I’ve talked before about how much I loved Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. I loved it so much that I haven’t read anything else she’s written! But this book, the first in the Miss Marple series, fits a number of challenges—”Female detective” for #Booked2019, “A cozy mystery” for Read Harder, and “A book set in an abbey, cloister, monastery, vicarage, or convent” for Popsugar Advanced—and Miss Maple is one of Christie’s most beloved characters, so I figured it was time to take Christie off my pedestal.

I didn’t like this one as much as And Then There Were Done, but it was by no means terrible. I started it during 24in48, when I was in that weird allergy-fog, so that made it really hard for me to get into the story and hard to find the motivation to finish it later.

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TW: infidelity and murder (though not gruesomely described)

In the small town of St. Mary Mead, Colonel Protheroe, the local magistrate, is found shot in the head at the vicarage, in the vicar’s study! There are no leads and in fact, no one even heard the shot that killed Protheroe. But when the vicar and the Inspector go to question Miss Marple, who lived nearby, they are surprised by what she tells them: there are at least seven people who would want the colonel dead! As the vicar and Inspector stumble around trying to make sense of Miss Marple’s declaration, the elderly woman deftly puts the pieces together all on her own in a race against the clock.

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I love a story about a woman who gets stuff done and doesn’t care if she’s doing it alone! Miss Marple is a brilliant detective and it’s delightful to watch her gently correct the men of the town, who so confidently think they have everything figured out. No one expects her to solve a murder, this elderly woman who lives alone, but she is sharp and has a finger on the pulse of the town. I lived for her revelations and the guiding, matter of fact way she always corrected the inspector and vicar.

The writing style was a bit off-putting to me, partially because I don’t think I was used to it. This book was published in 1930 and most of the things I’ve read this year were published from 2016-2019, so that was a bit of a challenge. Once I got used to it, I was able to join the story a little bit more.

The cast of characters was difficult to navigate and it was really easy to forget who was who or how they knew someone else. Again, I’m used to books that are heavy on pacing and plot, with a small cast of characters. A Murder at the Vicarage is the opposite of that and the adjustment took me awhile. Since the book was fairly short, by the time I was finally getting into the rhythm of it, the book was almost done.

I did like the plot and I adored Miss Marple. The book is narrated by the vicar, and I wish that it was focused more on Miss Marple. She pops more as a minor character and I wanted to see so much more of her. If she narrated the book, it would be much shorter and there wouldn’t be the surprise reveal of the killer, but the vicar was just too distant from her to really allow her to shine as a more major player.

By the time this review publishes, I will have finished the second Miss Marple book, The Thirteen Problems, which is a set of short stories. Miss Marple really shines in these and I am enjoying them a lot more, so be watching for my review on that!

If you like cozy mysteries and want something to snuggle up and read with a mug of hot chocolate, The Murder at the Vicarage is what you’re looking for. If you prefer more suspenseful, plot-driven mysteries/thrillers, I would suggest And Then There Were None instead. 

Publisher: Dodd, Mead & Company originally, HarperCollins now
Pages: 380
Rating: 4/5
Publication date: October 1930
Buy: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound