I have watched episodes of these shows before, and enjoyed all three of them, so it will be interesting to see if that changes. 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). In fact, Jane Marple can think of at least seven. So when he’s found dead in the vicarage study, there’s no absence of suspects in the seemingly peaceful village of St Mary Mead. I didn’t remember who the murderer was, and I did figure it out before the end. A shocking murder An unlikely detective Nobody liked Colonel Protheroe. I hadn’t actually read this one before, although I think I had watched one of the shows I talk about below. And she always knows every single thing that happensand draws the worst inferences from it. She’s the worst cat in the village, said Griselda.

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. Price Ridley, Miss Wetherby, Miss Hartnell, and that terrible Miss Marple. Murder At The Vicarage was published in 1930 and is the story of a local Colonel who is murdered in the vicar’s study.

Miss marple murder at the vicarage