Miss Marple 3-Book Collection 1: The Murder at the Vicarage, The Body in the Library, The Moving Finger
The first three full-length Miss Marple novels, set before and during the Second World War, see the world's most accomplished amateur sleuth unravelling the dark side of human nature to uncover three cases of Murder Most Foul!The Murder at the VicarageAgatha Christie’s first ever Miss Marple mystery. It was a careless remark for a man of the cloth. And one which was to come back and haunt the clergyman just a few hours later. From seven potential murderers, Miss Marple must seek out the suspect who has both motive and opportunity.The Body in the LibraryIt’s seven in the morning. The Bantrys wake to find the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing evening dress and heavy make-up, which is now smeared across her cheeks.The Moving FingerLymstock is a town with more than its share of shameful secrets – a town where even a sudden outbreak of anonymous hate-mail causes only a minor stir. But all that changes when one of the recipients, Mrs Symmington, commits suicide. Only Miss Marple questions the coroner’s verdict of suicide. Was this the work of a poison-pen? Or of a poisoner?
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Murder At The Vicarage first published in Great Britain by Collins 1930
The Body In The Library first published in Great Britain by Collins 1942
The Moving Finger first published in Great Britain by Collins 1943
Copyright © 1930, 1942, 1943 Agatha Christie Ltd. All rights reserved.
Agatha Christie asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
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Ebook Edition © DECEMBER 2010 ISBN: 9780007431724
Version: 2017-10-02
Contents
Copyright
About Agatha Christie
The Agatha Christie Collection
www.agathachristie.com
About the Publisher
To Rosalind
Contents
Chapter 1
It is difficult to know quite where to begin this…
Chapter 2
Griselda is a very irritating woman. On leaving the luncheon…
Chapter 3 ‘Nasty old cat,’ said Griselda, as soon as the door…
Chapter 4 I had entirely forgotten that we had asked Lawrence Redding…
Chapter 5 It was nearer seven than half-past six when I…
Chapter 6 We puzzled over the business of the clock for some…
Chapter 7 Colonel Melchett is a dapper little man with a habit…
Chapter 8 We were rather silent on our way down to the…
Chapter 9 After leaving a message at the police station, the Chief…
Chapter 10 His remarks on the subject of Miss Marple as we…
Chapter 11 I saw at a glance that Colonel Melchett and Inspector…
Chapter 12 I was summoned to the study when Lawrence Redding arrived.
Chapter 13 I hardly thought it likely that Mrs Price Ridley had…
Chapter 14 On my way home, I ran into Miss Hartnell and…
Chapter 15 Hawes’s appearance distressed me very much. His hands were shaking…
Chapter 16 As I went out I ran into Haydock on the…
Chapter 17 Inspector Slack came round to see me the following morning.
Chapter 18 The inquest was held that afternoon (Saturday) at two o’clock…
Chapter 19 ‘Very glad to have met you,’ said Lawrence. ‘Come to…
Chapter 20 When I got back to the Vicarage I found that…
Chapter 21 I cannot say that I have at any time had…
Chapter 22 Inspector Slack’s orders, once I had got him on the…
Chapter 23 On the way back, I proposed to Griselda that we…
Chapter 24 I returned to the Vicarage to find Hawes waiting for…
Chapter 25 I found it hard to shake off the impression left…
Chapter 26 I was in a strange mood when I mounted the…
Chapter 27 Griselda and Dennis had not yet returned. I realized that…
Chapter 28 I hurried down the village street. It was eleven o’clock,…
Chapter 29 I don’t know how long I sat there—only a…
Chapter 30 We stared at her. I really think that for a…
Chapter 31 Colonel Melchett and I both stared at her.
Chapter 32 There is little more to be told. Miss Marple’s plan…
Credits
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.
My young nephew, Dennis, said instantly:
‘That’ll be remembered against you when the old boy is found bathed in blood. Mary will give evidence, won’t you, Mary? And describe how you brandished the carving knife in a vindictive manner.’
Mary, who is in service at the Vicarage as a stepping-stone to better things and higher wages, merely said in a loud, businesslike voice, ‘Greens’, and thrust a cracked dish at him in a truculent manner.
My wife said in a sympathetic voice: ‘Has he been very trying?’
I did not reply at once, for Mary, setting the greens on the table with a bang, proceeded to thrust a dish of singularly moist and unpleasant dumplings under my nose. I said, ‘No, thank you,’ and she deposited the dish with a clatter on the table and left the room.
‘It is a pity that I am such a shocking housekeeper,’ said my wife, with a tinge of genuine regret in her voice.
