Book Description
Miss Jane Marple's passion for gossip leads to the investigation of a local man's murder. The victim was not liked in the least, and his death isn't raising eyebrows. But his recently revealed secrets are.
Customer Reviews:
Similar to Mysterious Affair at Styles.......2007-01-10
I've just finished reading this book. At first, the plot of the book seemed really interesting, but towards the end, it seemed to drag on. How can one stretch a plot for so long? And then in the end, it turned out that the actual killers were the ones to confess in the first place, very similar to her novel, "Mysterious Affair at Styles." Considering that she used this similar device to end this novel, I thought that she employed this method more successfully in "Mysterious Affair at Styles."
I was a little bit disappointed with the ending, but the overall read was satisfactory. (I liked the story and the pacing from beginning to middle, but not the way it ended.) If you would like to read any of her other books, I would definitely recommend, "Hickory, Dickory, Dock," I've found its ending to be completely creepy! Other usual recommendations: "Ten Little Indians (And Then There Were None)", "The A.B.C. Murders," "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd", and "After the Funeral."
"Nemesis" is also another Marple mystery that I'm least fond of. If I were to recommend a Jane Marple Mystery, I think I'd prefer recommending "The Mirror Crack'd."
Very Enjoyable.......2006-09-16
I originally bought this book because I read other Agatha Cristie books (Hercule Poirot) and thought I might as well try a Miss Marple book, even though the character did not seem to appeal to me. I came away with a very enjoyable reading experience, and I will probably read other Miss Marple books in the future.
This book is an easy pleasure read. The story is easy enough to follow, and it isn't too long winded. I actually read the whole book in one sitting (although "locked up" in an air plane).
As far as classic mystery characters go, I still like Holmes and Poirot better, but I ended up pleasantly surprised.
The Cloth Doth Speak. Bone China Cracks. Was it Blue Willow?.......2005-10-06
In this novel published in 1930, readers were introduced to Miss Marple, an enduring, endearing fictional character who, according to the official Agatha Christie web site, was not planned by that British Dame to be an ongoing sleuth like Poirot.
As creative spirits learn from writing fiction (especially a lengthy novel or a series of them), some characters aren't molded from the writer's flesh, blood, & brain waves. They forcefully, almost immediately, steal away from the author's plan and initiate a separate life. The author has a choice to either work from that character's direction, or lose the living, energetic force of one of those precious gems which sometimes slip into our gravity-lush worlds from surrounding ethers.
Yeah, I'm one of "those," an author/parapsychologist. But that's beside the point. Getting to it ...
At first I assumed the "I" in the narrative was Miss Marple speaking to the reader. On the opening page of this pilot for what became this spinster's series:
"I had just finished carving some boiled beef (remarkably tough by the way), and on resuming my seat I remarked, in a spirit most unbecoming to my cloth, that anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe would be doing the world at large a service."
My literary lunges began wavering as the word, "cloth," registered.
Say what? Is Marple a NUN? Maybe with Vicarage in the title ...
My brows nearly ran onto each other and sneezed from their vice-like scrunch. Old assumptions don't die, they just go into hiding in the unconscious mind. Have you ever wondered what the purpose is for that huge, supposedly unused, 95% of the brain? It's very possible it was allocated ages ago for storage of useless jumps-to-conclusions which never stop jumping (picture them as pink w/huge, flopping feet).
I did get enough of a clue to begin looking for a "he" or "she" gender in reference to the First Person in the Narrative.
"My wife ..."
Oh.
Read on... Okay. So this "I" is the vicar. Interesting. Very. So, when is Miss Marple going to do her scene entry?
In a somewhat awakened state due to the discomfort of my tense brow line, my reading approach became highly investigative of this vicar being the "I."
Why. Why tell the story from his perspective instead of Miss Marple's.
I began seeing the genius of this use of narrative and character, as I observed how Christie subtly began introducing brain-twisting ironies in ethical issues, and exposing philosophical nuances in the vicar's character by choosing him be the eye through which the story was told.
And, of course, throughout the book I wondered (eyebrows joined) what slight shifts in plot might have occurred as a result of Miss Marple's character-take-over machinations within Agatha's rich & complex unconscious mind. As I read, I was fascinated-ly fixed on the fact that this book hadn't yet been consciously slotted for it's grand expansion into at least a 12 novel series, paralleling Poirot.
In order to establish a few basics for literary-clue-contemplation, maybe I should expound a bit:
The classic Narrative Voice for detective fiction has long been established as First Person, so, of course I wasn't surprised that this pilot used that potentially fascinating, mood-rich, diary-like, narrative style. Most often the blues/jazz feel of this story telling perspective...
"I walked (slip-slid-ed? strutted? sauntered? swaggered? slithered?) along the wet, slimy streets under cover of The Long Lonely Night..."
Most often this type of hauntingly heady voice is used by the featured P.I., Scotland Yard Inspector, or amateur sleuth who carries the mystery series through his moaning, echoing soliloquies. Due to this custom of the "I did this, by myself, alone & lonely" narrative style being almost always and absolutely executed by the main male detective (I had temporarily forgotten that female sleuths were not quite yet crawling out of the ethereal woodwork in happy hordes, not by a long shot, in 1930), I was indeed shocked and intrigued as I continued reading this novel's First Person Narrative perspective and realized it was voicing from the throat of a Vicar, rather than from Miss Marple's lack of Adam's Apple (as you would now realize I had anticipated from my 2005 perspective of what's commonly done in the detective genre).
Due to the above mentioned intrigue and more, I believe this pilot may be one of the most enlightening mysteries to study, in Christie's repertoire of rare gems. This First Person Narrative dance may be even richer than the Roger Ackroyd sawdust-slipping waltz with Matilda.
The above sketched situation alone exposes the cunning complexity of Christie's mind. Reading this novel with these questions in mind could provide the height of cerebral & cultural entertainment:
- Why use a vicar (instead of Miss Marple) as the First Person Narrator, and expose his vulnerabilities and foibles, his more human and less godly personal thoughts?
(As I've hinted rather extensively, for me the answer to why use 1st Person Narrative at all in a mystery is found in its prevalence and preference by so many writers of detective novels who seek to slip into the melancholy mystique expressed so exquisitely by Mickey Spillane's moody/broody Good Man, Mike Hammer, as he purrs out his stories in perfect "panhandler" pitch... and heard so eloquently in the voice of (Robert Urich) in the TV series of Robert B. Parker's Spencer For Hire.)
- Why keep Miss Marple so much in the background and introduce her so slowly.
- Why use a cunningly contrasting collection of elderly ladies (and a sprinkling of young ones) to expose & expand details & clues.
- Why begin the plot of this pilot with conversations and cultural exchanges at a luncheon table (before culinary cozies had been coined or had tastefully captured the mystery market)?
- What is accomplished by the Great Gatsby feel in this novel's introduction, effected by using a "proper" personality for a 1st person narrator, a low key character who naturally makes crisply simple-and-direct observations of psychology and philosophy, a genuinely gentlemanly neighbor of the main character (or main sleuth)?
Yeah, in some ways these are dumb questions which could be answered easily by a surface read the novel.
Yet, focusing on them through a leisurely read of this convoluted tale, and relishing the discoveries made by that viewpoint adjustment might enrich an awareness of how Christie so (seemingly) easily executes mysteries echoing mysteries, mirrors reflecting mirrors, and might begin to expose why she frequently focused mirrors in titles and plots.
Loved the sensory-lush descriptions in the opening scene at a luncheon table at the vicarage, especially this:
"Mary (serving the meal)...merely said, in a loud businesslike voice, `Greens,' and thrust a cracked dish at him in a truculent manner....setting the greens on the table with a bang, proceeded to thrust a dish of singularly moist and unpleasant dumplings under my nose...and she deposited the dish with a clatter on the table and left the room."
The verbiage within and around the dotted exclusions of the above quote from the opening page are as primely plush as the syntax which was included. Please do pick up the novel and be rewarded by reading the whole of page one to observe how precisely and primly Christie develops characters with a mere word or three.
As you read on in the plot, note how often a word or its synonym (like "sympathetic") is used perfectly to reinforce an evolving image. Note how colloquialisms are used lushly, like the simple, very British, "Oh!" which embellishes many a dialogue entry.
In this novel Christie exposes her moral attitude, which may be one of the major facets of her tangy talent which has endeared her into the minds and spirits of readers:
Agatha is a rebel (likely forming her values well prior to the 1920's) against strict, ignorant, and overwhelmingly controlling, cultural mores.
What's uncanny is how easy it is in 2005 to understand the issues underlying Christie's views, formed at the outset of the previous century, on the mysteries of death, immortality, immorality, and murder. Like Miss Marple, Agatha was an eternal student of human nature, and that study clearly evolved to a professorial level; the proof is in the pudding of the series.
In this series I lip smacked another pudding proof, proof that the attention span and cerebral stretch capacity of the current reader market can easily hold a thought and plot beyond a Quantum-Split-Millisecond. This pudding can be taste-tested by observing the pages and pages of naturally-flowing dialogue in this novel. Today's publishing industry pundits seem terrified of too much dialogue, terming novels with more than a few lines of conversational quips between a hundred pages of ACTion, "talking heads" books; they steer authors away from that style as if it were synonymous with Zero Sales or bankruptcy. You tell me. Is it?
Honestly, it's a relief to read a novel written in a less chaotic age and culture than we're steeped in at the moment, to read a complexly constructed novel conceived in an age past, with long, sensual, contemplative pauses allowed for the reader, actually encouraged between short rushes of life, in contrast to the contemporary style of heart-attack-action shoved through a plot so fast-paced the ending butts out the beginning. (Einstein, did you hear that, from wherever the back of your head is?)
Whatever happened to the pause button in life, and in fiction? Who initiated the idea that the only antidote to boredom is shock & speed, running non-stop as if the planet's revolution would halt if we didn't manically continue pushing the ground with feet hanging over the edge of the red wagon's spinning wheels?
Whew. Let me out of that cart.
Don't get me wrong. I can do fast paced novels; I can run with an abundance of action now and then (in a book). It's just that I haven't lost the need to savor time, to burn that contemplative candle at one, quiet end, with a good mystery in hand.
Mystery is in the mind; not in the foot.
It's obvious I'm not Confucius; but my reverence for leisurely does seem more Oriental (or British) than Western. Sunrise. Sunset. Both are good in their own times. As the world turns, it's a wonder we don't all fall off.
See my Listmania on the Miss Marple series, and my review of At Bertram's Hotel.
Pausing with hat held in hand, in honor of happy hesitance & a harridan author born yesterday, still living today through her talking heads,
Linda G. Shelnutt
In Which an Entire Town is Suspect.......2005-06-22
As told in the point of view of the vicar himself, The Murder at the Vicarage is an interesting whodunnit whereupon the reader is kept in the dark and enlightened only to be misled again.
Unlike Christie's And Then There Were None, the clues aren't dealt out, so it would be nearly impossible for the reader to figure out what is going on. I myself suspected someone from nearly the very beginning, only to find that, had I been a police inspector, I would have quickly lost my job for nearly imprisoning an innocent character.
But then, this is true for nearly the entire police force here (and in other Marple books), for it always comes down to Jane Marple's discourse on her facts and her timeline that sets everyone down the correct path. And while in The Body in the Library (third in the series) Miss Marple waits for proof before opening her mouth, here she must speak up in order to... well, you will just have to see.
The book is fun, and the vicar's opinionated personality makes for a very intriguing read (what do these religious personalites really think about everyone?). What immediately stood out was how Christie is able to make nearly everyone (this is a dozen characters!) quite possibly the murderer! The finale is, of course, the best part, and I would think to myself, "Ah that explains it, but then what about..." to which I would find the answer. This occurs four or five times, and even then the reader will have two pages to go to wrap up little details that he or she may have quite forgotten about!
The book drags in some areas probably due to our modern requisite for instant gratification. And it was a joy to compare the book cover's painting to the goings-on in the text. I read the 1979 Dell edition.
My dictionary dash consisted of only badinage (131) and vituperation (180).
Aside: I found a receipt tucked halfway through the book; the price being $1.95, tax 13¢ and dated 18Oct75. The book, however, was published in 1979. Odd.
Classic Mystery as You'd Expect.......2005-05-13
It's no secret that no one in St. Mary Mead likes Colonel Protheroe. He is strict, somber, and by the numbers. But when the vicar returns home late for a meeting, he's surprised to find Colonel Protheroe shot through the head. The local police are called in and two people confess. Yet something doesn't seem quite right. Fortunately, Miss Marple lives next door. With her sharp mind talent for learning gossip, she just might make sense of everything that's happening.
Ok, I confess. I love a good cozy mystery but have yet to read much Christie. I can tell I need to change that. This book had me confused from the get go. There were so many red herrings it was hard to tell what was really happening. Yet it all came together at the end in a logical conclusion.
I checked this audio version out of the local library for a trip and only after listening to it discovered that it was abridged. While disappointed, I never would have noticed. It was expertly cut, and everything was there I need to enjoy the story. Ian Masters did a great job of bring the characters and story to life.
Agatha Christie is a class mystery writer for a reason. Anyone who loves a good puzzle with a surprising conclusion will love this book.
Book Description
"A murder so baffling it might even have stumped Agatha Christie's Miss Marple...A lively, entertaining mystery."
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
A killing blow on the head took the life of Graham Estow, but the vicar and his wife were hardly grieved. He was the son-in-law who had severely beaten their daughter Joanna a few months ago. Unfortunately, it appears that someone very close to the household is the murderer, though no one is about to confess to it.
Leave it to that canny police duo of Inspector Lloyd and Detective Sergeant Judy Hill to wander through a maze of self-confessed killers, myraid motives, and their own frustrating partnerships, to find a murderer with a message....
Customer Reviews:
A 'Vicar'ious reading experience!.......2006-12-19
I've dabbled in the more recent 'Lloyd and Hill' (or 'Hill and Lloyd') novels before, but it wasn't til I went back and read this earlier entry that I began to really appreciate the two lead characters. The frustration at this stage of their relationship reminded me of Cynthia Harrod-Eagles' 'Bill Slider and Joanna'.
The story itself was worthwhile, even if the 'Christie' references were just passing comments in the book, which were emphasized in the reviews at the front.
McGown gave both the romantic subplot and the main murder story enough time and space to breathe. For whatever reason, this is more of a problem later in the series, when the supporting characters crowd out the regulars.
The 'guest' characters here all seemed believable, though none of them were too sympathetic or likable.
The downside was that the revelation of the murderer seemed a bit forced and 'tacked on' but it still had an emotional impact.
For those unfamiliar with the series, this would be a good starting point if you can find the earlier books.
Fascinating mystery.......2006-02-23
While this is not an exceptionally long book, there's a world of intriguing plotting going on. Inspector Lloyd and Detective Sgt. Hill have to do some clever interrogating and careful thinking to discover the one who took the life of wife-beater Graham Elstow.
Nicely written little police procedural with twists..........2003-03-03
I'm struggling with this review of what was a really fun book that had loads of my favorite police procedural elements and serves as the introduction to a writer I hadn't previously read, but have seen very well reviewed. So why am I struggling? Because it was a fun book and I enjoyed it, but it is not particularly dynamic. It is actually more like the "Cornwall" books by Janie Bolitho. But I don't want to damn it with faint praise because it was a wonderful character study and frankly, I couldn't read a "Minette Walters-style" book every time - too exhausting. So let me just say that this is a nice, quick fun read and I see nothing here that doesn't make me want to read more McGown books. Ouch! That sounds like faint praise. Let me try again: as much as this is a murder mystery (the murdered is completely unsympathetic so no pathos there), this is a fine character study of the true motivations and desires of people we assume have their lives all figured out and a small meditation on how time and place can drive decisions that should not be so easily influenced. There...that's better.
