Review: MURDER AT THE VICARAGE, Agatha Christie

• 
  Originally published 1930
  
• This edition an e-book on Kindle from Amazon
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0FDT36R5M
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ft. Raphael Publishing Company, Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 1, 2026
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8892821865
• Book 1 of 12 ‏ : ‎ Miss Marple Mysteries 

Synopsis (Amazon)

"The Murder at the Vicarage" is Agatha Christie's first novel featuring the mild-mannered but brilliantly incisive Miss Jane Marple, an elderly spinster living a quiet life in the little village of St. Mary Mead who often steps in to assist the local constabulary in solving their most baffling cases.

In this story, narrated by Rev. Leonard Clement - the local vicar - the townspeople are shocked when Colonel Protheroe - a wealthy magistrate who is widely disliked in the village - is found shot to death in the vicarage. Suspects abound as the local inspector proceeds with his investigation and discovers that almost everyone in the village had a motive for ending the Colonel's life. It is only when Miss Marple - local gardener and renowned busybody - takes an interest in the case, that the puzzle pieces begin to fall into place.

One of the most widely admired detective stories of the early 20th century, "The Murder at the Vicarage" launched a number of Miss Marple novels and further established Agatha Christie as the premiere mystery writer of her era.  

My Take

My U3A Agatha Christie Reading Group at U3A this year have read 4 Poirot novels, and have now embarked on the first 4 Marples.

In beginning with a new sleuth, an amateur this time, Christie has continued with having a narrator as she did in the Poirot novels. But this time we are in the small village of St Mary Mead and the sleuth is an elderly spinster, one of a gaggle of "cats" who know everything that goes on in the village. 

 But really none of them knows who shot Colonel Protheroe, church warden, as he sat at the vicar's desk in the study at the vicarage. 

We are introduced to a range of characters, some of whom will also appear in later novels. Importantly, we get quite a comprehensive visual summary of Miss Marple herself, and there are a number of false leads (red herrings), as well as at least two other petty crimes which are eventually solved.    

I'm sure the group will enjoy our discussion and the video of the ITV series that we will watch after our discussion.

My rating: 4.5 

I've reviewed it at

THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE and 4.5, THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE 

Check my reviews of Agatha Christie novels here 

Review: ONE DARK NIGHT, Hannah Richell

• 
  this edition an e-book on Libby supplied by my local library
  
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia (January 1, 2025)
• Length: 432 pages
• ISBN13: 9781761421761 

Synopsis (publisher)

One night in the woods
A party gone wrong
A body discovered at sunrise

He murdered her at the folly on their wedding day, left her body for the crows. They say she haunts the woods now, a girl in a white dress …

Everyone in the small town of Thorncombe knows the tales of the haunted woods where the birds don’t sing and a girl in a white dress roams, luring people to their deaths. But when a girl in white is found dead the morning after Halloween, her body carefully arranged at the bottom of an old stone folly, the community is thrown into turmoil.

With a teenage daughter of his own, police detective Ben Chase knows how high the stakes are. Was the girl the victim of a party prank gone wrong, or does her death represent something more sinister and ritualistic?

As the investigation unfolds and the noose tightens around Chase’s own family, the only thing anyone can be sure of is that no one is safe until this violent killer is caught.

A tense, clever and claustrophobic thriller where no one is who they seem and the danger lies just out of sight. 

My Take

Another really good read. A thriller with a number of mystery strands, and intriguing relationships and credible scenarios. 

Recommended. 

My rating: 4.7

I've also read

5.0, THE SEARCH PARTY

4.5, THE RIVER HOME

4.6, THE PEACOCK SUMMER

Review: THE GOOD DOG, Simon Rowell

• 
   this edition published by Text Publishing Melbourne 2024
  
• ISBN 9781922790699
• 262 pages
• #3 in the Zoe Mayer series 

Synopsis (Amazon)

A thrilling police procedural set in Mount Macedon by one of the rising stars of Australian crime writing

After gunshots echo through the summer night on Mount Macedon, Detective Sergeant Zoe Mayer and her loyal service dog Harry race to the summit at first light. What they find looks like a grisly murder-suicide- an alleged fraudster named Piers Johnson, and his lawyer Antony Peterson, both dead from bullet wounds, a gun lying nearby.

Something about the scene doesn't stack up. There are plenty of suspects, but no one seems to be telling the truth. Zoe's instincts are ignited, as the pressure to find and charge the culprit becomes intense. And that's when Peterson's teenage daughter Sarah is snatched off the street. The Good Dog is Zoe's toughest assignment yet, a murderous conspiracy of greed, deceit and violence. She knows that Harry may be her only chance to crack the case. 

My Take

I enjoyed this so much that I read it in one hit - unusual for me.

Zoe Mayer is breaking in a new partner, always a tough assignment. This story has a good plot and some good by-lines.  

My rating: 4.6  

I've also read

• 4.5, THE LONG GAME -#1
• 4.5, WILD CARD -#2
  

Review: MURDER UNDER THE SUN, Faith Martin

• 
  This edition an e-book read on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0F4KN2ZNR
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Joffe Books Mystery, Crime Thriller, Suspense
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 12, 2025
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 232 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1805731122
• DI Hillary Greene Book 22 

Synopsis (Amazon)

Former Detective Hillary Greene and her cold case team are sweltering in their stuffy basement office on the hottest day of the year when they are handed an impossible case.

Fifteen years ago, Imelda Phelps was battered to death in the hallway of her home. The brutal crime shocked the residents of the pretty market town of Chipping Norton. The killer was never caught.

The motive for the murder remains a mystery. Could the happily married mother-of-two’s stunning good looks have played a part in her death?

Everyone will have to take a hard look in the mirror — and not everyone will like what they see. If Hillary is to crack the case, she must keep an open mind. But one thing is crystal-clear: this crime was personal. It’s up to Hillary and her team to work out which of Imelda’s family and friends is hiding a deadly secret.

A secret lover. A humiliated husband. A vengeful ex-business partner. A resentful daughter. The list of suspects grows . . .

Suddenly an unexpected lead throws the case wide open. And then a second body turns up.

This cold case is now red hot . . .

My Take

I've obviously missed out on reading quite a number in this series but this title has reminded me how much I have enjoyed them in the past.

Hillary Greene is still living in a canal boat but currently in a sweltering heat wave. She has been retired for 2 years but is now working for the Metropolitan police as a consultant on cold cases.  

Recommended. A Cosy. 

My rating: 4.5 

I've also read

Martin, Faith:

Hillary Greene series

• 4.5, MURDER ON THE OXFORD CANAL #1
• 4.5, MURDER OF THE BRIDE #2
• 4.5,  MURDER AT THE UNIVERSITY #3
• 4.5, MURDER IN THE VILLAGE #4
  
• 4.6, MURDER IN THE FAMILY #5
• 4.5, MURDER AT HOME #6

Monica Noble series

• 4.4, THE VICARAGE MURDER - #1

Review: AN ILL WIND, Margaret Hickey

• 
  This edition an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DT4MVND9
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin eBooks, July 1, 2025
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 364 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1761342073  

Synopsis  (Amazon) 

High on a hill above the small Victorian town of Carrabeen, 300 wind turbines constantly spin.

Except one is now deadly still – a body hanging from its huge white blade.

Detective Sergeants Belinda Burney and Will Lovell are shocked to discover the dead man is Geordie Pritchard, a rich local philanthropist and owner of the wind energy farm.

Suicide at first seems the likely explanation, until Geordie’s widow Lucinda insists her husband was murdered – and she has the death threats to prove it.

Certainly the wind farm has ripped the rural town in two. Some welcome the jobs and prosperity it brings, others are enraged by the loss of farming land.

In short, Pritchard was both saint and sinner. But who in the small community hated him enough to want him dead? 

My Take

An unusual and contemporary setting for a murder mystery, with a very topical feel to it. 

As of September 2024, there were 90 operational wind farms in Australia, totalling 11,420 MW in capacity. The largest wind farm is Coopers Gap Wind Farm in Queensland, which began generating to the grid in June 2019, with a capacity of 453 MW. Most of Australia's wind farms are situated in coastal areas. 

There are several mysteries attached to the main story, not the least how Geordie Pritchard managed to hang himself from the blade of a turbine. And then when the corner determines that he was in fact murdered, how did they get the body up onto the blade, and who would have hated Geordie enough to murder him? 

There is a good range of interesting characters but none of them seem to have a motive. This is a small Victorian town with growing unemployment, and farmers struggling to make a living. Geordie Pritchard saw wind farms as an income solution but still the wealth belongs to only a few. The town is also divided: many are opposed to the alienation of farming land in this way.

An excellent and recommended read. 

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

• 4.7, CUTTER'S END - Mark Ariti #1
• 4.6, STONE TOWN - Mark Ariti #2
• 4.5, BROKEN BAY - Mark Ariti #3 
• 4.8, CREEPER 

Review: THE WHITE CROW, Michael Robotham

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DJ9SZ69S
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scribner,July 1, 2025
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1668031049
• Book 2 of 2 ‏ : ‎ Philomena McCarthy 

Synopsis (publisher)

Ambitious young London police officer Philomena McCarthy returns in this propulsive thriller by the author of When You Are Mine.

Philomena McCarthy has defied the odds to become a young officer with the Metropolitan Police despite her father and her uncles being notorious London gangsters.

On patrol one night, Philomena finds a barefoot child, covered in blood, who says she can’t wake her mother. Meanwhile, three miles away, a London jeweler has a bomb strapped to his chest in his ransacked store and millions are missing.

These two events collide and threaten Philomena’s career, her new marriage, and her life. In too deep, and falling further, Phil must decide who she can trust—her family or her colleagues—and on what side of the thin blue line she wants to live.

Told in real time from multiple points of view, The White Crow is filled with almost unbearable suspense—a page-turning tour de force that shows Robotham at the top of his game. 

My Take

For those of you who are already fans of Michael Robotham, another excellent read. For those yet to make a start with this Australian writer, you can read this as a stand-alone, but you will certainly then go looking for WHEN YOU ARE MINE.

I've been reading Robotham now for 21 years. You can check my reviews below (Mysteries in Paradise) . WHITE CROW is another excellent offering. Enjoy! 

My rating: 5.0 

I've also read

BOMBPROOF

SHATTER #3

SHATTER (audio)

BLEED FOR ME #4

5.0, THE WRECKAGE #5

4.8, SAY YOU'RE SORRY #6

5.0, WATCHING YOU #7

4.8, IF I TELL YOU... I'LL HAVE TO KILL YOU (edit)

5.0, LIFE OR DEATH Shortlisted for the 2015 CWA Gold Dagger

4.8, CLOSE YOUR EYES #8

5.0, THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS

5.0, THE SUSPECT #1 (audio)

4.8, LOST #2 (audio)

5.0, THE OTHER WIFE #9

4.8, GOOD GIRL, BAD GIRL -Cyrus Haven #1

4.8, WHEN SHE WAS GOOD -Cyrus Haven #2

5.0, WHEN YOU ARE MINE 

5.0, LYING BESIDE YOU - Cyrus Haven #3

5.0, THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS

5.0, STORM CHILD - Cyrus Haven #4

5.0, THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS

Review: SILENCE, Jan Costin Wagner

• 
  this edition published by Harvill Secker 2010
  
• translated from German by Anthea Bell
• ISBN 9781846551772
• 245 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

A prize-winning psychological crime thriller featuring melancholy Finnish detective Kimmo Joentaa.

A young girl disappears while cycling to volleyball practice. Her bike is found in exactly the same place that another girl was murdered, thirty-three years before. The original perpetrator was never brought to justice -- could they have struck again? The eeriness of the crime unsettles not only the police and public, but also someone who has been carrying a burden of guilt for many years...

Detective Kimmo Joentaa calls upon the help of his older colleague Ketola, who worked on the original murder, in the hope that they can solve both cases. But as their investigation begins, Kimmo discovers that the truth is not always what you expect. 

My Take

This is a very cleverly constructed and "original" plot.

At the beginning of the story Antsi Ketola is retiring from the police force. There is one case that he was involved in when he was a young policeman. Thirty three years ago a young girl disappeared on her way home. She was very close to home. Her bicycle was found not far away but her body was not found until much later. The killer was never found and the case remained unsolved. Ketola remembers that in the basement of the police station there is a "reconstruction" of the crime scene as well as the case files, gathering dust, so he hunts them out and takes them home with him.

