and try to solve the mystery before it is totally unleashed in the most magnificent bizarre way.

The book is very much recommended for mystery lovers and specially the fans of the author.

"Murder at the Vicarage" was the novel in which Agatha Christie introduced her old maid of a detective, Miss Jane Marple. While authorities are confounded by a baffling murder in the small town of St. Mary Mead, Miss Marple knows the real murderer from the start, except she has no proof to back up her theory. Narrated by the vicar, Len Clement, who serves as an amateur sleuth in league with Miss Marple, the mystery becomes even more convoluted before the facts are revealed at the end. "Murder at the Vicarage" is a delightful read, but definitely an understated introduction to the inimitable Miss Marple.

Colonel Protheroe was not well liked, and when he is found shot dead in the study of the vicarage, there are a plethora of suspects who may have wanted him dead. It seems as if the case is immediately solved when two people confess in quick succession - the artist Lawrence Redding, who was having an affair with Mrs. Protheroe, and Mrs. Protheroe herself. Yet both are just as quickly cleared of any guilt and that means that the police must look for suspects and proof elsewhere. Admist an alarming amount of testimony, threatening letters and phone calls, and numerous red herrings, Christie throws suspicion upon almost everybody in the village, causing readers (as usual) to be led far off the track of who the actual murderer is.

"Murder at the Vicarage", like the best of Christie's mysteries, is a fast-paced whodunit that will leave readers guessing (incorrectly) until the end. The ending seems a little too hasty after such a great amount of buildup. Vicar Len Clement is a likable narrator and worthy confidant of Miss Marple. There are many characters to like (and several to dislike) in this tale, but Miss Marple outshines them all, cementing her future place in the pantheon of literary detectives.

This title is not particularly often fêted when Agatha Christie's name crops up during literary discussions but it should be -- I would assert that it falls handily within the leading twenty percent of her lifelong account of over eighty mysteries, romance novels, and plays.

THE STORY: Old Miss Marple resides next door to the Vicarage in the sleepy English hamlet of St. Mary Mead where she loves to toil away in her garden. Her vigilant scrutiny of Vicar Len Clement's comings and goings, and those of his household and their numerous guests, validates her local status as a celebrated repository of village gossip. And what she doesn't actually view with her own eyes, she quickly deduces with an accuracy and preciseness which would astonish even Sherlock Holmes.

Following multiple complaints from the congregation, Vicar Clement is concerned that the church's books might not be in the best of order. One self-assured and particularly noxious parishioner, Colonel Protheroe, has made it his personal business to ferret out any financial inconsistencies and, if there be one, a culprit. Following a purported emergency telephone call received by the tireless Vicar, the Colonel awaits his return in the Vicar's office to commence an accounting of the church's finances. It's just during this period when the supercilious old autocrat's life is snuffed away by a well-placed revolver shot to the back of the head... a revolver which happens to belong to transient artist Lawrence Redding, who happens to have recently quarreled with the Colonel, who happens to be painting the Colonel's wife's portrait, who happens to be in love with said wretched wife, who stands to financially profit (by marrying the Colonel's wife) if the Colonel is put out of the way, who happens to have emerged from the Vicarage just before the Colonel's death is discovered by the Vicar. And if all that did not provide adequate motivation for the murder, Redding walks into the police station and confesses to the crime!

A bounty of additional and worthy suspects prevail though, such as a nefarious and hostile old poacher by the name of Archer upon whom the Colonel, in his capacity as local magistrate, had only just dropped the gavel just prior to the latter's untimely death. There is the strange Mrs. Lestrange for whom the local doctor seems to be fabricating an alibi for her whereabouts during the window of time in which the murder occurred. And then there is the pensive archeologist who, along with a young female assistant, spends his days toiling for artifacts in a barrow on the Colonel's estate - the anomalous behavior of the two following the murder begins to capture the attention of village gossips. Oh yes... and there's the house maid, the Vicar's wife, the Vicar's assistant, Colonel's Protheroe's wife, his impish daughter... and on and on.

Inspector Slack, an offensive but forceful investigator, immediately chastises just about every soul in St. Mary Mead as he initiates a cycle of badgering prospective witnesses and suspects. As a consequence, most of the local rumor-mongers seek to burden the Vicar with their salacious tidbits and he is subsequently forced share this vague hearsay with the venerable Colonel Melchett, a notably more urbane and thoughtful policeman. But as the clues begin to amass and as a solution becomes ever less discernible all three men discover that old Miss Marple's contributions toward solving the case cannot be so easily dismissed -- she artfully maneuvers Slack, Melchett, and the Vicar back on the correct path as this curious affair of murder draws closer to a surprising finale.

The story here is conveyed in the First Person writing style, (a difficult technique of which Christie was an acknowledged master), from the perspective of narrator/protagonist Vicar Len Clement. Christie has also included three maps/floor plans to aid armchair detectives in solving the case prior to the book's conclusion -- but I don't anticipate that most readers will succeed in this endeavor even though the clues are adequately provided. That signature Christie cozy murder atmosphere punctuated with the colorful ambiance of her characters is found in abundance here.

This 1930 whodunit stands as a classic example of the author's much-lauded early period and serves equally as a poster example of the "golden-age" British mystery. It doesn't get much better than this but subsequent Miss Marple equivalents were, in fact, penned by Christie such as: The Moving Finger: A Miss Marple Mystery (Agatha Christie Collection), aka The Case of the Moving Finger (1942).

Highly recommended!

I had tried reading Agatha Christie about ten years ago, didn't like her at all then.
I tried reading her now, and I realized that she was a very witty and intelligent lady. Her book is peppered with insights that would have been quite difficult for an average Victorian to grasp - but then, Agatha was no Victorian in the true sense of the word.
My experience with Agatha was perfectly captured in this sentence from the same book:

' "I remember a saying of my Great Aunt Fanny's. I was sixteen at that time and I thought it particularly foollish."
' "Yes?" I enquired.
' "She used to say: 'The young people think the old people are fools; but the old people know the young people are fools ' " '

With age, I can now understand her witticisms and insights.

This is more than a mystery. It is quite comedic thanks in part to the vicar’s POV and the characters themselves. As a whole, the men are very dandy and the woman can easily be described as biddies. The term “gossipmongers” comes to mind quickly. The fact that no one in St. Mary Mead has a clock that is the correct time only adds to the mire of the murder mystery. It must be a St. Mary Mead tradition. There are characters that fill out the entire realm of social hierarchy, so it is not just the middle-class echelon represented.

There is no one more despised than Colonel Protheroe. The vicar himself said Protheroe’s death would be an advantage for the villagers. When he is indeed found murdered in the vicar’s study, with two different people confessing to the crime, the elderly Miss Marple exhibits her detective skills. There are seven suspects, including the vicar. After events pass and investigating the actual crime and the suspects, Miss Marple deduces the true facts of the murder.

There are a slew of other characters who have major or minor roles in the plot and some who contribute interesting information about the suspects. Most are servants in various households or other villagers. For the most part, the characters are underdeveloped due to the sheer number of them.

The story as a whole was sarcastic in that old-fashioned, high brow, tongue-in-cheek style told through the viewpoint of the elderly vicar of St. Mary Mead. He is a very honest character about what he sees, painting a true picture of the villagers, the investigation and himself. Due to his position, he is one whom just about everyone trusts. He shares his opinions about the women who fill his life and they are quite funny.

Miss Marple, the sleuthing detective, is only a minor character in the book. She is slightly different than the other nosy, gossiping old women in the village in that she is actually right in her thoughts about the nature of her neighbors. This is important because the book relies heavily on the villagers and their relationships just as much as the murder because they are intricately linked.

The language is, of course, Christie. It is very proper, written even in high style that is focused on politeness, societal conventions, and the language itself. Christie’s style leaves readers in the dark, only allowing glimmers of different aspects of the village, villagers and murder.

The crime is set in the small English village with an overflow of gossip, affairs, and various emotions. Even the police force depend on meddling old women, much like Angela Lansbury’s character is depended upon in Murder, She Wrote.

The murder victim is Colonel Protheroe, a very unpleasant fellow who is highly disliked around the village. Needless to say, plenty of potential suspects abound. The murder is pretty typical, but it is the setting in the small village filled with gossipers that hypes up the murder and investigation.

This is one of Christie’s lesser acclaimed works, but is the first in which Miss Marple and the Clements appear in who show up later in other books.

The idyllic village of St Mary Mead is the setting for this classic murder mystery. Colonel Protheroe is found shot dead in the vicar's study much to the incumbent's distress and embarrassment. Fortunately the vicar's next door neighbour is Miss Marple, that ever inquisitive spinster who sees everything and understands human nature better than most.

There are plenty of suspects in this well constructed story. Half the village, including the vicar, has at one time or another wished the victim out of the way permanently, not least his own second wife. I enjoyed this well written mystery with its evocation of a simpler age when Chief Constables became involved in murder investigations and amateur detectives were given more leeway by the police.

The story is narrated by the vicar himself which gives an interesting view of the story and of Miss Marple. He makes an amusing and insightful narrator but it will take an insightful reader to see beyond his narrative to what might be happening without his knowledge. This is a very well plotted crime novel from a master of the genre and will appeal to anyone who enjoys village mysteries where the amateur sees more of the game than the police.

The characters mess with the head. The clues and `Peculiar Things' clarify and bewilder. And the story certainly shows the aggravations of finding oneself stuck in a small, cozy village that has just suddenly borne out its first murder in a long, long while.

Smack in the middle is the village's highly likeable, dryly humorous, and long-suffering vicar who has the inconvenience of finding the village's least favorite member slumped dead in his own study, of trying to prevent his incompetent housekeeper from quitting just to appease the missus, of hearing out in a day-to-day basis the suppositions, observations, and indignations of the more well-meaning, elderly women of his parish, and of agonizing if his younger, vivacious wife is actually having an affair...

All the while doing a not-inconsiderate amount of sleuthing on his own - with the valuable aid of the redoubtable Miss Marple, whose spot-on observations and insights on the village folk has made her a point of disgruntlement for the police constables.

With one or two more incidental plots thrown in into the mix, The Murder at the Vicarage is a story that subtly lures one to keep a wide-open eye on everything said or done - coz you have no idea which of these are really worth paying attention to.

I have to admit being near-driven bonkers with trying to keep up (especially when the `time' aspect is factored in), but that just really makes me more glued to the pages.

The ending and exposition of what all the fuss is about may come out as a bit anticlimactic...but still, the entire detective-experience of getting into that point was well worth it. Another enjoyable read.

This is a great detective story, written by the brilliant Agatha Christie. The reader is encouraged to visit the village which is home of the wise and observant miss Marple. Village life goes on and it seems that this idyll will continue for a long time. But suddenly in the village occurs is a murder. Who was killed? The victim does not cause sympathy. It was the Colonel, local philistine and guardian of morality. He is dissatisfied with and trying to control everything. It is not surprising that someone killed him. Though the crime occurred in the home of the vicar and it seems that the killer is already known. But it was not there! The genius of Agatha Christie throughout the novel will present us with many discoveries and surprises.

Meet Miss Marple. In this book spinster Jane Marple is introduced, soon to become one of the most famous amateur detectives ever. I like her habit of situations reminding her of previous events which helps her solve the crimes. She seems to have an intuitive sense of human nature and patterns of behavior.

In this mystery, a thoroughly unlikely villager is murdered in the Vicar's study. Because he is unlikable, there are ample suspects who could have committed the crime. However, there are few clues. Of course Miss Marple is able to ferret out the truth. This isn't my favorite of Ms. Christie's mysteries, but if you want to meet Miss Marple at her inception, Christie fans should enjoy it. I also recommend Agatha Christie's autobiography as she was a fascinating and likable woman who was unusually modest in her estimation of herself. Christie is the best-selling author of fiction of all time.

While this book is definitely an original Christie's, it is hardly a vintage.
Writing from the perspective of the vicar of St Mary Mead village where Ms Jane Marple lived, the writer unfolded a scene of a little village's usual "transquility" being disturbed by an outsider in the form of Mr Lawrence Redding, an artist who drew various local ladies. One of the ladies was Griselda, wife of the vicar, and another was Anne, second wife to a not generally loved Colonel Protheroe, the latter being a murder victim found in the study of the vicar.
Rounding up the usual suspects, there was the victim's daughter, Lettice, nearly as old as her stepmother and hated the latter utterly, a ne'er-do-well local by the name of Archer who was jailed by the late Colonel who happened to be on the bench, plus a mysterious Mrs Lestrange, a recent reticent arrival to the village.
Instead of treating the readers to a conventional detective story, the writer described everything from the eyes of the vicar, a possible suspect himself if not for a cast-iron alibi, he had been calling on one of his flocks. The narrator attempted to clear the mystery himself, unsatisfied with the effectiveness of the investigating police officer, a certain Inspector Slack. Together with the local doctor Haydock, they spoke to almost everyone imaginable in the village, trying to reconstructing the truth from various perspective.
As a detective novel, it did not help that the star sleuth Ms Marple was herself a witness, her residence being right next to the vicarage. Readers would get a feeling that they are not being treated fairly in terms of the information being provided, depending instead on evaluations provided by Ms Marple.
Several red herrings of course were thrown in, which made the story more life-like. As the investigation proceeded, new clues were revealed which oft led the amateur sleuths on wild goose chases. It was only when they returned to re-examine the scene of the crime that the truth finally came to light.
Readers who loved mysteries would find nothing to complain about, except that they had been led on a wrong trail and for most of the book, missed out on the real mystery.

A very friendly firm called Audio Partners is releasing a series of complete classic mystery novels read by highly competent actors. So we have Hercule Poirot himself in the person of David Suchet doing "Death on the Nile" for instance, and <Murder at the Vicarage> on six cassettes with James Saxton doing the honors.
Now any review of a book on tape must consider the book itself and the reader separately. The latter might lack the vocal variety of Suchet--that is, he does not change his voice all that much for each character However, "Vicarage" is told in the first person by the Vicar himself, and so Saxton's voice is quite appropriate if one keeps in mind who is supposed to be speaking. In this way, he does a very good job indeed of keeping up the listener's interest, although this particular Christie novel is not quite as spellbinding as was "Murder on the Orient Express" for example.
The tale itself was dramatized very well on PBS a while ago as part of the Joan Hickson "Miss Marple" series, but it did leave out a good deal of the adverse opinions that other residents of St. Mary Mead have of her. None of the male characters seem to like her very much, but that is because they recognize her ability to see through the lies with which most of them surround themselves in even the most routine of days, let alone those that involve a shocking murder in the Vicar's own study
. Not really a comic creation, Miss Marple still elicits broad smiles as she free-associates the present events and the people with those from her past experience and usually manages to come up with the solution on that basis alone. At any rate, this tale is just a tad padded and perhaps would have profited from a slight abridgment; but I am grateful to have a full edition, as it were, on this Audio Partners tape.

I have long been a Christie fan and Miss Jane Marple fan but recently realized that I had never read the one that began it all. A terrible error that needed to be corrected and now I have. I particularly liked that it wasn't told from Jane's POV so the reader is introduced to her through the lens of the narrator & others when not in her presence. I very much enjoyed it and definitely recommend it.

Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie.

The Vicar, Mr. Clement, has his hands full with Colonel Protheroe having been murdered at the Vicarage. The list of suspects has no end since the colonel had hardly a single friend amongst the towns people. Then enters Miss Marple in her very first appearance.

This story had a slow start buy kept me riveted to each passing page. Miss Marple was mostly in the background until the end which I found splendiferous!