Snowstorm murder.......2003-02-24
I really enjoyed this British "cozy". Tight and plausible plotting, likable characters--I'm planning to read more of McGown's mysteries. Something not mentioned in the other reviews is that this story takes place during the Christmas season, during a snowstorm; there's a real wintry atmosphere. It would make a good Christmas gift for a mystery fan.
Pretty Good British Procedural.......2002-06-07
I read this book because it was an Amazon recommendation. I was pleasantly surprised. It's a pretty good little mystery. The plot keeps you guessing right through. It's also a twist when you have too many self-confessed killers in the classic "closed door" mystery story. Lloyd and Judy are an interesting detective pair. It's intersting to see their personal story unfold along with the plot. I think I may try to read more in this series to see if Ms. McGown continues to create classic little puzzles like this one.
Customer Reviews:
A sampler of a wonderful banquet........1998-06-12
If you are a Christie fan or someone looking to try Aggie, this compliation of 5 novels is the way to go. The hardest part is puting the book down after you read one story! Start this on a weekend when you don't have anything planned for the day. No wonder she is the Queen of Mysteries!
Christie is the unchallenged master........1998-04-10
Although I am not fond of Jane Marple, she makes a good showing in the Christie classic MURDER AT THE VICARIGE. And that unsurpassed, portly little man with the egg-shaped head cannot be beat. The intrigue of N OR M? held me breathless, and the classic novels TOWARDS ZERO and DEAD MAN"S FOLLY are definately keepers. Everyone loves the Queen of mystery; check out this book today!!
Familiarity breeds love.......1998-04-09
Watch out when Miss Marple, part way through an Agatha Christie novel, muses over her breakfast newspaper and notes, randomly, three headlines. One of those headlines will become a clue. Bless Dame Agatha's heart! We can depend on her.
"The Murder at the Vicarage" lacks this trademark, for Jane Marple was making her first appearance and she, like Dame Agatha, had not yet got the hang of it. She makes her entry spouting gossip; later she knew better and kept such things to herself, only pursing her lips when all others, including the police, were exclaiming over a red herring.
Dame Agatha writes to a pattern. (Let's not say "formula" which lacks charm, a quality she oozes, even if somewhat mustily .
In the canon of mystery writers she takes a place well below Ruth Rendell, whose every book is different. But do we tire of "Cinderella?" of "Romeo and Juliet"? Should we chastise our little children when they insist at bedtime on every syllable in the story?
Once a man listed the books he would select for a shipwreck on a desert island. One was "Anything by Agatha Christie" because as soon as he finished the last page he would forget "whodunit" and be able to start all over. A form of immortality.
Book Description
Murder at the Vicarage marks the debut of Agatha Christie’s unflappable and much beloved female detective, Miss Jane Marple. With her gift for sniffing out the malevolent side of human nature, Miss Marple is led on her first case to a crime scene at the local vicarage. Colonel Protheroe, the magistrate whom everyone in town hates, has been shot through the head. No one heard the shot. There are no leads. Yet, everyone surrounding the vicarage seems to have a reason to want the Colonel dead. It is a race against the clock as Miss Marple sets out on the twisted trail of the mysterious killer without so much as a bit of help from the local police.
Customer Reviews:
Agatha Christie is the Best.......2007-07-20
A.C. is my favorite author. I don't usually get excited about books but I've never read a bad one by her. Fantastic writer. Great Book. She wrote a ton of great books so check it out.
Average customer rating:
- MMMM Santa goodness
- Beautiful!
