Rating: 
Summary: A bit of a disapointment
Review: This is the first Agatha Christe novel I have read and also the first mystery I have read since reading the Nancy Drew books as a little girl. Frankly, I was disappointed.Miss Marple is not the protagonist of this novel--although she is the one who solves the murder. The story is told in first person by the Vicar.The feminine comes through only partially. There are a lot of stupid generalizations about women made by charecters in the book. "women cause a lot of trouble" "i thought it one of those silly remarks women will make" "she is a woman and women will act in that silly way" etc. Mostly these are made by charecters that are obvious dolts, but sometimes comments are made by women about other women and the protaganist, who is meant to be likable says of a women "she is such a prize idiot".I had hoped that Christie's work would be more sympathetic to women.
Rating: 
Summary: Introducing Miss. Marple
Review: This is the first book which we read about Agatha Christie's Miss. Marple. Jane Marple has an abiding interest in human nature and an eye for detail that makes her an excellent detective. In this book Col. Protheroe is found shot to death in Reverand Clements Study (sound like the game clue,). There are several possible suspects, the police grow frustrated while our Miss. marple watches and waits. There are enough twist and turns in the clues to makes us find the wrong killer.....But we see the truth as it is explained. A delightful murder mystery.
Rating:
Summary: Introducing Miss. Marple
Review: This is the first book which we read about Agatha Christie's Miss. Marple. Jane Marple has an abiding interest in human nature and an eye for detail that makes her an excellent detective. In this book Col. Protheroe is found shot to death in Reverand Clements Study (sound like the game clue,). There are several possible suspects, the police grow frustrated while our Miss. marple watches and waits. There are enough twist and turns in the clues to makes us find the wrong killer.....But we see the truth as it is explained. A delightful murder mystery.
Rating: 
Summary: Meet Miss Marple
Review: This is the first Miss Marple stories and set the stage for the rest of the series. Miss Jane Marple is an elderly spinster of modest means,a life-long resident of the tiny village of St. Mary Mead, an advid gardener and bird watcher and a most astute observer of human nature. Many of the residents and visitors of St. Mary Mead that will return in later works are introduced here, the gentle vicar and his lively younger wife, Raymond West, Jane's novelist nephew and others. The story is told by the vicar and gives us many insights into his homelife. Col. Protheroe is found murdered in the vicarage, much to the delight of his wife and daughter and embarrassment of the vicar. As the local police try to solve the crime it become apparent that Col. Protheroe was not going to be missed and that nobody really had an alibi. As the investigation progresses it seems that more questions are raised than answered. Ultimately it is Miss Marple who resolves the issues of love affairs, mysterious strangers, and assorted lies to uncover the true culprit. This is a perfect gem, Christie at her best. The characters are well written and the descriptions of the lack of privacy in a small are incredibly accurate and a recurring theme of Christie's. In typical Christie style of the rules of detection are flirted with but the clues are fairly laid out for the reader to follow, if they can be separated from the red herrings.
Rating:
Summary: incredible!!!!!!!!!!
Review: this novel was very good. agatha did a good job of intertwining all the details. good job. agatha. i love you????
Rating:
Summary: MISS MARPLE AND HER STUDIES ON "HUMAN NATURE"
Review: Well Ms. Christie fooled me again but, then again she always does. That is why she was and still remains the best of the genre. This is our intro to Miss Marple and her amatuer sluething. The best thing you can say about any mystery writer is her/his solutions are well hidden yet, totally believable when they are revealed. That fits this story to a tee. The story is narrated by the vicar who is not only unlucky enough to have a murder commited in his home but, is also one of the main suspects. Tough day for anyone unless your next door neighbor is MISS MARPLE. Buy this and I guarantee you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Misleading right to the end ...
Review: While this book is definitely an original Christie's, it is hardly a vintage. Writing from the perspective of the vicar of St Mary Mead village where Ms Jane Marple lived, the writer unfolded a scene of a little village's usual "transquility" being disturbed by an outsider in the form of Mr Lawrence Redding, an artist who drew various local ladies. One of the ladies was Griselda, wife of the vicar, and another was Anne, second wife to a not generally loved Colonel Protheroe, the latter being a murder victim found in the study of the vicar. Rounding up the usual suspects, there was the victim's daughter, Lettice, nearly as old as her stepmother and hated the latter utterly, a ne'er-do-well local by the name of Archer who was jailed by the late Colonel who happened to be on the bench, plus a mysterious Mrs Lestrange, a recent reticent arrival to the village. Instead of treating the readers to a conventional detective story, the writer described everything from the eyes of the vicar, a possible suspect himself if not for a cast-iron alibi, he had been calling on one of his flocks. The narrator attempted to clear the mystery himself, unsatisfied with the effectiveness of the investigating police officer, a certain Inspector Slack. Together with the local doctor Haydock, they spoke to almost everyone imaginable in the village, trying to reconstructing the truth from various perspective. As a detective novel, it did not help that the star sleuth Ms Marple was herself a witness, her residence being right next to the vicarage. Readers would get a feeling that they are not being treated fairly in terms of the information being provided, depending instead on evaluations provided by Ms Marple. Several red herrings of course were thrown in, which made the story more life-like. As the investigation proceeded, new clues were revealed which oft led the amateur sleuths on wild goose chases. It was only when they returned to re-examine the scene of the crime that the truth finally came to light. Readers who loved mysteries would find nothing to complain about, except that they had been led on a wrong trail and for most of the book, missed out on the real mystery.
| 
