Clement, the local clergyman, casually says “anyone who murders Colonel Protheroe would be doing the world a favor.” Few hours later, Colonel Protheroe is lying in a pool of blood in the clergyman’s study. There is no detective in England equal to a spinster lady of uncertain age with plenty of time on her hands.” Mary Mead every one knows your most intimate affairs. “My dear young man, you underestimate the detective instinct of village life. But as Miss Marple soon discovers, the whole village seems to have had a motive to kill Colonel Protheroe.

And one which was to come back and haunt the clergyman just a few hours later – when the colonel was found shot dead in the clergyman’s study. I have watched episodes of these shows before, and enjoyed all three of them, so it will be interesting to see if that changes.‘Anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe,’ declared the parson, brandishing a carving knife above a joint of roast beef, ‘would be doing the world at large a favor!’ It was a careless remark for a man of the cloth. 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.

Marple murder at the vicarage