Reviews

Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

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read247_instyle_inca's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

zoefruitcake's review against another edition

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4.0

I read this as part of the 2018 Read Harder challenge (a classic of genre fiction and a book with a female protagonist over the ago of 60).
Although I had read Agatha Christie before I had never read a Miss Marple. I have seen television adaptations so I had a ready-made picture of her in my mind. It seemed very dated, more so than my beloved Sherlock Holmes of over 40 years earlier, but still enjoyable. Not sure why a female author would repeatedly put down women (by both male and female characters) quite so many times while also trying to show the deductive prowess of her heroine, but it was 1930

ameliameabh's review

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funny mysterious relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

benjaminj1996's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

The thing this book has going for it is the invention of Miss Marple - here brilliantly realised as an old lady on the fringes of events but never missing a trick. Unfortunately though I found the central mystery to be a bit uninspired, and the central part of the book to mostly consist of gossip and too many characters. There were parts that I enjoyed and a few nice distractions and subplots that were nicely tied up at the end, but it just wasn’t worth it for the reveal of the murderer. I sort of thought “oh, this type of thing again… hmm”

So, Miss Marple was great, and a great fit for this story - but it wasn’t my fave.