Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - The Murder at the Vicarage

Setelah baca beberapa buku Dame Agatha Christie, gue baru sadar kalau belum pernah baca series beliau yang Miss Marple. Digadang - gadang sebagai cozy mystery, setelah baca Murder at the Vicarage sebenarnya ga cozy banget sih, walau settingnya emang iya di kota kecil dimana setiap orang minimal saling kenal. Plus yang paling mencolok, ibu - ibu (atau nenek2) yang hobi bergosip, salah satunya tentunya Miss Jane Marple. Tapi bukan sembarang gosip murahan, beda dengan tetangga2nya, Miss Marple dikaruniai observasi yang tajam dan kemampuan deduksi yang tentunya ga kalah dengan detektif partikelir yang juga karangan Dame Christie, yaitu Hercule Poirot.

Buku ini ditulis di tahun 1930, jadi beberapa tokohnya membahas kemerosotan moral setelah WW I. Menariknya lagi, berkali - kali disebut Sherlock Holmes dan Arsene Lupin. Mungkin ini homage kali ya atau mungkin juga siapa kira kalau di masa - masa setelahnya Poirot dan juga Miss Marple disejajarkan sama Sherlock Holmes juga. Murder at the Vicarage sendiri diceritakan dari sudut pandang pertama seorang pendeta bernama Leonard Clement atau yang lebih akrab disapa dengan nama Len. Jadi bisa dibilang tokoh utamanya ya Pak Pendeta ini dengan Miss Marple sebagai tokoh sampingan. TAPI, pada akhirnya justru Miss Marple lah yang berhasil memecahkan misteri kasus pembunuhan Kolonel Protheroe. Cuma gara - gara apa? Ya gara - gara observasinya yang teliti dan juga gegara pelakunya melakukan hal yang mungkin menurut si pelaku remeh banget tapi bagi Miss Marple itu aneh!

Tentunya gue sekali lagi berasa bego pas tahu siapa pembunuhnya, padahal baru beberapa minggu lalu baca bukunya Dame Christie yang sebenarnya motif pelakunya sama wkwkwk. Tapi disitulah menurut gue kehebatan Dame Christie dalam menulis cerita misteri. Dikasih banyak red herring sampai - sampai gue ragu sama kemampuan deduksi sendiri dan cuma bisa tepok jidat pas Miss Marple bilang siapa pelakunya. I'll be like "ASTAGA!!" dan geleng - geleng kepala, karena ya sejelas itu sebenarnya hehehe. Beberapa hal yang menarik adalah seksisme yang luar biasa dari bbrp tokoh di buku ini, termasuk antara lain meremehkan kemampuan Miss Marple dan memanggilnya "perawan tua". Ya, mengingat novel ini ditulis tahun 1930, masa - masa itu memang sikap seksis dan misoginis memang kentara.

Jujur secara personalitas, gue sukaan Miss Marple ketimbang Hercule Poirot. Mungkin karena gue dan Miss Marple itu sama2 perempuan yang juga hobi bergosip dan kepoan, walau masih lebih tajam sikap keponya Miss Marple. Pastinya akan baca buku2 Miss Marple lainnya dong :D.

Content Warnings

readnow_speaklater's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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mariahmmm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

What a tangle of events, characters, and times this book is! The web weaved is so complex that I found it incredibly hard to keep track of who said what and when. I wish I had made a red-string evidence board so I had a chance at understanding the story. There was so much going on that in the end I had to just let the story flow over me rather than try to make sense of what was happening. In the end, my guess was very wrong, as it usually is with Agatha Christie novels.

Miss Marple felt unpolished compared to later stories. More like a busy body than the sharp, witty, and clever neighbourly figure she really is. I wish she had taken centre stage as the narrator rather than the dry Reverend.

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outsmartyourshelf's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.25

The first Miss Marple book sees the murder of an unpleasant man called Colonel Protheroe in the local vicarage. Protheroe had called in early for his appointment to speak to the local vicar who was unfortunately not at home. When the vicar arrives back, he finds the body of the Colonel sat at his writing desk, apparently shot in the midst of writing a note. Two confessions are quickly made but proven false, but the police have little else to go on. Miss Marple says that she knows of at least 7 people who had a motive to kill the Colonel, but frustratingly, the suspects all seem to have a fairly robust alibi at the time of the shooting.

The first full-length mystery starring Miss Marple is a bit hit & miss for me. The main issue for me was that the book was told from the point of view of an extremely boring character: the local vicar. Both he & his younger wife (& some of the other characters actually) were extremely rude about the older women of the village & it felt really uncalled for. Then I realised that Christie was showing us the disdain & dismissal that older women are viewed with, which still goes on today. The idea of a kindly looking octogenarian having one of the sharpest crime-solving brains & confounding everyone around her is brilliant, especially when they realise that they have to start taking her seriously.

I'm not sure whether Miss Marple is one of those characters (like Inspector Morse) that just seems to translate much better onscreen than in the original books.

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