The Murder at the Vicarage (1930)

Miss Marple’s first novel makes St Mary Mead’s gossip useful evidence while leaving plenty of room for the vicar, his wife and their conflicting views of the neighbours. A shooting in the study gives everyone’s casual judgements more weight than they expected. Christie’s village is observant and funny, with real malice beneath its manners. This is a sound starting point for Marple, though its social assumptions and language reflect 1930.