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The Murder at the Vicarage

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The Murder at the Vicarage

By: Agatha Christie
Narrated by: Richard E. Grant
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About this listen

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.

©1930 Agatha Christie (P)2013 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Classics Crime Thrillers Detective Family Life Genre Fiction Mystery Thriller & Suspense Traditional Detectives Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Fiction Village Crime Murder

Continue the series
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A Murder Is Announced By: Agatha Christie

Critic reviews

‘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
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A very enjoyable story and a solid introduction to the wonderful Miss Marple and St. Mary Mead village. Narration is good and a convincing range of voices. A great way to while away a cold and foggy day.

Miss Marple's first appearance in a novel length story

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Didn't care for Richard Grant's performance - too melodramatic! He is is excellent in film but not for audio - sorry. Good story that has been televised a few times with various interpretations.

Delightfully old-fashioned! Always enjoyed Agatha Christie.

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This is the first Agatha Christie book I have listened to or read. I have seen various TV depictions and know the story well but there are still some surprises. The book is told from the perspective of the vicar and this worked well. There are a lot of characters, and I felt that they were all quite easily recognised with good individualisation. The clues and red herrings were fun to identify.
The narration was not top notch but was still quite good- there are definitely one or two very dodgy accents but I though he managed the distinct voices quite well including the women who were quite numerous. I will say that occasionally he slipped from reading to acting but I didn't really mind that.
It is my plan to read or listen to more Agatha Christie and it will be interesting to see how other narrators do or what voices my head conjures up when reading the print versions.

Such a well-known story...

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Ask poeple in the street to name an Agastha Christie mystery and it is likely that Murder at the Vicarage will come out towards the top of any list. And rightfully so as this is an all time classic. It has everything you would exepct incluiding a vicar (obviously), a retired Colonel, a housemaid, some scandal and a dastedly closed room murder. Richard E Grant (Withnail and I) has the perfect voice for telling the story and he sounds like he is really enjoying it as the plot, whcih surprisingly is told from the perspective of the vicar, unfolds. Miss Marple has only a small part to play in much of the story and is seen as a harmless old lady who goes about her business inocuously until right at the end when, as we all know and expect, she solves the mystery by means of her clever observations. This is the first Miss Marple mystery and the one that set the ball rolling for Agasta Christie to define this type of murder-as-a-parlour-game genre that we all now know and love.

Christie classic narrated by Richard E Grant

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This was a brilliant story, which kept me guessing until the end and the narration was also fantastic. There was a lot of humour too. I thoroughly recommend this as a fun, well-written, well-narrated listen.

Excellent!

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