Recent reading: "The Murder at the Vicarage"

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

I'm still behind on #ReadChristie2024, but got another one done this week. Almost there...

There's been a murder in the sleepy village of St. Mary Mead and there are suspects galore. The pompous, powerful, and unpopular Colonel Protheroe is shot to death while waiting alone in the vicar's study. Suspects include Protheroe's wife Anne, his daughter Lettice, Lawrence Redding, a painter currently working on a portrait of Lettice, the mysterious and recently arrived Mrs. Lestrange, Leonard Clement, the vicar himself (he's the narrator and I was getting Roger Ackroyd vibes), the vicar's charming younger wife Griselda, and the vicar's nephew Dennis, who is besotted with Lettice. A few other questionable characters/motives also populate the story. And of course there's Miss Jane Marple, whose favorite hobby - the study of human nature - gives her a unique insight to the various suspects and helps bring the killer to justice.

The Murder at the Vicarage, published in 1930, was the first Miss Marple novel and this was also my first experience with her. She was actually a very pleasant, interesting character, not the grating, nosy busybody I was expecting. 

The Murder at the Vicarage is the April selection for #ReadChristie2024. Each quarter features Christie novels from a specific decade(s). First quarter is the 1920's, second quarter is the 1930's, third quarter is the 1940's-1950's, and fourth quarter is the 1960's-1970's. The complete list is:

 

January: The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Poirot)

February: The Secret Adversary (Tommy & Tuppence)

March: The Mystery of the Blue Train (Poirot)

April: The Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple)

May: The ABC Murders (Poirot)

June: And Then There Were None (stand alone)

July: Taken at the Flood (Poirot)

August: A Murder is Announced (Miss Marple)

September: Ordeal by Innocence (stand alone)

October: The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side (Miss Marple)

November: Third Girl (Poirot)

December: Elephants Can Remember (Poirot)