Murder at the Vicarage (1930)is the first Miss Marple mystery book by Agatha Christie. Miss Jane Marple is a village busybody who applies human nature to crimes. Colonel Protheroe, magistrate universally despised, was shot in his study, unheard. His wife Anne admits newly arrived artist Lawrence Redding is an old flame, and both confess to murder. The local inspector and Miss Marple sort through to the truth.

The murder of Colonel Protheroe shocks the town of St. Mary Mead, where the main entertainment is tea and gossip. Among the neighbors of St. Mary Mead, the most meddlesome, observant and shrewd person is Miss Marple. His intervention will be decisive in the resolution of a crime for which there are no suspects.

Death in the vicarage, published in 1930, was the first appearance of one of the most important characters in the work of Agatha Christie, the spinster and insightful Miss Marple, whose cases have been adapted several times both to the cinema and in Form of television series.