From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives

The Murder at the Vicarage
by
Start date
February 1, 2025
Finish date
February 28, 2025
Discussion
Group Challenges
Why we're reading this
The first Miss Marple novel

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Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 168 topics — 7,798 comments total
+ Group Challenges
* Sept 25: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) by Agatha Christie
By Susan · 17 posts · 20 views
last updated Sep 25, 2025 01:00PM
* Sept 25: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) - SPOILER Thread
By Susan · 13 posts · 22 views
last updated Sep 16, 2025 12:58PM
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What Members Thought

Adrian
2021 English Mysteries - Miss Marple Group Read
Having read this less than 4 years I was surprised at how little I remembered of the book. Is it age or just the fact that in the intervening years I have read a large number of detective mystery stories. I'm plumping for the latter option. 😊
This book, the first with Miss Marple, is set entirely within St Mary Mead, in fact the vast majority is within 100 yards of The Vicarage, and guess who happens to live next door ? Yes, thats right, the redoubt
...more
Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂
I pondered (and pondered!) my rating but have decided to go enjoyment and how good this was for the first in a series - The Divine Christie had me completely fooled!

There are faults - too many characters (some very similar) and the characterisation of Miss M is very uneven - she is a right old bat at the start, but by the halfway point she is the amateur sleuth I love. The trademark fluffiness hides great powers of observation and deduction.

Like The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Hercule Poirot, #4) by Agatha Christie there is a lot more humour in this novel than
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Sharon Blair Scott
Really Miss Marple is rather a dear… I had read this, as well as many other Christie novels, while at university. There is something special about Miss Marple. There is something special about Agatha Christie.
Kara
Aug 26, 2020 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: agatha-christie
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Jazz
The very first outing of Miss Marple was quite a good read! She's somewhat in the background for the first 2/3 of the book but then emerges with the solution in that last third. It became clear that Christie was, at this point, feeling her way into the character who would become a major force in her writing career. I'm trying to read these in order to see the development and know I have much to look forward to. After reading this, I watched the Joan Hickson version on DVD, and it confirmed that ...more
Jovita Reed
Mar 22, 2017 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Agatha Christie is one of my all-time favorite authors. I have read almost all of the Hercule Poirot books, but have never tried a Miss Marple title until now. What better place to start than at the beginning? I found the mystery to be a first-rate English cozy. The setting, the characters, the dialogue are all the things I love about Dame Agatha. The one gripe I have is that we don't spend enough time with Miss Marple. The book is narrated by the Vicar, Mr. Clement, with Miss Marple being no mo ...more
Kristin
Jan 17, 2017 rated it liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: mystery
I've been trying to read more Agatha Christie. I've mostly read Poirot books so far with the exception of The Body in the Library which I loved!

For a Miss Marple book, there just wasn't enough Miss Marple. She was like a background character for most of the novel which I found annoying. Maybe it's because it's the first book? But if that is the reason, it's garbage. I did not want to spend nearly 400 pages reading about the vicar.

Of course I'm still planning to read more Miss Marple. Who doesn'
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P.M. Pevato
Oct 28, 2015 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Renée Williams
Jan 16, 2016 marked it as to-read
Eric
Jan 17, 2016 rated it liked it  ·  review of another edition
Alou
Apr 06, 2016 rated it liked it  ·  review of another edition
Tammy Glenn
Jan 20, 2017 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Roisin
Feb 13, 2017 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Emma
Apr 29, 2017 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
True.magic
Dec 31, 2017 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: mystery
Char
Sep 04, 2018 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Gemima
Jun 16, 2019 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Jennifer Willis
Apr 19, 2020 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: audiobook
Yvonne
Jan 09, 2022 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Niveditha
Dec 09, 2022 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Jade Levi
Jan 08, 2023 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Cheryl Bell
Feb 16, 2023 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition