The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
In 2022, William Morrow released new editions for the entire Miss Marple series. Each one features a beautiful floral design matched with stunning color combinations.
Like a Publisher’s dream, I promptly bought the entire set. Then with all of these precious new softcovers in hand, I thought, when I am going to read all of these?
Since there are twelve full-length novels, I told myself, very sternly I might add, that I would read one per month for all of 2023. That sounds like a solid plan, right?
Well, it would have been, but then I put off starting the first one until March; now I am behind and the pressure is on…
I have to say though, after completing this one, I am reinvigorated in my quest to read all of Miss Marple’s novels in order. This was such a fun time.
The Murder at the Vicarage is the first full-length novel in the series and I was actually surprised that Miss Marple is not the MC/narrator. The Vicar, Leonard Clement, is!
I don’t know why I didn’t know that, but I liked it a lot. It was fun to get to know the icon, Miss Jane Marple, from an outside perspective. You get her pluses and her minuses. A more honest interpretation, you could say.
I really enjoyed the mystery of this. It was completely engaging from the start. The murdered man, one Colonel Protheroe, was a bit of curmudgeon. He was a Judge and definitely had more enemies than friends. Even the Vicar had a cross word for him a time or two.
After Protheroe is murdered at the Vicarage, the entire village of St. Mary Mead seems to become involved in the investigation.
As you can imagine, no other citizen has more to offer in the solving of said crime than our Miss Marple. That woman misses nothing, usually because she’s spying on everyone from the comfort of her garden.
It was interesting for me to consider how the tropes involved in this story are all fairly well-known tropes today, but at this time, it wasn’t quite like that. It sort of all began with Christie, you know?
Her work has influenced so many creators over the years and her formulaic writing style is the epitome of a classic mystery. I love it. I found this to be so comfortable and fun, it was like a warm drink on an eerie night.
I am definitely continuing on with the series straight away. Next up is The Body in the Library: A Miss Marple Mystery, which will be a reread for me.
It’s actually one of my favorite Christie’s that I have read, so I am really excited to revisit it with my stunning new edition!!