Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

 

The Book

    Book One of Miss Marple. When the middle aged vicar, Rev Len Clement,  carelessly remarks that the world might be a better place if Colonel Protheroe, little does he know that those words shall soon come to pass. Protheroe is a disagreeable man, who knows there are church funds missing. Something he is insisting in his capacity as a churchwarden. Clement doesn't really want to get to the bottom of that mystery, but he supposes he must, and so he meets with the Col. 

    In the days leading up to the murder, Clement discovers, Protheroe's much younger wife Anne, a lady the entire town admires for her lovely manners, is shockingly having an affair with the neighborhood artist, Lawrence Redding. Redding is generally supposed to be heavily flirting, and possibly in a relationship with Anne's stepdaughter, Lettice Protheroe, the Colonel's daughter from his failed first marriage. Clement promises to hold his toungue regarding the affair, and encourages both Anne and Redding to do the right thing and break it off. 

Meanwhile, Clement's young wife, Griselda is busy gossiping with everyone in the little town of St. Mary Meade, (which made a cameo in The Mystery of the Blue Train), including their next door neighbor, the nosy Miss Jane Marple. The curate, Mr. Hawes, is having some sort of nervous issue, causing an upset stomach. The visiting archeologist Dr. Stone has scandalously employed a young woman, Miss Cram, as his secretary.  And the mysterious Mrs. LeStrange is visiting the local doctor frequently to cause tongues to wag. Miss Marple sees all, and the worst in all of them. But she is also circumspect in the way she talks about it, which is why Clement likes her. But for all of her astute observations, she wonders, if she can solve the murder before the police. In the end, she might be the only one capable of untangling all of the lies. 

My Thoughts

    A lovely introduction to the world of Miss Marple. Like many Agatha Christie's it is over stuffed with confusing plot details. And reading it can be a bit of a slog. But for a novel introducing us to a new character, it's pretty well done. I know I've read several Miss Marples before, but I don't have a specific memory of reading this particular book. I must have, because a collection of Marples sat on the shelves at my parent's house. I clearly remembering sitting on the couch in our den of a warm summer afternoon and reading through the books down there. The den was cool, and on the north side of the house, which on a hot, southern summer day, is the best place to be. The air conditioning works well. And it's a little bit surprising I was in there so frequently and alone, but I guess my younger siblings had not yet discovered the TV. Or perhaps, my grandmother forbade it when we were school aged. I don't remember. I just know summer days were swim team early mornings, swim lessons directly after that. Lunch, then reading, then dinner, then back to the swimming pool for a late evening swim until sunset and then home to bed. That was a summer day in my house for several years. And it was on these afternoons that I sat and read mystery after mystery story, many from the library for years. And there are previous books that I have memories of reading. In strange little places in the book, even if most of the plot has been forgotten. But this book, it all seem strange, and yet...I must have read it. It bugs me. Any way, not bad for introducing a new character, but the book suffers from the same type of slightly not the best writing as Michael Connelly's The Late Show, which just goes to show that even a great, well respected writer isn't sure how to grow as a writer and introduce a new protagonist at the same time. I've now read three first time character novels back, to back, to back and I will say I think Anne Perry did the best job in Face of a Stranger. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

    This poor book. My library does not own a copy of this novel in any stand alone edition, although it is included in a Miss Marple collection with other short stories. I feel a bit bad since this book was shipped all the way from Evanston, and well, there's no nice way to say it, the poor thing is barely hanging on for dear life. The cover is badly damaged, and the edges of the first few pages are the same. This book has been read over and over and over again. I wonder how many times someone needs to read a book before it becomes this worn out. I will hand deliver it to the circulation desk when I return it. I am afraid of what putting it in a bin will do. I believe this book was published in 2011 and since Evanston does not stamp their books with the date received in the front, I will hazard a guess from the condition of the book that it has been in Evanston the whole time. The receipt says I save 12.99 on the book.

This Book                         $12.99

This Summer                  $536.86

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