.... this is not the best Christie book. While Miss Marple is my favourite detective of all time, Agatha Chrisitie's MIss Marple novels sometimes leave something to be desired. Miss Marple deserves more exciting plots, i sometimes feel. (Although, i know that is silly to suggest. She's an elderly woman. The plots Agatha Chrisite chose for her are of the perfect tone to match the old-lady.) but sometimes they feel a bit laclustre. Indeed, in this one, the first Marple book, she uses some of the same devices she used in the first POIROT book. Mind you, they are not hugely noticeable as repetitions, and the book definitely does not suffer for it.
The characters are good, the writing sharp, the plot typically Marple-esque. Relaxed, in comparison to the Poriot mysteries. Miss Marple is a brilliant creation, and it is a great shame that Christie did not write as many books about her as she did Poirot. She is a hugely enjoyable character, and wonderfully original detective. The way she solves crime is entertaining, but doe slack something which the Poirot novels have. (I can't really put my finger on it...the only thing i can think of to describe what i mean is possibly saying that the Poirot novels are more in-your-face, whereas with the Marple books, the peaceful nature of the villages is brought across in the plot.)
While this is not one her best best books, it is still a very good one. The solution contains none of the great shock value that some of her books do, but it is still a surprise, and this book is still worth a read.

The Murder at the Vicarage is the story in which Agatha Christie introduced her detective Miss Marple; other than that, it really has no stand-out features and is a fairly ho-hum story. In spite of the excellent narration, I found this a very slow-moving and dull book. It was difficult for me to follow what was happening, since the story often failed to hold my attention and my mind wandered.

It is interesting that, in this first Miss Marple story, she figures as little more than a background character until the last chapter or two. The focus of the story is the vicar (who narrates) and his investigations and that of the police officers. Although I particularly like Miss Marple, I found her a slightly different (and less likeable) character in this her first appearance. She is less personable and more snoopy and gossipy.

Recommended for avid Christie fans, although others will probably find this one dull.

This is the first Miss Marple stories and set the stage for the rest of the series. Miss Jane Marple is an elderly spinster of modest means,a life-long resident of the tiny village of St. Mary Mead, an advid gardener and bird watcher and a most astute observer of human nature. Many of the residents and visitors of St. Mary Mead that will return in later works are introduced here, the gentle vicar and his lively younger wife, Raymond West, Jane's novelist nephew and others.
The story is told by the vicar and gives us many insights into his homelife. Col. Protheroe is found murdered in the vicarage, much to the delight of his wife and daughter and embarrassment of the vicar. As the local police try to solve the crime it become apparent that Col. Protheroe was not going to be missed and that nobody really had an alibi. As the investigation progresses it seems that more questions are raised than answered. Ultimately it is Miss Marple who resolves the issues of love affairs, mysterious strangers, and assorted lies to uncover the true culprit.
This is a perfect gem, Christie at her best. The characters are well written and the descriptions of the lack of privacy in a small are incredibly accurate and a recurring theme of Christie's. In typical Christie style of the rules of detection are flirted with but the clues are fairly laid out for the reader to follow, if they can be separated from the red herrings.

It's no secret that no one in St. Mary Mead likes Colonel Protheroe. He is strict, somber, and by the numbers. But when the vicar returns home late for a meeting, he's surprised to find Colonel Protheroe shot through the head. The local police are called in and two people confess. Yet something doesn't seem quite right. Fortunately, Miss Marple lives next door. With her sharp mind talent for learning gossip, she just might make sense of everything that's happening.

Ok, I confess. I love a good cozy mystery but have yet to read much Christie. I can tell I need to change that. This book had me confused from the get go. There were so many red herrings it was hard to tell what was really happening. Yet it all came together at the end in a logical conclusion.

I checked this audio version out of the local library for a trip and only after listening to it discovered that it was abridged. While disappointed, I never would have noticed. It was expertly cut, and everything was there I need to enjoy the story. Ian Masters did a great job of bring the characters and story to life.

Agatha Christie is a class mystery writer for a reason. Anyone who loves a good puzzle with a surprising conclusion will love this book.

The Murder at the Vicarage is a gripping mystery with plenty of twists and little details the reader is sure to miss the first time reading. The novel is told from the point of view of the vicar, Len Clement, who does an excellent job making the reader feel as though they're a part of this small community as well. Miss Marple is more of a passive presence in the novel than I originally thought she would be, but Christie manages to still make her a vital part of the narrative while also providing great commentary on human nature and intuition, and how Peculiar Things often add up to complicate or clarify an investigation.

If you're interested in a mystery with plenty of strong characters, this is certainly worth a read.

As told in the point of view of the vicar himself, The Murder at the Vicarage is an interesting whodunnit whereupon the reader is kept in the dark and enlightened only to be misled again.

Unlike Christie's And Then There Were None, the clues aren't dealt out, so it would be nearly impossible for the reader to figure out what is going on. I myself suspected someone from nearly the very beginning, only to find that, had I been a police inspector, I would have quickly lost my job for nearly imprisoning an innocent character.

But then, this is true for nearly the entire police force here (and in other Marple books), for it always comes down to Jane Marple's discourse on her facts and her timeline that sets everyone down the correct path. And while in The Body in the Library (third in the series) Miss Marple waits for proof before opening her mouth, here she must speak up in order to... well, you will just have to see.

The book is fun, and the vicar's opinionated personality makes for a very intriguing read (what do these religious personalites really think about everyone?). What immediately stood out was how Christie is able to make nearly everyone (this is a dozen characters!) quite possibly the murderer! The finale is, of course, the best part, and I would think to myself, "Ah that explains it, but then what about..." to which I would find the answer. This occurs four or five times, and even then the reader will have two pages to go to wrap up little details that he or she may have quite forgotten about!

The book drags in some areas probably due to our modern requisite for instant gratification. And it was a joy to compare the book cover's painting to the goings-on in the text. I read the 1979 Dell edition.

My dictionary dash consisted of only badinage (131) and vituperation (180).

Aside: I found a receipt tucked halfway through the book; the price being $1.95, tax 13¢ and dated 18Oct75. The book, however, was published in 1979. Odd.

Our narrator, Rev. Clements is articulate, self-deprecating and an able Watson to Miss Marple's Holmes. The locale is the village St. Mary's Mead; the victim is the detestable Col. Protheroe. In their proper places are Flighty Wife, Handsome Artist, Ethereal Ingénue, Gruff Physician, Gossipy Maiden Ladies, Timid Curate, and Mysterious Lady. They need no proper names for they appear over and over in Ms. Christie's novels with new names, but are essentially the same people.
Col. Protheroe is shot in the back of head while apparently writing a note in the Vicar's study. On the face of it, this seems impossible. Though there are people all about, no one heard a shot from the house. No one saw anyone go near the study. The maid let him in just fifteen minutes before the body was discovered. A pretty kettle of fish! Two false confessions quickly muddy up the waters, and it is discovered that most everyone had a motive for killing the good Colonel, except Miss Marple, who, if truth were told, didn't like him very well either.
The intricacies are many, timetables are crucial, but Miss Marple is up to the test. I particularly liked the leisurely lives and pace of St. Mary's Mead. Everyone had servants, you could not move from room to room without being announced. There is some nice humor that runs through regarding the surly maid who runs the vicarage. She is a diffident housekeeper and appalling cook. But the vicar's young wife determinedly keeps her on, for if the maid improves, Griselda fears she would be hired away from them. The vicar bears up as well as he can. People only call upon the police when they feel like it, usually after much discussion with friends and neighbors. The lead policeman has the unfortunate name of Inspector Slack, and Miss Marple gently chides him while he disdains her advice (to his sorrow of course.) The vicar walks everywhere because he cannot master a bicycle. I guess a car would be unthinkable, because it is never mentioned.
It all works out to Prime Dame Agatha. And lest you get too comfortable, she will definitely fool you once again. As always---sigh.

The first Miss Marple mystery! As soon as I got it from my local library, I started to read it. It started out a bit slow, but as always a Miss Marple mystery is a mystery that keeps you guessing throughout the story. Great winter break book!

*Book through the local library. :)

"She has a powerful imagination and systematically thinks the worst of everyone."

