I'm very, very late in posting my July #ReadChristie wrap-up, but that definitely wasn't because I didn't enjoy the book!
The prompt for July was: a story featuring a vicar.
The Murder at the Vicarage seems like an obvious choice, right? I was a little reluctant to jump into another Miss Marple, though. My May and June reads were back-to-back Marple stories, so I was feeling something a little bit different. However, I couldn't resist the first ever Miss Marple. I really wanted to see her at her very best, as I didn't feel that A Pocket Full of Rye or Nemesis did that.
I'm glad I did read it, because I found it really enjoyable. It was perhaps a little too jam packed with unnecessary characters, but it felt like a really traditional Christie that made for a great read.
Here's my full wrap-up, where I've answered some of the questions posed by the official Agatha Christie family. You can find about more about the #ReadChristie2021 campaign on their website.
1. What did you make of this first Miss Marple novel?
I thought this was a really great introduction to Miss Marple, and I wish I'd read it first! It really establishes her as a nosy old lady, but also someone who is very shrewd and who notices things that most people miss. I really liked the way she kept popping up in the mystery, and loved the interactions she had with others, especially the vicar! It's no wonder Agatha Christie chose to bring her back for more.
2. What did you think of our narrator, the vicar?
I often find it really difficult to connect to narrators that are isolated - that is, narrators who only do so for one single story. I usually prefer third person story telling, or a narrator that I know (like the wonderful Captain Hastings). However, the vicar was a great narrator. He was fun and relatable, and a really great set of eyes through which to follow the story. He provided good commentary on the other characters too, and whether or not he liked them!
3. Did you enjoy the St Mary Mead setting?
One of the things I love the most about Agatha Christie's stories is the way she always provides a fantastically vivid setting. I was keen to see the famous St Mary Mead, and I thought it was the perfect backdrop for Miss Marple. It's a great little village where you could really visualise the story! I also really appreciated the diagram we were given to help us understand where everything was!
4. Who was your favourite character?
It's really hard to choose a favourite character from this novel. I really did like the vicar, and I also liked the inspector. However, I think my favourite character was genuinely Miss Marple. I thought there were far too many characters for us to get any real depth about any of them, which was a real shame. The only ones we met properly were the vicar and detective, which was probably why I liked them the most. But Miss Marple is a real character, and she was very well painted in this story.
5. Did you guess whodunit?
I didn't! I had an inkling that there must have been some suspicion around the relationship between Lawrence Redding and Anne Protheroe, but I didn't catch on to what had really happened. There were so many red herrings that it was a little frustrating, but it was still quite a satisfying ending.
6. Rating
✫✫✫✫
Although not an Agatha Christie book that I think stands out as spectacular, I think this one is a really great introduction to Miss Marple and St Mary Mead, and I found it really enjoyable.
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