Six months after Ketola's retirement, it appears that the same killer has struck again: a girl has disappeared on her way to volleyball practice. Her bicycle is at the crossroads where the original crime took place, but there are no clues about what has happened. Ketola insists on becoming involved in the investigation even though he is no longer a policeman, although during his involvement he behaves as if he still is.

Read this carefully. The final "resolution" will stagger you. But has the original case been solved. We, the readers, know what happened, but has the murderer been apprehended? 

My rating: 4.6 

I've also read

4.6, ICE MOON 

Review: MY DARLING DAUGHTER, J. P. Delaney

• 
  This edition an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09MVVW1HT
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Quercus, September 15, 2022
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 361 pages 

Synopsis (Amazon)

The child you never knew, knows all your secrets . . .

Out of the blue, Susie Jukes is contacted on social media by Anna, the girl she gave up for adoption fifteen years ago.

But when they meet, Anna's home life sounds distinctly strange to Susie and her husband Gabe. And when Anna's adoptive parents seem to overreact to the fact she contacted them at all, Susie becomes convinced that Anna needs her help.

But is Anna's own behaviour simply what you'd expect from someone recovering from a traumatic childhood? Or are there other secrets at play here - secrets Susie has also been hiding for the last fifteen years? 

My Take

My second book by this author and it certainly won't be my last. More a thriller, a mystery, rather than crime fiction.

Susie Jukes has never forgotten Sky, the baby she gave up for adoption. And when Sky/Anna contacts her on social media her heart strings are tugged and she is anxious to help, although such contact is against all the guidelines and recommendations. 

Susie is very inclined to take Sky's part in resolving the problems she is having with her adoptive parents, but then it becomes obvious that some of the problems originate with Sky, and even that she may have  mental health problems. 

It becomes apparent also that Susie and Gabe haven't always been honest with each other. There are patches of their histories they haven't disclosed to each other despite ten years of marriage. 

The author uses several voices to tell this story: principally those of Susie, her husband Gabe, and Anna/Sky.  Just occasionally it is difficult to tell from the context who is actually speaking. 

A very engaging story.  Very credible.

My rating: 4.5

I have also read 5.0, THE GIRL BEFORE 

About the author
JP Delaney is a British writer of psychological suspense. His novel THE GIRL BEFORE was an instant New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller which sold over a million copies in 40 countries. It was adapted by him for a BBC and HBO Max TV series in 2021. His second thriller, BELIEVE ME, was also a Sunday Times bestseller, as were his subsequent books THE PERFECT WIFE, PLAYING NICE and MY DARLING DAUGHTER. His sixth book, THE NEW WIFE, is being published in July 2023. 

JP Delaney has previously written bestselling fiction under other names. The Carnivia Trilogy, a series of three standalone but interlinked thrillers set in present-day Venice and written under the name Jonathan Holt, was published in more than 20 countries. 

For more information, visit www.jpdelaney.co.uk or follow @jpdelaneywriter on Facebook. 

Review: RESTLESS, William Boyd

• 
  This edition provided as an e-book on Libby by my local library
  
• Originally published 2006
• 325 pages
• Winner of the Costa Novel Award 2006.

Synopsis (publisher)

What happens to your life when everything you thought you knew about your mother turns out to be an elaborate lie? Ruth Gilmartin discovers the strange and haunting truth about her mother, Sally, during the long hot summer of 1976.

For Sally Gilmartin is not what she seems at all. Russian by birth, she was recruited into the British Secret Service in Paris in 1939 and spent the war years as a spy. But once a spy, always a spy. Sally Gilmartin has far too many dangerous secrets and she has no one to trust. Before it is too late, she must confront the demons of her past. This time though she can't do it alone, she needs Ruth's help.

Restless is yet another tour de force from William Boyd. Exploring the devastating consequences of duplicity and betrayal it is a thrilling novel that captures the drama of the Second World War and a remarkable portrait of a female spy. Full of suspense, emotion and history, this is storytelling at its very finest.

My Take

One of those novels that I didn't want to put down so I read it in nearly one sitting. 