The first book featuring Miss Jane Marple, the elderly spinster whose favorite pastime is solving mysteries and making sure she's right. Interestingly, she shows up only now and then to make casual inquiries. The vicar/narrator is the main character who goes about talking to all the possible suspects.

This is easy enough reading but demands close attention, lest you miss a clue or moreover the subtle British humour.

"The Murder at the Vicarage" is memorable because it introduces the delightful Miss Jane Marple. With her love of gardening, binoculars for bird-watching close-at-hand, and an uncanny ability to find similarities between the present situation and her past experiences and acquaintances, Miss Marple is introduced in her home village of St. Mary Mead. We will return here many times and reacquaint ourselves with the characters introduced in this mystery---the vicar Leonard Clement and his wife Griselda, Mrs. Price Ridley, Colonel Melchett, Dr. Haydock, and others.
The murder victim, Colonel Protheroe, is a hateful man disliked by everyone he had dealings with. Therefore, the list of suspects is much longer than usual. There is the victim's second wife, the visiting artist she loves, a mysterious lady with the telling name of Mrs. Lestrange, a teenage daughter, an archaeologist, and a secretary.
There are plenty of red herrings in this one and it is up to Miss Marple to reveal if the most likely suspect is also the guilty one in this cozy read for those of us who thrive on evil in small village life.

This was my first Agitha Christie novel and I was not disappointed. The Murder at the Vicarage kept me guessing until the end. I didn't quite connect with the characters and for that reason I gave this four instead of five stars.

Though Agatha Christie had featured her amateur detective Miss Jane Marple in a couple of short-stories prior to this, "Murder at the Vicarage" marks the first appearance of the elderly spinster with an eye for solving mysteries in a novel-length story. A quintessential "cozy" mystery set in the picturesque village of St Mary Mead and told in first-person narration by its local vicar, "Murder at the Vicarage" serves as a nice introduction to Christie's second-most famous sleuth, even as she plays a relatively minor role in the story itself.

Colonel Protheroe is not a popular man; a loud and boorish presence in his community who is disliked by everyone, including his wife and child. Reverend Leonard Clement is among the many who (half-seriously) wish that he would get murdered, and yet it still comes as a shock when he returns to the vicarage one night to discover Protheroe dead in his study, shot through the head. Immediately, his unfaithful wife Anne Protheroe and her lover Lawrence Redding confess to the murder, despite several discrepancies in their stories.

Soon enough it's proved that it was impossible for either of them to have pulled the trigger, and they admit that they confessed in order to save the other, each believing that their lover had murdered the man standing in the way of their happiness. Inspector Slack is rightfully irritated by this setback, and ropes in Reverend Clement to show him around the village. In lieu of Anne and Lawrence there are still suspects a plenty: the mysterious Mrs Lestrange, the flighty Lettice Protheroe, and the erratic Mr Hawes, the church curate. Not to mention a smattering of old ladies, all of whom have their own opinions as to who committed the crime, among them Miss Marple, the eagle-eyed spinster who lives opposite the vicarage and had a front-row seat to all the comings and goings on the day of the murder.

Plenty of clues pile up, though most of them leave the police baffled as to their meaning: a gunshot in the woods, a tennis racket on the lawn, a slashed portrait in an attic, a prank phone-call to an elderly woman - only Miss Marple seems to be capable of fitting them all together in any coherent manner.

"Murder at the Vicarage" is not my favourite Agatha Christie novel, nor my favourite Miss Marple mystery. The plot is quite a complex one, relying heavily on time of death, incorrect clocks, intricate plotting, and the careful positioning of various characters at particular places and times, all to the point where it can be quite difficult to keep track of everything. It also involves a couple of subplots that have little bearing on the central mystery, and which do little but provide red herrings for the more important plotline.

Partially based on the character of Caroline Sheppard (who appeared in one of Christie's most famous novels, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd) Miss Marple's characterization is slightly different here than it is in later mysteries; her nosiness and sharpness is toned down considerably in later stories, perhaps due to Christie realizing that she would not make for a particularly appealing protagonist (or perhaps not wanting a repeat of her infamous dislike of her other famous detective, the fastidious Hercule Poirot). However, Christie *does* establish Miss Marple's trademark technique of deduction: where Poirot had psychology, Marple forms analogies between village life and the various motivations for murder, often claiming that human nature is the same across all walks of life.

As it is, Miss Marple is a periphery figure throughout most of the plot, and though she provides the solution and the method with which to catch the killer, she's relatively low-key. Instead, the focus lies with its narrator Reverend Clement, and offsetting the more serious drama is his dealings with his much younger, rather scatterbrained wife, as well as his love-sick nephew Dennis who is prone to say the worst things at the most inopportune times.

Though it's involves a somewhat convoluted plot, "Murder at the Vicarage" is a fine introduction to Miss Marple, providing a starting point for the eleven novels (and collection of short stories) that follow.

Despite being around 70 years old, this is still a charming mystery. Indeed, it's a testament to Dame Agatha that she devised such a complex plot at such an early stage in her writing career.
The plot is classic British small town mystery. An unpopular man is dead and there are a host of people with motives - but none with an obvious opportunity. Miss Marple chases some red herrings but eventually sees that which isn't quite right.
I listened to the abridged BBC version with mixed feelings. Three hours is probably a reasonable amount of time for this plot so I don't regret the abridgement. However, this is a presented as a radio drama (not a reading of the text) and it's a bit confusing to follow all of the characters. I'd recommend that other readers listen to this in one sitting, preferably with few distractions.

Like many other writers, Christie went through an apprentice period during which she created the particular style we recognize as unique to her work. Novels from this early period are hit and miss--and MURDER AT THE VICARAGE, which introduces the famous Miss Marple, might best be described as a bit of both.

VICARAGE offers the story of the widely unpopular Col. Protheroe, who seems determined to vex every one he encounters--including his daughter from a former marriage and his current wife, the latter of which has undertaken a liaison with a local artist. One evening the Colonel pays a call to vicarage only to find the Vicar out on a call... and while waiting is shot dead under what seem impossible circumstances. No sooner is the body discovered than people who could not possibly have committed the crime begin to confess, and the Vicar and his neighbor, the meddlesome Miss Marple, form a somewhat uneasy alliance to ferret out the truth.

The Miss Marple of this particular novel is not the character we know from later books; although the outlines of the character are well established, she is not greatly sympathetic and she lacks the disconcerting twinkle found in such works as THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY and A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED. Moreover, the other characters, the setting, and the plot seem extremely stiff. The solution, when it comes, is also rather gimmicky in a way which Christie cannot yet make entirely plausible. I would not recommend this particular Christie to newcomers--but I do recommend it longtime fans, who will enjoy seeing how Christie developed the character of Miss Marple and how she herself evolved as a writer, particularly since the outline of the plot is a device to which she would return with considerably greater effect in later and more substantial novels.

GFT, the store Reviewer

This is the first Miss Marple book, and I think it must be the best Miss Marple I've read. I like that in this book we get an unusually large dose of Miss Marple. She's a full and important character, unlike some later books in which she is only tangential.

This book has Miss Marple working on her home turf of St. Mary Mead. Colonel Protheroe, a man no one liked, is found murdered in the vicarage. The narrator of the story is the vicar, and he is endowed with a slightly sarcastic sense of humor. In ambiance and complexity this is one of Christie's best.

My two favorite British detectives are Miss Jane Marple and Lord Peter Whimsy. If you prefer action filled American mysteries or fast moving Sherlock Holmes tales, Agatha Christie is probably not for you. She creates mind puzzles in which you are given all the clues while the author tries to confuse and mislead you into suspecting the wrong person. No one has ever been better at red herrings and misdirection than Agatha Christie. If you enjoy glimpses into British life in the 1920's combined with enjoyable characterizations and creative plotting, settle down to enjoy an excellent example of the cozy mystery genre. The Murder at the Vicarage combines all of the best characteristics of vintage Agatha Christie without the sometimes annoying presence of Agatha Christie's more famous detective, Hercule Poirot.

