The Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple)

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Dame Agatha Christie is the queen of mystery writers who all modern aspirants strive to emulate. I enjoy reading her cases featuring detective Hercule Poirot because he knows the outcome well before the reader. Christie's cases are multilayered and keep unraveling until a book's conclusion. Enjoying these thought provoking cases, I decided to introduce myself to her other famous sleuth, Miss Jane Marple. There is no better place to start than Murder at the Vicarage, the book that introduced Miss Marple to the world. What the two who planned it also planned to use Jane Marple as an alibi witness as they know she's outside tending her garden at the time planned.

The vicar and his wife, Leonard and Griselda Clement respectively, who made their first appearance in this novel, continue to show up in Miss Marple stories: notably, in The Body in the Library (1942) and 4.50 from Paddington (1957) For many, this will be too on-the-nose or over-simplified when it comes to the layout at approach of Miss Marple's investigation. Though she's responsible for solving it, she's not the main character. The vicar tells us the story of what happened to the deceased, and he interacts with the detectives investigating the crime. Another priest is nearly murdered, but he's not very well liked, so it's okay, right? Some think so... but not all the 'little old biddies' (how the book refers to them) are in agreement. The gossip is out of control in this book, but I adored it for what it was -- a clever plot technique to reveal clues and keep us guessing. Add in the very peculiar marriages between the different priests and their wives, and it's baffling what life was like a century ago. But I'd give nearly anything to be part of it.Lawrence Redding: a painter who fought in World War I. He uses a building on the vicarage property as his studio. The story was adapted into a play by Moie Charles and Barbara Toy in 1949 and opened at the Playhouse Theatre on December 16. Miss Marple was played by Barbara Mullen. Nether Wallop, UK, features as the fictional St Mary Mead in the television series Miss Marple (1984–1992). The house on the left served as the title character's home. The Murder at the Vicarage was released by HarperCollins as a graphic novel adaptation on 20 May 2008, adapted and illustrated by "Norma" (Norbert Morandière) ( ISBN 0-00-727460-2). This was translated from the edition first published in France by Emmanuel Proust éditions in 2005 under the title of L'Affaire Prothéroe. Agatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.

Anyhoo it was nice to just settle down with this book with the expectation in the beginning of the book that since a murder had just occurred, nothing terribly bad would happen after that, and so it was a nice quiet gentle read. Nothing to ruffle my feathers. Sometimes we all need that kind of read. Nothing earth shattering…just something to pleasantly while away the time. 3.5 stars for me. 😊 What appeals to me most in these Marple novels is how she drops a few thoughts, then scatters around. She leaves mysterious notes for someone to come see her, then won't reveal everything she's thinking. She teases us. But it's as much fun as it is frustrating. She knows, but she's not 100% certain how... so she won't say it all at once until she's got every nasty little detail ferreted out. This book sees Miss Marple bring all her knowledge of humanity to bear to solve the crime, obviously with a little help from Colonel Meltchet. Abstract: Debut of Miss Jane Marple, village busybody who applies human nature to crimes. Colonel Protheroe, magistrate universally despised, was shot in his study, unheard. His wife Anne admits newly arrived artist Lawrence Redding is an old flame, and both confess to murder. The local inspector and Jane sort through to the truth.An French adaptation L'affaire Protheroe was made as episode 14 of season 2 of the series Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie, first broadcast on France 2 on 9 Sep 2016. There is no vicarage and the setting is changed to an advertising agency in Lille. The investigators are the French policeman commissaire Laurence, his secretary Marlene, and reporter Alice Avril. Otherwise, the adaptation manages to remain faithful to the main premise of the original. At the onset, the story held my interest. I generally enjoyed the presentation of the incidents and characters in a tightly woven plotline. There is a fair amount of suspense from the point of murder that takes place at the Vicarage. Incident characters and events served as red herrings so the reader wouldn't guess the criminal before being revealed. All was good until I got to the end. With many twists and turns, the truth when revealed was quite the ordinary. I guessed it way before and was quite firm on my conviction until the author quite deliberately created confusion. That's what I call cheating. :)