Set mainly in the period 1939 to 1941, before America is drawn into World War II, and then nearly 30 years later.  Two narrative voices - Sally Gilmartin formerly Eva Delectorskaya has written her story for her daughter Ruth to read, and then we also have Ruth's input as she tries to decide whether what she is reading is true or whether her mother is developing dementia. Sally has been carrying the burden of betrayal for nearly 30 years, and has lived what seems to Ruth to be a fairly normal life during that time in Oxford. Now Sally seems to be developing paranoia, looking over her shoulder, and she tells Ruth the time has come to confront her betrayer.

A fascinating read - did that sort of thing really happen? I'd worked out the final thread well before the end but that didn't matter.  

My rating:4.6

I've also read

4.7, GABRIEL'S MOON 

Review: A REFINER'S FIRE, Donna Leon

• 
  This edition a large print hard back published 2024 by Grove Atlantic
• ISBN-13 978-1-4205-1474-2
  
• 420 pages
• #33 in Brunetti series 

Synopsis (publisher)

In the thirty-third installment of Donna Leon’s magnificent series, Commissario Guido Brunetti confronts a present-day Venetian menace and the ghosts of a heroism that never was
Around one AM on an early spring morning, two teenage gangs are arrested after clashing violently in one of Venice’s squares. Commissario Claudia Griffoni, on duty that night, perhaps ill-advisedly walks the last of the boys home because his father, Dario Monforte, failed to pick him up at the Questura. Coincidentally, Guido Brunetti is asked by a wealthy friend of Vice-Questore Patta to vet Monforte for a job, triggering Brunetti’s memory that twenty years earlier Monforte had been publicly celebrated as the hero of a devastating bombing of the Italian military compound in Iraq. Yet Monforte had never been awarded a medal either by the Carabinieri, his service branch, or by the Italian government.

That seeming contradiction, and the brutal attack on one of Brunetti’s colleagues, Enzo Bocchese, by a possible gang member, concentrate Brunetti’s attentions. Surprisingly empowered by Patta, supported by Signorina Elettra’s extraordinary research abilities and by his wife, Paola’s, empathy, Brunetti, with Griffoni, gradually discovers the sordid hypocrisy surrounding Monforte’s past, culminating in a fiery meeting of two gangs and a final opportunity for redemption. 

My Take

A very complex novel with the author using as background Italy's involvement as peace keepers in Iraq and the appearance of "baby gangs" in Venice. (see below)

It is also about how reputations are created, how the truth is not always seen, how the truth is whitewashed by journalists and authorities.   

I also enjoyed a number of elements of humour generated by the relationship between Brunetti, his boss Vice Questore Patta, and Signorina Elettra.  I do think those who haven't read many in the series might find it difficult to enjoy this book as much as I have.

Groups of minors are meeting in the late afternoon on via Poerio and venting their anger in Chinese shops. In the evening they gather there to buy and use drugs.

December 8, 2023

Groups of youth who provoke people on the street or go into shops to cause confusion and knock over the merchandise on display for fun are back. Especially in businesses run by Chinese citizens. Every time it happens, a fight ensues which ends with the Chinese man pushing the kids out and calling the police. see more. 

I was particularly interested in the meaning of the title. (Clue: Monforte's last words to Brunetti: "He thinks I'm a hero". and finally he is, and that is how he will be remembered.)

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

• ABOUT FACE
• THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS
• THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
• 4.4, A QUESTION OF BELIEF
• 4.5, BEASTLY THINGS
• 4.4, QUIETLY IN THEIR SLEEP
• 3.9, THE JEWELS OF PARADISE
• 4.8, DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
• 4.5, DRAWING CONCLUSIONS, Donna Leon - abridged audio version
• 4.6, DEATH IN A STRANGE COUNTRY
• 4.7, BY ITS COVER
• 4.5, THE GOLDEN GOOSE
• 4.8, THE WATERS OF ETERNAL YOUTH
• 4.5, FALLING IN LOVE
• 4.8, EARTHLY REMAINS
• 4.6, TRANSIENT DESIRES - #30
• 4.7, SO SHALL YOU REAP - #32 
• 4.6, GIVE UNTO OTHERS - #31