Autumn is when most of us are spending more time indoors, and it is the perfect time to put down your phone and get lost in one of the best murder mysteries ever written. The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie was first published in 1930, but even almost 100 years later it is a fun read thanks to its main character Miss Maple.
Miss Maple is an elderly lady who is best described as the nosiest person in her village, and even through she is a gleeful gossip she has a brilliant mind which can spot even the smallest of details. This mystery begins with the murder of a wealthy judge who is found shot inside a vicar’s study room at the local church, and it is quickly revealed everyone in the village has a reason to want him dead. What is fantastic about this book is that no one in the village is as innocent as they might seem, and even the vicar, the narrator of the book, is a suspect due to how much he disliked the murder victim.
While the police are struggling to solve the case, Miss Maple already has several suspects in mind and manages to see everything by spying on the village from her garden.
The Murder at the Vicarage is perfect to read in autumn as it is set in St Mary Mead, a fictional village in the English countryside known for being quiet and quaint.
It is the perfect cosy setting to get lost in, and with so many colourful characters, you will be trying to guess who did the murder until the very end.
I find myself returning to this particular Agatha Christie mystery every autumn thanks to the comforting country atmosphere, hilarious village antics and eccentric main character make it a really fun read.
There are so many popular murder mysteries on Netflix right now such as The Thursday Murder Club and the upcoming Knives Out sequel, that now is the perfect time to dive into one of the best detective stories ever written.
However, it is not just myself who loves this story as on GoodReads, The Murder at the Vicarage has a rating of 4.04 out of five stars after being reviewed over 200,000 times.
One reader said: “Agatha Christie could have called this book a comedy as easily as she called it a mystery. She is so funny! This book had me chuckling from beginning to end.”
Another person wrote: “There is something fabulous about this book that makes it quite different from Christie’s other books, and I still can’t put my finger on what it is that makes this one so special (other than a slight twinge of nostalgia of discovering Christie for the first time).”
Someone else said: “Thoroughly enjoyable, clever and great fun – I love Agatha Christie’s work so much.”