Runalong the Classics - The Murder At The Vicarage by Agatha Christie

Publisher- Harper Coillins

Price – £8.99 paperback

A quiet English village

A shocking murder

An unlikely detective

Nobody liked Colonel Protheroe.

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.

In fact, Jane Marple can think of at least seven.

As gossip abounds in the parlours and kitchens of the parish, everyone becomes an amateur detective.

The police dismiss her as a prying busybody, but only the ingenious Miss Marple can uncover the truth . . .

Never underestimate Miss Marple.

There is often a discussion of genre’s cosier side and for a long time while Agatha Christie is still a giant in crim tales the author has been accused of a bit of well… being a bit tame. Noir and modern-day thrillers have evolved. But when you’ve got a train ride to kill I thought it may be worth exploring the first novel entrance of the famous sleuth Miss Marple and I found quite an intriguing and slightly subversive tale that hides under its floral village a hotbed of dark secrets

Colonel Protheroe sis the kind of man who tells you what he thinks; regardless of your feelings and he enjoys using his power as a local magistrate. Everyone is not a fan so when St Mary Mead’s vicar finds the shot corpse of the Colonel at his desk in the vicarage there is a plethora of suspects. Happily, Vicar Clements has also the beady eyes of one Miss Marple to help navigate finding the guilty party.

In our heads we are so used to the format of the typical Christie tv movie then reading the book is an interesting dissonance. For starters Miss Marple is less the star and more a powerful side character. Len Clement our vicar is the narrator and does most of the legwork in this case. He’s a very engaging mix of kind and weary with a murder pushing the limits of his patience and he finds himself working hard himself for a solution. Bright, amiable and dislikes the more official police we find ourselves liking him and hoping what can come across.

The Murder At The Vicarage is an unusual but enjoyable read where the murder itself while a puzzle is not for me the main pull. For me what I enjoyed is how Christie slowly lifts the lid on this genteel 1920s village and its full of secrets. We have affairs, greedy relatives, dodgy strangers and as Miss Marple tells us at least seven suspects (which to aid the tension she does not name). We tend to think of this time as quite constrained but its deliciously fascinating as this crime unpeels secrets. We find ourselves supporting adulterous couples; agreeing with doctors that some criminals deserve to go free, laughing at people’s gullible natures and what I get the sense is Christie is pointing out every place people exist has this sort of activity – its often cities but here we get an alleged sedate village that is seething under the surface – take that Chicago! We can see a line from here all the way to the Archers and Midsummer Murders that country life is full of human beings being human beings and can be just as messy as anywhere else on the planet.

Then we get to our sleuth and Miss Marple is more a witness with observations than the more pro-active detective we tend to imagine. In fact, Christie here has Miss Marple more a peripheral character.  Christie is more interested in the idea that for these types of communities the old women constantly on the watch are like the best surveillance cameras – ignored for being old yet always watching everyone night and day as this creates the best gossip. Miss Marple though whenever she appears is the most interesting of the group we meet. She is sharp witted and is more into interpreting facts than simply witnessing them. While our Vicar is the very capable amateur investigator meeting witnesses and finding clues, we need Miss Marple to pull the final pieces together and trap the villain. You want to see more of her, and I suspect that is why Christie develops her more as the series evolves.

A fun puzzle but with some deliciously dark observations on human behaviour and a sleuth in the making made this a read I really needed this week and is definitely one that I can recommend.