The Murder at the Vicarage

The famous novel in which the Queen of Crime introduced one of her most beloved characters, the indomitable Miss Marple.

St. Mary Mead appears to be a typically quaint English country village, but many dark secrets lurk under its placid surface—and its most unobtrusive resident, the elderly Miss Jane Marple, is equally easy to underestimate.

When Colonel Protheroe, the exceedingly disagreeable local magistrate, is found shot to death in the vicar’s study, the police are confounded. Nearly everyone in the village had good reason to wish the man dead, witness accounts conflict, and two contradictory confessions further muddy the waters. Suspects abound, including an archaeologist on a local dig, a young visiting artist, an unhappy wife, a local poacher, and a mysterious woman just arrived in town—and, of course, the vicar himself. But the vicar’s observant neighbor, Miss Marple, notices far more than most. An adept and shrewd student of human nature, she is the only one clever enough to untangle the clues and solve the mystery.

Author Biography

AGATHA CHRISTIE (1890–1976) was born in Devon, England. She wrote more than 70 books and 150 short stories, as well as works for stage and screen. Her novel And Then There Were None is considered the world’s bestselling mystery novel, and her play The Mousetrap is the longest-running play in London theater history.

About the Introducer: LAURA THOMPSON is the author of Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life, which was a finalist for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for biography. She is also the author of the critically acclaimed biography of Nancy Mitford, Life in a Cold Climate, and of The Six: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters.