The Murder at the Vicarage

The Murder at the Vicarage

The Vicar of St. Mary Mead, Len Clement, begins by remarking that anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe would do the world a service. Protheroe is a domineering magistrate, churchwarden, and opponent of the new curate Hawes’s High Church practices; he also accuses the Vicar’s church accounts of possible “defalcations.” Around the village, many people resent him. His daughter Lettice dislikes his control, his wife Anne is miserable in her marriage, the archaeologist Dr. Stone has quarrelled with him over a barrow, and poacher Archer has been threatened by him. The Vicar’s wife Griselda, nephew Dennis, and the village gossips—especially Miss Marple—speculate constantly about everyone’s secrets. Lawrence Redding, a young artist using a shed in the Vicarage garden as a studio, has been forbidden Old Hall after painting Lettice in her bathing dress. The Vicar discovers, however, that Lawrence and Anne Protheroe are secretly in love. Anne confesses her desperation and wishes her husband dead; Lawrence later agrees to leave the village for Anne’s sake. On Thursday, Colonel Protheroe is due at the Vicarage at quarter past six to examine the church accounts. The Vicar receives a false telephone message that parishioner Mr. Abbott is dying, and leaves the house. Returning near seven, he meets Lawrence outside the gate, pale, shaking, and speaking wildly about Protheroe. Mary the maid says Lawrence briefly went into the study, where Protheroe has been waiting. The Vicar enters and finds Protheroe dead across his writing desk, shot through the head. Dr. Haydock judges that the death occurred about half an hour earlier and cannot be suicide, since no weapon is present. Inspector Slack finds an overturned clock stopped at 6:22 and a partly written note headed “6:20,” apparently showing that Protheroe was shot as he wrote to say he could wait no longer. The Vicar knows the clock is always kept fifteen minutes fast, but Slack will not listen to him. Lawrence Redding gives himself up, produces his Mauser.25 pistol, and claims that he quarrelled with Protheroe and shot him shortly before seven. Yet Haydock insists Protheroe had been dead far too long for Lawrence’s account to be true. Anne then confesses that she killed her husband, claiming she brought his pistol to the Vicarage intending suicide, saw him through the study window, and shot him. Her story is undermined when the valet says Protheroe owned no pistol and Miss Marple states firmly that Anne carried neither handbag nor concealed weapon when she passed through the garden shortly after quarter past six. Miss Marple watched Anne go first to the Vicarage window, then to the studio, where Lawrence joined her. They left happily together around half past six with Dr. Stone; Anne subsequently visited Miss Hartnell until nearly seven. Thus neither Anne nor Lawrence appears able to have fired the fatal shot at the claimed time. Miss Marple also notices that Protheroe had no reason to write “cannot wait any longer” at 6:20, since he had agreed to wait for the Vicar. The Vicar concludes that the murderer likely shot Protheroe later, added “6:20” in different ink to the note, and altered the clock to create a false alibi and direct suspicion toward Anne. Evidence establishes that several people heard a shot around half past six but assumed it came from the woods. The false call that drew the Vicar away was placed from the empty North Lodge at Old Hall, with fingerprints wiped from the telephone. A threatening call to Mrs. Price Ridley was placed from Lawrence’s unlocked cottage at about the same time. Since Lawrence’s pistol was taken from that cottage, these acts seem designed to throw suspicion onto him. Mrs. Lestrange, a mysterious newcomer, had angrily visited Protheroe the previous evening. A servant later reports overhearing Protheroe refuse her demands, say she must not see “her,” reject what “Haydock says,” and accuse her of a plot; she reportedly ended by telling him that by the following night he might be dead. Inspector Slack suspects blackmail, while Dr. Haydock appears unusually troubled and protective of Mrs. Lestrange. At the inquest, the verdict is murder by person or persons unknown. Miss Marple reports seeing Gladys Cram, Dr. Stone’s secretary, carry a suitcase into the woods at midnight and return without it. The Vicar and Lawrence search for a hidden route to the Vicarage, but Slack concludes the murderer entered through the always-open front door and escaped by the public footpath and woods. Later, Lettice visits the study under the pretence of seeking her yellow beret, irritates Mary by criticizing the dust, and leaves. Alone in the study, the Vicar finds a tiny bright-blue object on the floor between the desk and the floor; Griselda enters as he stares at it.

By Agatha Christie · Genre: Detective Fiction, Murder Mystery, Classic Crime Fiction · 32 chapters · 90,454 words

First lines

It is difficult to know quite where to begin this story, but I have fixed my choice on a certain Wednesday at luncheon at the Vicarage. The conversation, though in the main irrelevant to the matter in hand, yet contained one or two suggestive incidents which influenced later developments.

I had just finished carving some boiled beef (remarkably tough by the way) and on resuming my seat I remarked, in a spirit most unbecoming to my cloth, that anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe would be doing the world at large a service.

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mystery · detective fiction · crime novel · cozy mystery · whodunit · British fiction · village setting · amateur detective · police investigation · murder · suspense · clues

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