I hate to admit this, but I've never read a Miss Marple mystery. I've read several of Agatha Christie's books, but they've all either featured Hercule Poirot or simply been straightforward mysteries. I've started reading Murder at the Vicarage in order to remedy that situation. Whatever anyone says about Agatha Christie's style or characterization, she tells a good story. Only a few chapters in and she has already hooked me, but then I do enjoy a nice cozy mystery, and I don't think you can get any cozier (or more traditional) than this one.
Set in the little English village of St Mary Mead and more specifically in the vicarage, something sinister is about to happen. The story is told in first person, which is not at all unusual in itself, but what I find surprising is its told from the point of view of the vicar, rather than Miss Marple. A little gray-haired spinster she has a reputation for being a very clever woman. Here was my first encounter with her:
"With a sigh, I realized that the hands of the clock on my writing table pointed to a quarter to five, a sign it was really half past four, and I made my way to the drawing room."
"Four of my parishioners were assembled there with teacups. Griselda sat behind the tea table trying to look natural in her environment, but only succeeding in looking more out of place than usual."
"I shook hands all round and sat down between Miss Marple and Miss Wetherby."
"Miss Marple is a white-haired old lady with a gentle appealing manner--Miss Wetherby is a mixture of vinegar and gush. Of the two Miss Marple is much the more dangerous."
I love that description. I already have this vision of someone who doesn't miss much despite her kindly demeanor and probably won't let you forget it! Griselda by the way is the much younger and very pretty vicar's wife.
Murder at the Vicarage was published in 1930, the same year as Mignon Eberhart's The Mystery at Hunting's End, which I read for the Classics Circuit and will be writing about later this week. This gave me the perfect opportunity to compare the two authors and enjoy a couple Golden Age detective stories. I have a feeling this won't be my only Miss Marple mystery (and will write more about Nurse Sarah Keate, Eberhart's sleuth, later). It's funny how so many of these mysteries take place in quiet, bucolic settings. Bodies in vicarages and fields and libraries and all sundry of locations. Maybe I should be happy I live in the city.