The Murder at the Vicarage

The first novel in which Miss Marple appears. The lifeless body of retired Colonel Lucius Protheroe is found in the study of the vicar of St. Mary Mead, a small, quiet village in the English countryside. Lucius's wife and her young lover confess to the murder. However, their neighbor, Miss Marple, an elderly woman with a deep understanding of human nature and a very keen intuition, immediately dismisses their guilt. The colonel's teenage daughter, the neurotic vicar's assistant, the village doctor, a former convict imprisoned by the colonel, and the enigmatic widow of an explorer form the long list of suspects whom Miss Marple will investigate to find the culprit.