- multicultural Santa rocks
- sienkwiecz is the best artist of our time
- A New Family Tradition
|
Santa My Life & Times: An Illustrated Autobiography
Martin I. Green
Manufacturer: Avon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Fiction | Christmas | Holidays & Festivals | People & Places | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | African American | Asian American | Classics | Collections & Readers | Drama | General | Hispanic | History & Criticism | Humor | Jewish American | Letters & Correspondence | Native American | Poetry | Short Stories | Women Writers
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0380975599 |
Book Description
The man, the myth, the legend: Santa Claus. The story behind Santa Claus has always obscured the truth about the real man who lies behind the beard. This is his revealing story, presented for the first time: from his early teenage years when he walked into a forest and was discovered by elves, to his first moments with the future Mrs. Claus, to today--when Santa brings his message of hope, joy and lvoe to the lives of people around the world. The spectacular full-color artwork is by award-winning artist Bill Sienkiewicz, a favorite among fans of graphic art.
Customer Reviews:
MMMM Santa goodness.......2002-01-04
Oh man, My daddy got me this book two years ago and for the longest time I was like "Yeah, right Santa Claus, pffft . . ." and I threw the book in my closet. Then this christmas I was sick with the flu and I found it again. Having nothing else to do I began to read it and was sucked into the vast imagery and delicate artwork found within it's pages. It's many fanciful scenes involving the growth of Santa and his escapades in the mushroom forest and various other psychotropic locales dovetailed nicely with the effects of my cold medecine. An awesome tale of the jolly fat man if there ever was one . . . .
Beautiful!.......2001-12-02
The author made it sound so real.It made me beleive again.Its a great book for the whole family(especially those that are young and young at heart!)
multicultural Santa rocks.......1999-12-06
I am adult who still longs to believe in the myth of Santa Claus: that a jolly old man is still roaming the earth in his airborne carriage delivering happiness to all of the good Christian boys and girls out there. But as a buddhist, I have always stood outside this tradition and wondered if his life was relevant to my own Chinese background. But with this book the universality of santa's benevolence is brought home to all. May all the faiths buy this book for the Holiday season and the Chinese New Year!
sienkwiecz is the best artist of our time.......1999-09-15
I have been following the stunning art of Sienkwiecz since I was a 13 year old, when he was illustrating for Marvel Comics. Imagine my surprise when I saw this, with such detailed artwork. I have a feeling that years for now, this will be considered one of his major pieces of art. Not to mention that it has the origin of Santa Claus as well!
A New Family Tradition.......1999-01-16
I read "Santa, My Life and Times" with my two boys, ages 4 and 6, over the week prior to Christmas. We took advantage of its longer format to spread it out over several nights, one or two chapters at a time. While I was at first worried that the youngsters' short attention spans would wane, the story, writing and illustrations are so rich that their interest only grew with each night's installment, dovetailing perfectly with their mounting anticipation of the holiday. I wish there were more longer-form children's books out there that offered such depth of experience for my whole family. We'll be reading it again next year, for sure!
Books:
- Murder in Mesopotamia: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot Mysteries)
- Murder on the Links
- New York 1900
- Officer Down
- Once Lost (Alias)
- Out of the Deep I Cry (A Rev. Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery)
- Pale Gray for Guilt (Travis McGee Mysteries)
- Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Crime: A Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery with Recipes (PennDutch Inn Mystery)
- Potshot (Spenser)
- Reckless Abandon
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Middlemarch: Part 1
- Duty, Honor, Country: A History of West Point
- Your Face Tomorrow: Fever And Spear
- Advances in Chemical Physics, Geometric Structures of Phase Space in Multi-Dimensional Chaos : Appli
- Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Pro 5
- Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering
- Contract Warriors
- History: Fiction or Science
- America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
- Ace! a Marine Night-Fighter Pilot in World War II
The Body in the Library: A Miss Marple Mystery
A Murder is Announced (Miss Marple Mysteries)
The Moving Finger: A Miss Marple Mystery (Miss Marple Mysteries)
4:50 From Paddington: A Miss Marple Mystery (Miss Marple Mysteries)
A Pocket Full of Rye (Miss Marple Mysteries)
