It was in elementary school when I first came across
the work of Agatha Christie with an assignment to write and present a book
report on a mystery. The teacher thought
The Hardy Boys wouldn’t be advanced enough for the level I was reading
at and recommended I try one on Murder on the Orient Express. I enjoyed it immensely, read a few others,
but never got past some of the big ones.
The idea to write thoughts on the works of Agatha Christie didn’t really
come from any plan, just seeing a selection of her works at my local library
and feeling in the mood for a mystery. I
hadn’t read any of her work featuring Miss Marple, so I decided to go with the
first novel to feature the character with The Murder at the Vicarage. Published in 1930, it's kind of a perfect
example of a cozy mystery from Christie: it’s set in a small village in the
English countryside, has a small cast of characters (many of whom have motive
for murder), and essentially follows the slow investigation of a crime instead
of a tense thriller. While this isn’t a
thriller, it doesn’t ever feel like the pace is lazy, a bit slow in places, but
not lazy. It took me an evening to read
the book while sipping on a cup of hot cocoa which might be coloring my
opinion, but the low stakes assist in Christie increasing the intrigue into
these characters.
The victim, Colonel Protheroe, can only be adequately
described as an awful person, always putting his nose into the business of
others and generally alienating those around him. What’s especially interesting about this premise
is while this is the first novel for Miss Marple, the perspective is from the
vicar Leonard Clement, a man who’s in love with his much younger wife Griselda
and Miss Marple feels like a supporting character. This is so Christie can successfully execute
the idea that Miss Marple is just investigating the crime in the background
while the two police inspectors investigate in the foreground. The police are incompetent but not illogical,
easily falling for the red herrings the culprit carefully laid out to get away
with it, making it almost humorous when they’re revealed by a seemingly
harmless old woman. Clement’s
perspective is also a fascinating one, since he’s this nervous man whose insecurities
and willingness to please everyone around him is what directly leads to the
almost comedy of errors the police inspectors undergo.
Miss Marple on the other hand is utterly fascinating
in her outlook. Christie doesn’t give
much on Marple’s history but her character is one completely in tune with the
idea of human nature ruling thought. While
there are only two initial suspects, she expands the list to seven separate
people because as an older woman she’s heard things and the gossip of St. Mary’s
Mead is almost always aflutter. She also
notices details and sees the tiny cracks throughout which makes the final
chapters where everything is put together rather special since the rest of the
supporting characters get more in depth explorations. The final pages muse on the idea that crime
might be eventually medicated out which is an interesting idea and so very of
its time in its misunderstanding of perhaps why people kill.
Overall, The Murder at the Vicarage is a
mystery that somehow acts as very cozy as well as shifting gears to include
aspects of a thriller at points. Miss Marple
is such a great idea for a detective with how Christie writes a sweet old lady
who also doesn’t take no nonsense but the shame comes with the fact that she
isn’t really in it all that much. The
other supporting characters are great but it does take just a bit too long to
get going and maybe drags in the actual wrap up. 7/10.
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