Three Miss Marple Mysteries: The Murder at the Vicarage / The Body in the Library / The Moving Finger

by Agatha Christie

The first three full-length Miss Marple novels, set before and during the Second World War, see the world's most accomplished amateur sleuth unravelling the dark side of human nature to uncover three cases of Murder Most Foul!

The Murder at the VicarageAgatha Christie’s first ever Miss Marple mystery. It was a careless remark for a man of the cloth. And one which was to come back and haunt the clergyman just a few hours later. From seven potential murderers, Miss Marple must seek out the suspect who has both motive and opportunity.

The Body in the LibraryIt’s seven in the morning. The Bantrys wake to find the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing evening dress and heavy make-up, which is now smeared across her cheeks.

The Moving FingerLymstock is a town with more than its share of shameful secrets – a town where even a sudden outbreak of anonymous hate-mail causes only a minor stir. But all that changes when one of the recipients, Mrs Symmington, commits suicide. Only Miss Marple questions the coroner’s verdict of suicide. Was this the work of a poison-pen? Or of a poisoner?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Agatha Christie, Classics, Mystery Thriller, Crime, Detective

804 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Agatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.

Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three Execellent Marple Mysteries!
I've left links to longer reviews of each individual book for anyone who is interested.

The Murder at the Vicarage
Miss Marple's 1st book!



The Body in the Library
I figured it out! I knew whodunnit!
I was smugly chuckling and congratulating myself on finally beating Agatha Christie at her own game as I listened to the end of the book drawing near, knowing that I had beaten the Queen of Mystery.



Goddammit.
She fooled me again.

The Moving Finger
Oh, this is a good one!

Alright, before the internet gave birth to trolls, there were the poison pen writers.
What's that? <--ask the kids
Well, back in the day, the same sort of unbalanced idiots who like to make obnoxious anonymous comments online were forced to send out (gasp!) anonymous letters via the mailbox.



And that's what this Miss Marple mystery is about!
Except, like a lot of Miss Marple mysteries, she's not exactly the star of the show. The main character is an injured fighter pilot (Jerry) who moves to a village with his sister (Joanna) to recover from his injuries. There he meets up with an entire cast of small-town bananas characters and gets caught up in a mystery.

This is a great collection.
Recommended for fans of Miss Marple.

[Obsidian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Murder at the Vicarage (5 stars):
The first Miss Marple mystery that showcases a different Miss Marple. I am realizing that for the most part, most Miss Marple stories have another person as the narrator with someone else giving us their thoughts/opinions on Miss Marple. In the first mystery Miss Marple is shown as nosy/gossipy and kind of mean spirited it felt a few times. She comes into her own in the end though when she reveals who the murder(s) are in this one and we have the narrator, the vicar called Leonard Clement who ends up in what I would call a grudging admiration of Miss Marple. Christie in my opinion definitely softens Miss Marple in subsequent books. She is definitely about seeing the murderers in her books brought to justice, though as some of you pointed out, she did take on a Poirot type of sentiment in some of her books.

Taking place in St. Mary's Mead, we have the whole village on pins and needles when someone murders the most despised man that lives there, Colonel Lucius Protheroe. The Colonel is nasty and mean spirited. When the Colonel is found dead in the Vicar's study, everyone quickly starts to suspect the other. Things get even more confusing when two separate people confess to the murder.

The narrator in this story as I already said was the vicar, Leonard Clement. He his married a woman named Griselda who he seems to have some worries over since it appears she may be having an affair. When the vicar starts his own investigations he keeps running into one of the residents, Miss Jane Marple. Slowly but surely we work through the village and wonder which one of them killed the Colonel.

What I loved about this book was that the only one who figured out what was going on was Miss Marple. A lot of people had ideas and there are a lot of red herrings to throw things off, but the final solution I found very enjoyable to read. When I first read this years ago I had no idea who had done it. At one time I suspected about every character that we are introduced to.

What is great about this first book is that we get introduced to characters we are going to see again in future Miss Marple books such as the vicar and his wife. I am trying to recall if Dr. Haydock shows up again. I do know that Inspector Slack shows up in The Body in the Library.

I did enjoy that my version included a layout of the vicar's study and home so you have to wonder how did someone enter and exit without being seen. I don't know if this one rivals my favorite Christie books "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" and "Murder on the Orient Express." but it's definitely in my top five Christie books.

After this readers should read "Thirteen Problems" if you want to go in order of the Miss Marple series.

The Body in the Library (5 stars):
The reason why I suggested readers should read "Thirteen Problems" next is that you are introduced to two characters who figure prominently in "The Body in the Library." When retired Colonel Arthur Bantry is wakened he and his wife Dolly are told there is a dead body in the library. They investigate and find a dead young woman in his library at Gossington Hall. The police show up and everyone starts to suspect Colonel Bantry in being behind the murder. Even though many will not come out and accuse him, the appearance of impropriety is enough to cause the Bantry's to lose their place in society.

Dolly calls up her old friend Jane Marple to help. What is nice is that Dolly calls back to Miss Marple solving all of the mysteries put before her in "Thirteen Problems." So you have one character who is aware that though Jane looks like a spinsterish older woman who is called "Victorian" by her pain in the butt nephew, she could put Sherlock Holmes to shame.

What I loved about this book is that it takes you down a really long winding path to get to who is the dead girl and why was she placed in the colonel's library. Eventually the dead girl is revealed to be a missing dancer named Ruby Keene from the nearby Majestic Hotel. We have Miss Marple and Dolly going off to figure out, who at the hotel could possibly want Ruby dead.

We get introduced to a lot of memorable characters in this one and honestly I have to say that I had no idea who did what to who and when all is revealed I went, oh that's so clever. I recall watching the most recent BBC adaptation of this one and wish that they had left it alone. I liked the original ending and thought that the latest Miss Marple's tried to be too sensational with things.

I did notice in this one and the next Miss Marple, Miss Marple likes to set a lot of traps. So there is one difference between her and Poirot. Poirot was all about telling a room full of people who the guilty party was, Miss Marple always brought in the police to ensure a confession. So she was like Brenda Leigh Johnson in the Closer.

The Moving Finger (3.5 stars):
This one ended up not working for on a lot of levels. I think it's cause I didn't really like the narrator for this, Jerry Burton. Jerry and his sister move to Joanna move to the village of Lymstock in order for Jerry to recover from the injuries he suffered from a plane crash. As soon as the siblings move in, they receive a poison pen letter accusing them of being lovers and not siblings. Apparently the whole town (just about) has received nasty letters accusing them of some nefarious thing.

Jerry finds himself growing fond of (or something) of the local solictor's step daughter named Megan Hunter. Megan is dealing with the fact that she is not wanted at her home now that her mother has remarried and had children with someone else. Her mother, Mrs. Symmington is a hard woman and doesn't seem to know what to do with Megan. Megan also puts the awkward in socially awkward.

When Megan's mother is found dead by her own hand after receiving a letter accusing her of an affair that resulted in the birth of one of her sons, Jerry becomes more involved and he does a not great investigation into who could be behind the letters. When the Symmington's maid is found dead, it seems that perhaps the poison pen writer has decided to cover his/her tracks.

I don't know, maybe it's just me. I found Jerry and Joanna both to be off-putting. Joanna decides she's in love with the local doctor, and Jerry all of a sudden realizes Emily is attractive when she gets new clothes and her hair cut. It's definitely a "She's All That" moment and it made me hard cringe.

Also I am going to complain here, there's not a lot of Miss Marple in this one. One of the characters (the local vicar's wife, no not the one I talked about earlier) calls up Miss Marple to help out. She meets Jerry in one scene and it just felt very long. We just quickly go back to Jerry and his suspicions and that's it.

Also when you get behind the why of things I had a hard time with the premise. It seemed quite far-fetched to me that someone would go to all these lengths for what is revealed by Miss Marple. But then again I have been watching a lot of Forensic Files and there ap

[Lata · Rating 4 out of 5]

2020-02: Murder at the Vicarage 3.5 stars
The very first Miss Marple mystery! This book was much funnier than I expected, with its gossiping villagers and the slightly hapless narrator and Vicar Len Clement, and the idiot Inspector in charge of investigating the murder. And during much of the story's action, Miss Marple is constantly in the background, gardening, but really watching people go about their business, and in her own inimitable way, noticing details and motivations that no one else has.
The plot was a little convoluted, with a little too much happening to confuse things in the main case, but I still enjoyed this. I wish I had been able to appreciate Miss Marple and her ability to deduce things when I was younger, but being somewhat wiser now, I can say this was a fun introduction to this woman and her keen mind.

2018-11: The Moving Finger 3.5 stars
This was Miss Marple's third appearance, and strangely, she doesn't make her appearance till almost 90% into the story, and even then, we barely get to spend any time with this canny woman and her twinkling eyes. Instead, we see the action in the story from the perspective of Jerry, an injured pilot, who moves to Lymstock with his attractive younger sister Joanne to recover. The two of them gradually become familiar with the village's inhabitants. Jerry and Joanna then, along with others in the village, become recipients of nasty, anonymous letters accusing individuals of a variety of illicit relationships. And then there's a murder, followed by whispering, suppositions and worry. And though I wanted Jane to appear now and put the murderer in their place, I had to wait for many more chapters for the knitting and crocheting keen-eyed analyst of behaviour to figure things out. Except, we hardly even got to see Jane in action, though we're left to infer that Jane did her deceptive, somewhat dotty act all the while peeling away the lies. Though I did enjoy getting through the mystery, I sorely missed Jane's presence for much of the story.

2017-01: The Body in the Library 4 stars
What a pleasure it was to reread this book. The first time I read a Miss Marple mystery story, I was in my early teens and did not appreciate just how smart the woman is. She's very observant, and remembers little things about people, and draws parallels between different people to figure out who could have done it (the murder, that is.)
And I don't remember Agatha Christie being quite so funny the first time I read this; I found myself laughing out loud at the dialogue between Mrs. and Mr. Bantry at the beginning of the book. There are also little descriptions as the story progresses that are amusing.
Though I figured out who one of the murderers was and suspected the other, I had fun reading as the story unfolded and Miss Marple did her thing, quietly watching everyone involved, and figuring out who was responsible.

[Jack Heath · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars. Three of the best. Miss Marple shines. One wonders why someone didn't make her a consultant at Scotland Yard after the third success in a row! Although I found "A Moving Finger" in the exceptional class, the other two would have made quite a stir on publication too. Christie finds a flag post for each of them to make them standout. In "A Moving Finger" it's the poison pen letters which many of the residents of Lymstock have been receiving, and then the suicide by one of the recipients. Did it strike home? In "The Body in the Library" it's the body itself. Why would the body of a young woman dressed in night club clothes be found in the library of an elderly, respectable couple? How did it get there? In "Murder at the Vicarage" it's the narrator. The tenant of the murder scene, the vicar, actually tells the story leaving the reader to wonder whether he has left anything out, i.e. his having done the murder. Three great ones. (April 2021)

[Nicola · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Agatha Christie was the greatest exponent of the classical detective story. Her unique literary talents have crossed every boundary of age, race, class, geography and education. While she refined the template for a fictional form, the reading of her books became an international pastime." John Curran

I started reading and collecting Agatha Christie books when I was 9 years old. I adored her books and still do. There is a great comfort, as an adult, in reading her books and acute observations of people that favours style over the penny horrors of sadism, torture, and graphic violence favoured by some authors.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished reading this collection on June 8, 2016. My least favorite of the three books in this collection is The Moving Finger. I gave it a 4 star rating. The other two books I gave a five star rating.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read The Body in the Library, first of 3 stories in this volume.

[Ken Montville · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had bought the first book and then found this in the library as an eBook,

Murder at The Vicarge
Reviewed elsewhere

The Body in the Library
Miss Marple is more involved in this novel. I had seen a version of this on Masterpiece Mystery on PBS. This has the basic thread with some major differences. It's a quick read and lots of twists. Of course, Miss Marple solves the crime with her amazingly deductive mind and the requisite "trap" at the end to get the killer red handed.

The Moving Finger
Not quite sure how the title figures into the plot and Miss Marple plays a very insignificant role in the book. She barely makes an appearance except to wrap up things at the end. The brother/sister team that do most of the investigating are good characters, though, and everything wraps up nicely at the end with everybody living happily ever after. My only disappointment was not seeing more of Miss Marple.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

After finishing 4 Agatha Christie novels, I have to say I'm not a fan. Her grand reveals are nifty but pretty much all center around a trick that the reader was supposed to fall for. Miss Marple herself is a nonentity for most of these stories, appearing at the end like a fairy godmother and waving her wand to reveal the clues.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed these 3 stories as much as I did when I first read them years ago. Miss Marple, our grey-haired hero! I preferred the 1st and the 3rd to the middle story but would give all a 5*. There's nothing like a safe read full of quirky characters in a who-done-it to curl up with and enjoy during these hard times of 2020 and 2021.

[Bonnie M]

There's no mystery writer like Agatha Christie and no character like Miss Marple. I think all the "cozy" mystery writers in the world are trying to imitate them. I loved this collection.

[Christine Goodnough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Agatha Christie well deserves her reputation as a writer. One thing I enjoy about her books is that she often tells the tale from a narrator's point of view rather than the viewpoint of the sleuth or investigator.

