The Murder at the Vicarage (Marple, Book 1)

Agatha Christie

Oct 2010 · Marple Book 1 · HarperCollins UK

About this ebook

A quiet English village A shocking murder An unlikely detective

Nobody liked Colonel Protheroe.

So when he’s found dead in the vicarage study, there’s no absence of suspects in the seemingly peaceful village of St Mary Mead.

In fact, Jane Marple can think of at least seven.

As gossip abounds in the parlours and kitchens of the parish, everyone becomes an amateur detective.

The police dismiss her as a prying busybody, but only the ingenious Miss Marple can uncover the truth . . .

Never underestimate Miss Marple.

‘Agatha Christie is the gateway drug to crime fiction both for readers and for writers.’
Val McDermid

‘Always keeps her reader enthralled and guessing to the end.’
Times Literary Supplement

Ratings and reviews

Mr Clement the village clergyman states during dinner that "Anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe would be doing the world at large a service!" ... BIG MISTAKE as later that night Colonel Protheroe was found shot in the clergyman's study. As Inspector Slack and Colonel Melchett (and secretly in the background Miss Marple), come to investigate they notice that nearly everyone would've had the motive to kill the victim as he was the village's Undesirable no.1. At the beginning we hear that two people admit that they killed the Colonel one after the other, but due to the clocks and eye witness accounts they're dismissed ... but then why admit to committing murder when you didn't commit murder? With their heads aching they must soon find the murderer(s) before they disappear. The clergyman does find out some seriously weird evidence which leads to him gaining concerning truth but are they linked with the murderer? A must get for all Agatha Christie lovers!!!

The third person perspective is a little odd, but it's a classic whodunit all the way.

One of Christie's best. The first to feature Miss Marple.

About the author

Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and became, quite simply, the best-selling novelist in history. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, written towards the end of the First World War, introduced us to Hercule Poirot, who was to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. She is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 100 foreign countries. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 19 plays, and six novels under the name of Mary Westmacott.