I’m in the process of reading all the Hercule Poirot mysteries, but the waitlist for the ebooks at my library is ridiculously long. When I saw that the first Miss Marple mystery was available as an audiobook, I thought it might be a good choice while I wait. The Murder at the Vicarage audiobook is read almost like a play, with a different person voicing each character, and I thought that might be fun as well.
The title pretty much sums up the plot: Colonel Protheroe is indeed found murdered at the vicarage, and as he was generally disliked by the entire village (including his wife) they’re all suspects. The vicar teams up with Miss Marple (in her first appearance), and attempts to solve the mystery. Miss Marple, of course, being who she is, is ultimately successful in finding out not only who the murderer is, but exactly why the murder took place.
Miss Marple is a charming character, and I found this mystery to be a bit harder to solve than most of Poirot’s, so I enjoyed this book. On the other hand, while I like Miss Marple she’s just not as special as Poirot (at least not yet, but as I mentioned this was only her first appearance). While the audiobook was well-done and enjoyable to listen to, I found it hard to figure out which voice belonged to which character, as they were all a bunch of pleasant-sounding British folk. I’ll read more Miss Marple mysteries, but I may not choose any more of the audiobooks.