[Jawehar.sliman]

Great novel

[Bookworman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the first two stories - 4 stars. Liked the third - 3 stars.

[Sharyn Simcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is for Murder At The Vicarage ,the first Miss Marple. Couldn't get this title to come up. This may be the best book written by Christie. It's a must read by her fans.

[Dagny · Rating 4 out of 5]

decent collection of Christie novels listed as individual books in 2019 shelf

[Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

3 early Miss Marples

A good place to start if you are dipping your toe in Agatha Christie. Quite satisfying to re-read, even if I already knew who done it.

[Buffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Murder at the Vicarage:
Reading Dates: 01/04/21 to 02/13/21
The 1st in the Miss Marple series and quite a good one to start. Colonel Protheroe is found killed in the Vicars Study! Who could have done it? The suspect list is long, like the whole village of St. Mary Mead long. He was none too liked, and the local police don't know where to start. Leave it to the local sleuth Miss. Marple to solve it when no one else can. While this is the 1st in the Miss Marple series, she plays a rather background role in her saga. I believe this was on purpose to show how being observant and in the right places at the right time can help you piece together the whole picture. The humor that Christie gives is subtle but lands in just the right way. The clues are lined up perfectly and if you are as clever as Miss. Marple, you may figure it out just in time!

The Body in the Library:
Reading Dates: 02/13/21 to 02/24/21
A body is found in the Bantry library and no one knows who she is. Dolly Bantry enlists the help of her old friend Miss Marple to clear her and her husband's name and find the real killer. Many of the rumors around town are that the body was that of Clonal Bantry's secret mistress. Could this be true? Only the quick-witted Miss Marple can figure it out. Miss Marple seems to make more of an appearance in this novel than in her first but still seems to be very much a background character. Yet she can piece together two mysteries and show up to the local police.

The Moving Finger:
Reading Dates: 02/24/21 to 03/12/2021
Jerry and Joanna Burton have moved into a nice little home in Lymstock. The idea is for Jerry to fully recover from injuries sustained from a plane crash. However, quiet village life is not all it is cracked up to be. Especially since many of the residents the Burton's included have been getting nasty gossip letters. Who could be sending them and Why? Leave it to an old friend of the Vicars' wife. Miss Marple to solve it! She is invited to stay with the Vicar and his wife and is asked to look into it. She not only can determine the culprit but is also able to aid in finding out why one of the residents killed themselves.

[Kelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook version. I haven’t read as many Miss Marple as I have Hercule Poirot since I much prefer those. This was an interesting little village murder mystery as told by the vicar with Miss Marple as a smaller part until the end. I found him an interesting and likable character (with a younger wife, which added some humor) and he seemed to do most of the crime solving. (I kept thinking about Father Brown mysteries.). Miss Marple was not very well liked, mostly for being such a nosy busybody, and I didn’t really like her either in this book. She did help solve the crime in the end but other characters were more prominent and interesting. I liked it as an AC mystery, but mostly because of the vicar.

[scarlettttt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Murder at the Vicarage:

Throughout the whole book there was always suspense building up. There was never a boring moment in the book. The way the author wrote it made it seem as if at some point, this person was the murder. But then, a new character was introduced and it seemed as if they had killed the person. The author always had the readers on the edge of their seat. The murder at the end was also very unexpected. It was a character who the author had built a lot of trust in within the book. Therefore the ending was very shocking.

[DaShannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of favorites! These are all favorites of our group. I read
March 2024 #40/#3 Miss Marple 1942 The Body in the Library
September 2022 #13/#1 Miss Jane Marple- 1930 The Murder at the Vicarage
May 2024 #42/#4 Miss Marple 1942 The Moving Finger US also as The Case of the Moving Finger

[Tommie Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually, I only read Murder in the Vicarage by Agatha Christie. There was no listing for just the book. Anyway, a classic mystery by one of the greatest of that genre. It had been a long time since I read it and I had forgotten who done it, so it was a nice surprise.

[Peter Cross · Rating 3 out of 5]

These were the first books by AC that I have read, well to be honest I read the first two and dropped the third as I found the stories not as engaging as I expected.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here is a set of Agatha Christie stories, if you like Agatha Christie you can’t go wrong with these.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review will be added later.

[Anita Chalmers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Agatha Christie is wonderful. Inspired to read her stories again after being reading Lucy Worsley s biography

[vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourites of the Miss Marple, I had not an incling until the very last pages. It was so subtly done. Well done again to Christie

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miss Marple never disappoints!