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.
‘Agatha Christie is the gateway drug to crime fiction both for readers and for writers.’
Val McDermid
‘Always keeps her reader enthralled and guessing to the end.’
Times Literary Supplement
Milla
18/09/2022
Agatha Christie really is the master - she understands perfectly how to set the scene, clues, red herrings and the characters. She always introduces shades of grey: sometimes people do the wrong things for right reasons, sometimes they are foolish and good-hearted. The backdrop is the sleepy village of St Mary Meade and the pre-war English upper and middle class society where letters and visitations and dinners and servants are common and jobs not so much. I can't tell if it's nostalgia that makes this so appealing to me, but the characters work, the plot works - and in the centre is the gentle and adorably nosy Miss Marple who not only is probably the most intelligent person in the village but also a great judge of character and human nature. A lot of this is very cliched by now - fumbling police detective, multitude of secrets that don't really matter, presentation of hints and clues and the neat conclusion that ties it up in the end. But this is where it started, and it's really hard to find anyone who rivals it. For the audiobook - Richard E Grant is simply divine, couldn't ask for more.
To write a review you need to download the app