Initially two obvious suspects emerge, the Colonel’s wife, Anne, and her lover, local artist Lawrence Redding, and they even go as far as confessing to the crime. There is indeed a murder at the vicarage in St Mary Mead of Colonel Protheroe the unpopular local squire who lives at the Old Hall. I think the plot of this book is quite familiar to readers, with the title summing it up in a matter of words. I have watched episodes of these shows before, and enjoyed all three of them, so it will be interesting to see if that changes.Later this month JJ, Moira and Brad will be discussing this novel at JJ’s blog The Invisible Event, so I thought I best to get it re-read beforehand. I do not currently have a favorite among these three actresses. Both of these are available on Amazon through BritBox.

In the 1980s Joan Hickson played her in a series titled Miss Marple and in the 2000s, Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie played her in Agatha Christie’s Marple. Miss Marple has been adapted a couple of times, most notably twice by the BBC with three different actresses. I didn’t feel like the choice of narrator suited the story, which frustrated me, but the mystery itself was fun and twisty. Miss Marple is always a joy, although almost the first thing said about her in this book is that she is “the worst cat in the village” who “always knows every single thing that happens”. The narrator is the local vicar who has a rather young and inappropriate wife (not that she DOES anything wrong, just that she isn’t a good “vicar’s wife”). I liked that the clues were all available to the reader, and the pacing was satisfying (there is nothing I hate more than when a mystery is unsolvable because the author withholds information). I didn’t remember who the murderer was, and I did figure it out before the end. I hadn’t actually read this one before, although I think I had watched one of the shows I talk about below. The vicarage happens to be kitty corner from Miss Marple’s house, and she uses her observations of the comings and goings as well as information that is reported to her to deduce the murderer and surrounding circumstances. Murder At The Vicarage was published in 1930 and is the story of a local Colonel who is murdered in the vicar’s study.

Murder in vicarage