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The Murder at the Vicarage

The Murder at the Vicarage

Graphic novelClassicsCrime
Pages
418
Published
2016
Language
English

Synopsis

In the sleepy English village of St Mary Mead, where the most pressing concerns are usually parish gossip and garden fences, the Reverend Leonard Clement remarks that anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe would be doing the world a service. Within days the words come back to haunt him: the unpopular magistrate is found shot dead in the vicar's own study, slumped over the writing desk. Almost everyone in the village had reason to resent the overbearing Colonel, and the vicar soon finds his quiet parish overrun with suspects, alibis, and confessions that contradict one another. The wife, her admirer, the resentful daughter, a visiting artist, an archaeologist on a local dig, a poacher, and a newcomer all draw the attention of the bumbling Inspector Slack and the Chief Constable, Colonel Melchett. Narrated with dry wit by the vicar, the investigation circles between competing theories while the village hums with rumour. Watching it all from her cottage next door is an elderly, sharp-eyed spinster, Miss Jane Marple, who tends her garden, misses nothing, and quietly understands human nature far better than the police. Drawing parallels between the crime and the small betrayals of ordinary village life, she pieces together what the official investigators cannot. This is the first full-length case for one of detective fiction's most enduring amateur sleuths.

Prose complexity
5/10

Vibe

CozyIntellectualAtmosphericNostalgic
BetrayalForbidden LoveMorally GreyMystery Box

Genres

Classics Crime Mystery Amateur Sleuth Graphic Novels

About the author

A
Agatha Christie

Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is the best-selling novelist of all time and the writer the world calls the "Queen of Crime." Born Agatha Miller in Torquay, Devon, she came to fiction on a dare: her sister Madge bet she could not write a convincing detective story, and the result, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introduced the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Her dispensing work in a hospital pharmacy during the First World War, repeated again during the Second, gave her the expert knowledge...

Characters

Miss Jane MarpleProtagonist

An elderly spinster of St Mary Mead whose mild gossiping manner conceals a formidable understanding of human nature; she solves the crime by comparing it to small village parallels.

Rev. Leonard ClementSupporting

The vicar of St Mary Mead and the novel's narrator, observing the investigation with self-deprecating, dry humour; the murder occurs in his study.

Griselda ClementSupporting

The vicar's lively wife, much younger than he, whose teasing irreverence enlivens the household.

Colonel ProtheroeSupporting

An overbearing local magistrate disliked by nearly everyone in the village; his death sets the plot in motion.

Anne ProtheroeSupporting

The Colonel's unhappy younger wife, one of the central figures drawn into the investigation.

All characters in The Murder at the Vicarage

Frequently asked questions

  • Is The Murder at the Vicarage the first Miss Marple book?

    This novel introduces Miss Marple as a central detective figure, establishing her methods and personality for the first time in a full-length novel.

  • Are there any adaptations of The Murder at the Vicarage?

    The book has been adapted for television multiple times, including a notable version starring Joan Hickson as Miss Marple and another featuring Geraldine McEwan in the role.

  • Is this the first Miss Marple novel?

    Yes. The Murder at the Vicarage, published in 1930, is the first full-length novel to feature Miss Marple. The character had earlier appeared only in short stories, beginning in magazines in December 1927, which were later collected as The Thirteen Problems in 1932.

  • Does The Murder at the Vicarage feature a closed circle of suspects?

    The investigation primarily focuses on the residents and close associates within the confined village setting, characteristic of many Golden Age detective stories.

  • Where did the idea for Miss Marple come from?

    Christie wrote in her autobiography that Miss Marple grew partly from the pleasure she took in writing Caroline Sheppard, the inquisitive spinster sister in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. She wanted to recreate an 'acidulated spinster, full of curiosity, knowing everything, hearing everything.' She also drew on her step-grandmother and her circle of sharp-tongued Victorian ladies.

  • Does this book introduce the village of St Mary Mead?

    Yes. The Murder at the Vicarage is the first novel set in St Mary Mead, the fictional English village that becomes Miss Marple's home and recurring backdrop. The setting reappears throughout the later Marple novels.

  • Who narrates the novel?

    The story is told in the first person by the Reverend Leonard Clement, the vicar of St Mary Mead, in a wry and self-deprecating voice. The murder takes place in his own study, placing him close to the investigation throughout.

  • Did Agatha Christie like the book in hindsight?

    She had mixed feelings. In her autobiography she wrote that, rereading it, she was 'not so pleased with it' as she had been at the time, judging that it had 'far too many characters, and too many sub-plots.' She added, however, that she felt 'the main plot is sound.'

  • What are the main screen adaptations?

    The BBC adapted it in 1986 with Joan Hickson as Miss Marple and Paul Eddington as the vicar, in a version widely praised for its fidelity to the novel. ITV produced a 2004 adaptation for Agatha Christie's Marple starring Geraldine McEwan, with Derek Jacobi as Colonel Protheroe, which made more changes to the characters.

  • How does Miss Marple solve the crime?

    Rather than gathering forensic evidence, Miss Marple reasons by analogy, drawing parallels between the murder and the everyday deceptions and human failings she has observed over a lifetime in the village. This method of reading character through small village parallels becomes her signature throughout the series.

  • Do you need to read the Miss Marple books in order?

    No. The Marple novels are largely self-contained, and The Murder at the Vicarage is a natural starting point as the first in the series. Reading in order simply lets you follow Miss Marple's introduction and the establishment of St Mary Mead.

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