I discovered Miss Marple in an old black and white movie. So fascinated by her, I set out to view all movies and television series, as well as audio via the BBC. While reading up on the Agatha Christie novels, it was mentioned how the movie and television series had altered the books. My curiosity peaked, I decided to read them for myself. I was not disappointed. I shall continue reading the books until new shows are aired. I didn't know that Agatha Christie's books could be so much fun to read. A pleasant surprise...indeed!

I do love a good mystery, but I'm afraid I'm just not the target audience for Ms. Christie's crime novels.

When I read a mystery, I need it a little grittier. I like hardened detectives or brilliant young hackers, and I like modern stories. I would never argue that Agatha Christie is not a prolific, talented writer, because duh, look at her legacy! But Miss Marple is just too stuffy for me and the writing is too dated, and not in a romantic way. The book is good, just not my cup of tea. I was just bored with it and I wasn't a fan of the language, and by the end, I didn't really care who murdered Colonel Protheroe. The last chapter was sweet and I did smile at some of the subtle jokes, but all in all, I don't think I'd read another Miss Marple book. She's just not a heroine that interests me.

I enjoyed Christie's "And Then There Were None," though, so I'm not ruling her out of my library completely

I've never read anything by Agatha Christie and found this an interesting read. The victim was disliked by many and it took Miss Marple a while with the help of others to finally figure out who the killer was.

Agatha Christie is one of my favorite authors, however, having read nearly all her books, and never getting to find out for myself 'who dun it,' I think she wrote the stories and then at the end, fixed someone as the murderer; someone whom she too did not even know beforehand. When I look through her books, I find that, with a reasonable explanation, anyone could have done it. When Ms. Christie finally picks someone as the murderer, she rounds off all the rest as impossible suspects. But really, the same can be done for any of them, then round off all the rest. Nevertheless, she is a damn good writer. Hope I can write like her someday

In this novel published in 1930, readers were introduced to Miss Marple, an enduring, endearing fictional character who, according to the official Agatha Christie web site, was not planned by that British Dame to be an ongoing sleuth like Poirot.

As creative spirits learn from writing fiction (especially a lengthy novel or a series of them), some characters aren't molded from the writer's flesh, blood, & brain waves. They forcefully, almost immediately, steal away from the author's plan and initiate a separate life. The author has a choice to either work from that character's direction, or lose the living, energetic force of one of those precious gems which sometimes slip into our gravity-lush worlds from surrounding ethers.

Yeah, I'm one of "those," an author/parapsychologist. But that's beside the point. Getting to it ...

At first I assumed the "I" in the narrative was Miss Marple speaking to the reader. On the opening page of this pilot for what became this spinster's series:

"I had just finished carving some boiled beef (remarkably tough by the way), and on resuming my seat I remarked, in a spirit most unbecoming to my cloth, that anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe would be doing the world at large a service."

My literary lunges began wavering as the word, "cloth," registered.

Say what? Is Marple a NUN? Maybe with Vicarage in the title ...

My brows nearly ran onto each other and sneezed from their vice-like scrunch. Old assumptions don't die, they just go into hiding in the unconscious mind. Have you ever wondered what the purpose is for that huge, supposedly unused, 95% of the brain? It's very possible it was allocated ages ago for storage of useless jumps-to-conclusions which never stop jumping (picture them as pink w/huge, flopping feet).

I did get enough of a clue to begin looking for a "he" or "she" gender in reference to the First Person in the Narrative.

"My wife ..."

Oh.

Read on... Okay. So this "I" is the vicar. Interesting. Very. So, when is Miss Marple going to do her scene entry?

In a somewhat awakened state due to the discomfort of my tense brow line, my reading approach became highly investigative of this vicar being the "I."

Why. Why tell the story from his perspective instead of Miss Marple's.

I began seeing the genius of this use of narrative and character, as I observed how Christie subtly began introducing brain-twisting ironies in ethical issues, and exposing philosophical nuances in the vicar's character by choosing him be the eye through which the story was told.

And, of course, throughout the book I wondered (eyebrows joined) what slight shifts in plot might have occurred as a result of Miss Marple's character-take-over machinations within Agatha's rich & complex unconscious mind. As I read, I was fascinated-ly fixed on the fact that this book hadn't yet been consciously slotted for it's grand expansion into at least a 12 novel series, paralleling Poirot.

In order to establish a few basics for literary-clue-contemplation, maybe I should expound a bit:

The classic Narrative Voice for detective fiction has long been established as First Person, so, of course I wasn't surprised that this pilot used that potentially fascinating, mood-rich, diary-like, narrative style. Most often the blues/jazz feel of this story telling perspective...

"I walked (slip-slid-ed? strutted? sauntered? swaggered? slithered?) along the wet, slimy streets under cover of The Long Lonely Night..."

Most often this type of hauntingly heady voice is used by the featured P.I., Scotland Yard Inspector, or amateur sleuth who carries the mystery series through his moaning, echoing soliloquies. Due to this custom of the "I did this, by myself, alone & lonely" narrative style being almost always and absolutely executed by the main male detective (I had temporarily forgotten that female sleuths were not quite yet crawling out of the ethereal woodwork in happy hordes, not by a long shot, in 1930), I was indeed shocked and intrigued as I continued reading this novel's First Person Narrative perspective and realized it was voicing from the throat of a Vicar, rather than from Miss Marple's lack of Adam's Apple (as you would now realize I had anticipated from my 2005 perspective of what's commonly done in the detective genre).

Due to the above mentioned intrigue and more, I believe this pilot may be one of the most enlightening mysteries to study, in Christie's repertoire of rare gems. This First Person Narrative dance may be even richer than the Roger Ackroyd sawdust-slipping waltz with Matilda.

The above sketched situation alone exposes the cunning complexity of Christie's mind. Reading this novel with these questions in mind could provide the height of cerebral & cultural entertainment:

- Why use a vicar (instead of Miss Marple) as the First Person Narrator, and expose his vulnerabilities and foibles, his more human and less godly personal thoughts?

(As I've hinted rather extensively, for me the answer to why use 1st Person Narrative at all in a mystery is found in its prevalence and preference by so many writers of detective novels who seek to slip into the melancholy mystique expressed so exquisitely by Mickey Spillane's moody/broody Good Man, Mike Hammer, as he purrs out his stories in perfect "panhandler" pitch... and heard so eloquently in the voice of (Robert Urich) in the TV series of Robert B. Parker's Spencer For Hire.)

- Why keep Miss Marple so much in the background and introduce her so slowly.

- Why use a cunningly contrasting collection of elderly ladies (and a sprinkling of young ones) to expose & expand details & clues.

- Why begin the plot of this pilot with conversations and cultural exchanges at a luncheon table (before culinary cozies had been coined or had tastefully captured the mystery market)?

- What is accomplished by the Great Gatsby feel in this novel's introduction, effected by using a "proper" personality for a 1st person narrator, a low key character who naturally makes crisply simple-and-direct observations of psychology and philosophy, a genuinely gentlemanly neighbor of the main character (or main sleuth)?

Yeah, in some ways these are dumb questions which could be answered easily by a surface read the novel.

Yet, focusing on them through a leisurely read of this convoluted tale, and relishing the discoveries made by that viewpoint adjustment might enrich an awareness of how Christie so (seemingly) easily executes mysteries echoing mysteries, mirrors reflecting mirrors, and might begin to expose why she frequently focused mirrors in titles and plots.

Loved the sensory-lush descriptions in the opening scene at a luncheon table at the vicarage, especially this:

"Mary (serving the meal)...merely said, in a loud businesslike voice, `Greens,' and thrust a cracked dish at him in a truculent manner....setting the greens on the table with a bang, proceeded to thrust a dish of singularly moist and unpleasant dumplings under my nose...and she deposited the dish with a clatter on the table and left the room."

The verbiage within and around the dotted exclusions of the above quote from the opening page are as primely plush as the syntax which was included. Please do pick up the novel and be rewarded by reading the whole of page one to observe how precisely and primly Christie develops characters with a mere word or three.

As you read on in the plot, note how often a word or its synonym (like "sympathetic") is used perfectly to reinforce an evolving image. Note how colloquialisms are used lushly, like the simple, very British, "Oh!" which embellishes many a dialogue entry.

In this novel Christie exposes her moral attitude, which may be one of the major facets of her tangy talent which has endeared her into the minds and spirits of readers:

Agatha is a rebel (likely forming her values well prior to the 1920's) against strict, ignorant, and overwhelmingly controlling, cultural mores.

What's uncanny is how easy it is in 2005 to understand the issues underlying Christie's views, formed at the outset of the previous century, on the mysteries of death, immortality, immorality, and murder. Like Miss Marple, Agatha was an eternal student of human nature, and that study clearly evolved to a professorial level; the proof is in the pudding of the series.

In this series I lip smacked another pudding proof, proof that the attention span and cerebral stretch capacity of the current reader market can easily hold a thought and plot beyond a Quantum-Split-Millisecond. This pudding can be taste-tested by observing the pages and pages of naturally-flowing dialogue in this novel. Today's publishing industry pundits seem terrified of too much dialogue, terming novels with more than a few lines of conversational quips between a hundred pages of ACTion, "talking heads" books; they steer authors away from that style as if it were synonymous with Zero Sales or bankruptcy. You tell me. Is it?

Honestly, it's a relief to read a novel written in a less chaotic age and culture than we're steeped in at the moment, to read a complexly constructed novel conceived in an age past, with long, sensual, contemplative pauses allowed for the reader, actually encouraged between short rushes of life, in contrast to the contemporary style of heart-attack-action shoved through a plot so fast-paced the ending butts out the beginning. (Einstein, did you hear that, from wherever the back of your head is?)

Whatever happened to the pause button in life, and in fiction? Who initiated the idea that the only antidote to boredom is shock & speed, running non-stop as if the planet's revolution would halt if we didn't manically continue pushing the ground with feet hanging over the edge of the red wagon's spinning wheels?

Whew. Let me out of that cart.

Don't get me wrong. I can do fast paced novels; I can run with an abundance of action now and then (in a book). It's just that I haven't lost the need to savor time, to burn that contemplative candle at one, quiet end, with a good mystery in hand.

Mystery is in the mind; not in the foot.

It's obvious I'm not Confucius; but my reverence for leisurely does seem more Oriental (or British) than Western. Sunrise. Sunset. Both are good in their own times. As the world turns, it's a wonder we don't all fall off.

See my Listmania on the Miss Marple series, and my review of At Bertram's Hotel.

Pausing with hat held in hand, in honor of happy hesitance & a harridan author born yesterday, still living today through her talking heads,

Linda G. Shelnutt

Well Ms. Christie fooled me again but, then again she always does. That is why she was and still remains the best of the genre. This is our intro to Miss Marple and her amatuer sluething. The best thing you can say about any mystery writer is her/his solutions are well hidden yet, totally believable when they are revealed. That fits this story to a tee. The story is narrated by the vicar who is not only unlucky enough to have a murder commited in his home but, is also one of the main suspects. Tough day for anyone unless your next door neighbor is MISS MARPLE. Buy this and I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Colonel Protheroe had a lot of enemies, even his wife and daughter. His wife Anne was having an affair with Lawrence Redding. Lettice, his daughter couldn't stand her own father, and absolutely despised Anne as her stepparent.

One the other hand there were others that did not like the Colonel as well, and wanted him dead. Mr. Stone, the archaeologist had some run-ins with the man as did Mr. Hawes.

The Colonel was found shot in the back of the head in the Vicarage. At first, the police turn up eyebrows at Len Clements, the preacher, and his eccentric wife Griselda. Miss Jane Marple, a very wise old lady who does not miss anything at all, tries to piece the clues together and figure out the real killer here. The book is all about piecing these clues together until they find the real killer-which in the end is surprising.

This is my first I've read of Christie. I don't know if I will try another one or not as this one bored me when it seemed all there was, was going over and over the details.

I do love a good mystery, but I'm afraid I'm just not the target audience for Ms. Christie's crime novels.

When I read a mystery, I need it a little grittier. I like hardened detectives or brilliant young hackers, and I like modern stories. I would never argue that Agatha Christie is not a prolific, talented writer, because duh, look at her legacy! But Miss Marple is just too stuffy for me and the writing is too dated, and not in a romantic way. The book is good, just not my cup of tea. I was just bored with it and I wasn't a fan of the language, and by the end, I didn't really care who murdered Colonel Protheroe. The last chapter was sweet and I did smile at some of the subtle jokes, but all in all, I don't think I'd read another Miss Marple book. She's just not a heroine that interests me.

I enjoyed Christie's "And Then There Were None," though, so I'm not ruling her out of my library completely

I've never read anything by Agatha Christie and found this an interesting read. The victim was disliked by many and it took Miss Marple a while with the help of others to finally figure out who the killer was.

Agatha Christie is one of my favorite authors, however, having read nearly all her books, and never getting to find out for myself 'who dun it,' I think she wrote the stories and then at the end, fixed someone as the murderer; someone whom she too did not even know beforehand. When I look through her books, I find that, with a reasonable explanation, anyone could have done it. When Ms. Christie finally picks someone as the murderer, she rounds off all the rest as impossible suspects. But really, the same can be done for any of them, then round off all the rest. Nevertheless, she is a damn good writer. Hope I can write like her someday

In this novel published in 1930, readers were introduced to Miss Marple, an enduring, endearing fictional character who, according to the official Agatha Christie web site, was not planned by that British Dame to be an ongoing sleuth like Poirot.

As creative spirits learn from writing fiction (especially a lengthy novel or a series of them), some characters aren't molded from the writer's flesh, blood, & brain waves. They forcefully, almost immediately, steal away from the author's plan and initiate a separate life. The author has a choice to either work from that character's direction, or lose the living, energetic force of one of those precious gems which sometimes slip into our gravity-lush worlds from surrounding ethers.

Yeah, I'm one of "those," an author/parapsychologist. But that's beside the point. Getting to it ...

At first I assumed the "I" in the narrative was Miss Marple speaking to the reader. On the opening page of this pilot for what became this spinster's series:

"I had just finished carving some boiled beef (remarkably tough by the way), and on resuming my seat I remarked, in a spirit most unbecoming to my cloth, that anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe would be doing the world at large a service."

My literary lunges began wavering as the word, "cloth," registered.

Say what? Is Marple a NUN? Maybe with Vicarage in the title ...

My brows nearly ran onto each other and sneezed from their vice-like scrunch. Old assumptions don't die, they just go into hiding in the unconscious mind. Have you ever wondered what the purpose is for that huge, supposedly unused, 95% of the brain? It's very possible it was allocated ages ago for storage of useless jumps-to-conclusions which never stop jumping (picture them as pink w/huge, flopping feet).

I did get enough of a clue to begin looking for a "he" or "she" gender in reference to the First Person in the Narrative.

"My wife ..."

Oh.

Read on... Okay. So this "I" is the vicar. Interesting. Very. So, when is Miss Marple going to do her scene entry?

In a somewhat awakened state due to the discomfort of my tense brow line, my reading approach became highly investigative of this vicar being the "I."

Why. Why tell the story from his perspective instead of Miss Marple's.

I began seeing the genius of this use of narrative and character, as I observed how Christie subtly began introducing brain-twisting ironies in ethical issues, and exposing philosophical nuances in the vicar's character by choosing him be the eye through which the story was told.

And, of course, throughout the book I wondered (eyebrows joined) what slight shifts in plot might have occurred as a result of Miss Marple's character-take-over machinations within Agatha's rich & complex unconscious mind. As I read, I was fascinated-ly fixed on the fact that this book hadn't yet been consciously slotted for it's grand expansion into at least a 12 novel series, paralleling Poirot.

In order to establish a few basics for literary-clue-contemplation, maybe I should expound a bit:

The classic Narrative Voice for detective fiction has long been established as First Person, so, of course I wasn't surprised that this pilot used that potentially fascinating, mood-rich, diary-like, narrative style. Most often the blues/jazz feel of this story telling perspective...

"I walked (slip-slid-ed? strutted? sauntered? swaggered? slithered?) along the wet, slimy streets under cover of The Long Lonely Night..."

Most often this type of hauntingly heady voice is used by the featured P.I., Scotland Yard Inspector, or amateur sleuth who carries the mystery series through his moaning, echoing soliloquies. Due to this custom of the "I did this, by myself, alone & lonely" narrative style being almost always and absolutely executed by the main male detective (I had temporarily forgotten that female sleuths were not quite yet crawling out of the ethereal woodwork in happy hordes, not by a long shot, in 1930), I was indeed shocked and intrigued as I continued reading this novel's First Person Narrative perspective and realized it was voicing from the throat of a Vicar, rather than from Miss Marple's lack of Adam's Apple (as you would now realize I had anticipated from my 2005 perspective of what's commonly done in the detective genre).

Due to the above mentioned intrigue and more, I believe this pilot may be one of the most enlightening mysteries to study, in Christie's repertoire of rare gems. This First Person Narrative dance may be even richer than the Roger Ackroyd sawdust-slipping waltz with Matilda.

The above sketched situation alone exposes the cunning complexity of Christie's mind. Reading this novel with these questions in mind could provide the height of cerebral & cultural entertainment:

- Why use a vicar (instead of Miss Marple) as the First Person Narrator, and expose his vulnerabilities and foibles, his more human and less godly personal thoughts?

(As I've hinted rather extensively, for me the answer to why use 1st Person Narrative at all in a mystery is found in its prevalence and preference by so many writers of detective novels who seek to slip into the melancholy mystique expressed so exquisitely by Mickey Spillane's moody/broody Good Man, Mike Hammer, as he purrs out his stories in perfect "panhandler" pitch... and heard so eloquently in the voice of (Robert Urich) in the TV series of Robert B. Parker's Spencer For Hire.)

- Why keep Miss Marple so much in the background and introduce her so slowly.

- Why use a cunningly contrasting collection of elderly ladies (and a sprinkling of young ones) to expose & expand details & clues.

- Why begin the plot of this pilot with conversations and cultural exchanges at a luncheon table (before culinary cozies had been coined or had tastefully captured the mystery market)?

- What is accomplished by the Great Gatsby feel in this novel's introduction, effected by using a "proper" personality for a 1st person narrator, a low key character who naturally makes crisply simple-and-direct observations of psychology and philosophy, a genuinely gentlemanly neighbor of the main character (or main sleuth)?

Yeah, in some ways these are dumb questions which could be answered easily by a surface read the novel.

Yet, focusing on them through a leisurely read of this convoluted tale, and relishing the discoveries made by that viewpoint adjustment might enrich an awareness of how Christie so (seemingly) easily executes mysteries echoing mysteries, mirrors reflecting mirrors, and might begin to expose why she frequently focused mirrors in titles and plots.

Loved the sensory-lush descriptions in the opening scene at a luncheon table at the vicarage, especially this:

"Mary (serving the meal)...merely said, in a loud businesslike voice, `Greens,' and thrust a cracked dish at him in a truculent manner....setting the greens on the table with a bang, proceeded to thrust a dish of singularly moist and unpleasant dumplings under my nose...and she deposited the dish with a clatter on the table and left the room."

The verbiage within and around the dotted exclusions of the above quote from the opening page are as primely plush as the syntax which was included. Please do pick up the novel and be rewarded by reading the whole of page one to observe how precisely and primly Christie develops characters with a mere word or three.

As you read on in the plot, note how often a word or its synonym (like "sympathetic") is used perfectly to reinforce an evolving image. Note how colloquialisms are used lushly, like the simple, very British, "Oh!" which embellishes many a dialogue entry.

In this novel Christie exposes her moral attitude, which may be one of the major facets of her tangy talent which has endeared her into the minds and spirits of readers:

Agatha is a rebel (likely forming her values well prior to the 1920's) against strict, ignorant, and overwhelmingly controlling, cultural mores.

What's uncanny is how easy it is in 2005 to understand the issues underlying Christie's views, formed at the outset of the previous century, on the mysteries of death, immortality, immorality, and murder. Like Miss Marple, Agatha was an eternal student of human nature, and that study clearly evolved to a professorial level; the proof is in the pudding of the series.

In this series I lip smacked another pudding proof, proof that the attention span and cerebral stretch capacity of the current reader market can easily hold a thought and plot beyond a Quantum-Split-Millisecond. This pudding can be taste-tested by observing the pages and pages of naturally-flowing dialogue in this novel. Today's publishing industry pundits seem terrified of too much dialogue, terming novels with more than a few lines of conversational quips between a hundred pages of ACTion, "talking heads" books; they steer authors away from that style as if it were synonymous with Zero Sales or bankruptcy. You tell me. Is it?

Honestly, it's a relief to read a novel written in a less chaotic age and culture than we're steeped in at the moment, to read a complexly constructed novel conceived in an age past, with long, sensual, contemplative pauses allowed for the reader, actually encouraged between short rushes of life, in contrast to the contemporary style of heart-attack-action shoved through a plot so fast-paced the ending butts out the beginning. (Einstein, did you hear that, from wherever the back of your head is?)

Whatever happened to the pause button in life, and in fiction? Who initiated the idea that the only antidote to boredom is shock & speed, running non-stop as if the planet's revolution would halt if we didn't manically continue pushing the ground with feet hanging over the edge of the red wagon's spinning wheels?

Whew. Let me out of that cart.

Don't get me wrong. I can do fast paced novels; I can run with an abundance of action now and then (in a book). It's just that I haven't lost the need to savor time, to burn that contemplative candle at one, quiet end, with a good mystery in hand.

Mystery is in the mind; not in the foot.

It's obvious I'm not Confucius; but my reverence for leisurely does seem more Oriental (or British) than Western. Sunrise. Sunset. Both are good in their own times. As the world turns, it's a wonder we don't all fall off.

See my Listmania on the Miss Marple series, and my review of At Bertram's Hotel.

Pausing with hat held in hand, in honor of happy hesitance & a harridan author born yesterday, still living today through her talking heads,

Linda G. Shelnutt

Well Ms. Christie fooled me again but, then again she always does. That is why she was and still remains the best of the genre. This is our intro to Miss Marple and her amatuer sluething. The best thing you can say about any mystery writer is her/his solutions are well hidden yet, totally believable when they are revealed. That fits this story to a tee. The story is narrated by the vicar who is not only unlucky enough to have a murder commited in his home but, is also one of the main suspects. Tough day for anyone unless your next door neighbor is MISS MARPLE. Buy this and I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Colonel Protheroe had a lot of enemies, even his wife and daughter. His wife Anne was having an affair with Lawrence Redding. Lettice, his daughter couldn't stand her own father, and absolutely despised Anne as her stepparent.

One the other hand there were others that did not like the Colonel as well, and wanted him dead. Mr. Stone, the archaeologist had some run-ins with the man as did Mr. Hawes.

The Colonel was found shot in the back of the head in the Vicarage. At first, the police turn up eyebrows at Len Clements, the preacher, and his eccentric wife Griselda. Miss Jane Marple, a very wise old lady who does not miss anything at all, tries to piece the clues together and figure out the real killer here. The book is all about piecing these clues together until they find the real killer-which in the end is surprising.

This is my first I've read of Christie. I don't know if I will try another one or not as this one bored me when it seemed all there was, was going over and over the details.

2 1/2 Stars. I had the same problem with this one as I had with the last Agatha Christie book i read. It seems to take forever to get started, a million suspects were thrown at the reader and then everything was solved at the last second with an elaborate explanation. I must say my suspect for the murder was never really considered and so was my reason for making her suspect as everyone else in town was accused at one point or another. I was rather disappointed with who the killers turned out to be. It just seemed rather overdone. This very well may be a writing style preference I dislike however as I felt the same about the last Christie mystery I read I will say however that by the end I desperately wanted to know who did it. After 6 hours of listening to the audiobook I felt that I had invested way to much time and thought not to find out.

This is the first book which we read about Agatha Christie's Miss. Marple. Jane Marple has an abiding interest in human nature and an eye for detail that makes her an excellent detective. In this book Col. Protheroe is found shot to death in Reverand Clements Study (sound like the game clue,). There are several possible suspects, the police grow frustrated while our Miss. marple watches and waits. There are enough twist and turns in the clues to makes us find the wrong killer.....But we see the truth as it is explained. A delightful murder mystery.

I'm a solid Agatha Christi (and Miss Marple) fan, and I have read quite a few of her books. I am always trying to figure out the ending, and who did it. This one had me guessing, like they all do.

I like Agatha Christie because she is not too formulaic, and her works are always entertaining. It seems like so many books nowadays are the same book with the names of the people and the town changed, making them tedious and predictable. Agatha Christie is decidedly not afflicted with this problem.

Overall, I rated this book four stars, because it was interesting, puzzling, and well written, but it wasn't one of her best. The setting was good,(the Vicars study in a tiny village full of busybodies) and the characters were just disfunctional enough (the mostly intelligent vicar being saddled with the shallow, silly wife). But, the twist ending was the first one I ever saw by her that went toward mundane, which is surprising for AC, but it was still good, and sort of a double twist.

Speaking as the pastor of a small church in a small town where everyone (especially the little old ladies) knows everything about everyone else, I must say that Agatha Christie perfectly captured this setting in Murder at the Vicarage. This mystery was very well-written. She doesn't muck about setting the scene for half the book before anything actually happens, and though I guessed a couple of the twists/surprises well in advance, it wasn't enough to give away "whodunnit." The only reason I give it four stars instead of five is that I feel that just about anything in the mystery genre has a rather low re-read value...good thing Dame Agatha has so many more books out there!

I don't know my Agatha Christie novels as I should. This is the introductory novel for Miss Marple, and the village vicor is the narrator. As with all her books, the mystery isn't easy to solve. Of course,I'm not good at solving them ever. I laughed out loud at many of the paragraphs. It was a joy to read.

No one in the village is fond of the victim. One person, then another confesses. Nothing is obvious until in the end Miss Marple brings all the pieces together - Christie’s M. O.
Still the suspense is woven in every chapter pushing the reader to continue into the wee hours

A will written novel with interesting well developed characters, a fast moving story line, lots of suspects, and an unexpected conclusion. I would recommend this book too anyone who is looking for a good mystery.

Summary from the store:

"The first Miss Marple mystery, one which tests all her powers of observation and deduction.

"Anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe," declared the parson, brandishing a carving knife above a joint of roast beef, "would be doing the world at large a favor!"

It was a careless remark for a man of the cloth. And one which was to come back and haunt the clergyman just a few hours later--when the Colonel is found shot dead in the clergyman's study. But as Miss Marple soon discovers, the whole village seems to have had a motive to kill Colonel Protheroe."

My Thoughts:
Murder at the Vicarage begins with the death of an unliked man where everyone in the village becomes a suspect in his death. This was my 1st Miss Marple read and I found it to be an enjoyable mystery. Agatha Christie was a very talented mystery writer and one of my favorite things about her is her ability to make all of her characters seem guilty at some point. This leads the reader into suspecting anyone and everyone which is exactly what I did :) In the case of this book I guessed the killer at the beginning but Christie had me so turned around as I was reading the book that by the end I didn't even suspect the killer which made the ending still come as a surprise. There was a colorful cast of characters (otherwise known as suspects) that all had reasons for wanting the victim dead that played various roles in the story. My only complaint was that I was taken back a bit by the fact that at times it seemed like Miss Marple didn't play an important role in the mystery that was going on. By the end of the book though, she shines as the reader sees how much of the mystery she was able to solve on her own.

This was a fun mystery that kept me guessing the entire time that I read the book. I'm looking forward to reading more Miss Marple mysteries and hopefully I will read everything that she has written at some point. And although this wasn't my favorite book by Christie, I found it to be a really solid mystery. Recommended!

Bottom Line: A great beginning to the Miss Marple series!

Disclosure: I checked this book out from my local library ;)

There's humor and plenty of melodrama. It felt a little long, but the nature of the writing and word choice entertained me. I love how Miss Marple sees everything! What a funny and sharp little old lady. Overall, an entertaining read.

This is the introduction of Miss Marple. It is a delightful read! Great mystery with fun characters. The Vicar gives a good description of Miss Jane Marple and her shrewd wit and intelligence. One cannot help but like her.

I just finished reading this book tonight. It was clever and entertaining to say the least. If you like who-done-it books and leaving the U.S. for a few hours, check this one out! ("The Murder at the Vicarage" by Agatha Christie)

Ms.Marple did it again!. This time, our favourite detective had to deal with a murder in her own village, St.Mary Mead. The victim, Colonel Protheroe, was not a very nice person, so his death almost acceptable to everyone in the village. There's a widow, a daughter, and a mysterious lady from his past, plus a number of people who had a very strong motive to do the murder. But once again Ms.Marple discovered the real murderer with her own old-way. The basic idea of this story is not very special, but the plot is. We'll get some laughs as usual and a satisfaction in the end. Two thumbs up for Agatha Christie!!

Not Agatha's best work. The identity of the culprit(s) is obvious almost immediately. Miss Marple isn't in a lot of the book, as it's narrated by the Vicar. A couple of obvious red herrings lengthen the plot, but are naturally extraneous. Still, the setting is fun and Jane Marple, when she is present, is a delight.

...love Miss Marple! She gets her points (usually correct) across so kindly and, even though her neighbors sometimes think she is an annoying old woman, in the end most are glad she helped with the case!

Summary from the store:

"The first Miss Marple mystery, one which tests all her powers of observation and deduction.

"Anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe," declared the parson, brandishing a carving knife above a joint of roast beef, "would be doing the world at large a favor!"

It was a careless remark for a man of the cloth. And one which was to come back and haunt the clergyman just a few hours later--when the Colonel is found shot dead in the clergyman's study. But as Miss Marple soon discovers, the whole village seems to have had a motive to kill Colonel Protheroe."

My Thoughts:
Murder at the Vicarage begins with the death of an unliked man where everyone in the village becomes a suspect in his death. This was my 1st Miss Marple read and I found it to be an enjoyable mystery. Agatha Christie was a very talented mystery writer and one of my favorite things about her is her ability to make all of her characters seem guilty at some point. This leads the reader into suspecting anyone and everyone which is exactly what I did :) In the case of this book I guessed the killer at the beginning but Christie had me so turned around as I was reading the book that by the end I didn't even suspect the killer which made the ending still come as a surprise. There was a colorful cast of characters (otherwise known as suspects) that all had reasons for wanting the victim dead that played various roles in the story. My only complaint was that I was taken back a bit by the fact that at times it seemed like Miss Marple didn't play an important role in the mystery that was going on. By the end of the book though, she shines as the reader sees how much of the mystery she was able to solve on her own.

This was a fun mystery that kept me guessing the entire time that I read the book. I'm looking forward to reading more Miss Marple mysteries and hopefully I will read everything that she has written at some point. And although this wasn't my favorite book by Christie, I found it to be a really solid mystery. Recommended!

Bottom Line: A great beginning to the Miss Marple series!

Disclosure: I checked this book out from my local library ;)

The characterizations are one cliche after another, the plot is ho-hum, and the writing style is simply atrocious. Any high school student could do better.

The only saving grace is that the author tosses in a few tidbits of humor.

Can't imagine why this book is still in print. If you want an English country village type of mystery that is well-written, pick up one by Georgette Heyer.