The Complete Miss Marple Collection Read online

  The Complete Miss Marple Collection

  Agatha Christie

  Contents

  The Murder at the Vicarage

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  The Body in the Library

  Dedication

  Foreword

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  The Moving Finger

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  A Murder is Announced

  Dedication

  1. A Murder Is Announced

  2. Breakfast at Little Paddocks

  3. At 6:30 p.m.

  4. The Royal Spa Hotel

  5. Miss Blacklock and Miss Bunner

  6. Julia, Mitzi and Patrick

  7. Among Those Present

  8. Enter Miss Marple

  9. Concerning a Door

  10. Pip and Emma

  11. Miss Marple Comes to Tea

  12. Morning Activities in Chipping Cleghorn

  13. Morning Activities in Chipping Cleghorn (continued)

  14. Excursion into the Past

  15. Delicious Death

  16. Inspector Craddock Returns

  17. The Album

  18. The Letters

  19. Reconstruction of the Crime

  20. Miss Marple Is Missing

  21. Three Women

  22. The Truth

  23. Evening at the Vicarage

  Epilogue

  Credits

  They Do It With Mirrors

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Epilogue

  Credits

  A Pocket Full of Rye

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Credits

  4:50 from Paddington

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Credit

  The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  A Caribbean Mystery

  Dedication

  1. Major Palgrave Tells a Story

  2. Miss Marple Makes Comparisons

  3. A Death in the Hotel

  4. Miss Marple Seeks Medical Attention

  5. Miss Marple Makes a Decision

  6. In the Small Hours

  7. Morning on the Beach

  8. A Talk with Esther Walters

  9. Miss Prescott and Others

  10. A Decision in Jamestown

  11. Evening at the Golden Palm

  12. Old Sins Cast Long Shadows

  13. Exit Victoria Johnson

  14. Inquiry

  15. Inquiry Continued

  16. Miss Marple Seeks Assistance

  17. Mr. Rafiel Takes Charge

  18. Without Benefit of Clergy

  19. Uses of a Shoe

  20. Night Alarm

  21. Jackson o
n Cosmetics

  22. A Man in Her Life?

  23. The Last Day

  24. Nemesis

  25. Miss Marple Uses Her Imagination

  Epilogue

  At Bertram’s Hotel

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Credits

  Nemesis

  Dedication

  1. Overture

  2. Code Word Nemesis

  3. Miss Marple Takes Action

  4. Esther Walters

  5. Instructions from Beyond

  6. Love

  7. An Invitation

  8. The Three Sisters

  9. Polygonum Baldschuanicum

  10. “Oh! Fond, Oh! Fair, The Days That Were”

  11. Accident

  12. A Consultation

  13. Black and Red Check

  14. Mr. Broadribb Wonders

  15. Verity

  16. The Inquest

  17. Miss Marple Makes a Visit

  18. Archdeacon Brabazon

  19. Good-byes Are Said

  20. Miss Marple Has Ideas

  21. The Clock Strikes Three

  22. Miss Marple Tells Her Story

  23. End Pieces

  Credits

  Sleeping Murder

  1. A House

  2. Wallpaper

  3. “Cover Her Face …”

  4. Helen?

  5. Murder in Retrospect

  6. Exercise in Detection

  7. Dr. Kennedy

  8. Kelvin Halliday’s Delusion

  9. Unknown Factor?

  10. A Case History

  11. The Men in Her Life

  12. Lily Kimble

  13. Walter Fane

  14. Edith Pagett

  15. An Address

  16. Mother’s Son

  17. Richard Erskine

  18. Bindweed

  19. Mr. Kimble Speaks

  20. The Girl Helen

  21. J. J. Afflick

  22. Lily Keeps an Appointment

  23. Which of Them?

  24. The Monkey’s Paws

  25. Postscript at Torquay

  Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories

  Author’s Foreword

  From The Thirteen Problems

  1 The Tuesday Night Club

  2 The Idol House of Astarte

  3 Ingots of Gold

  4 The Bloodstained Pavement

  5 Motive v. Opportunity

  6 The Thumbmark of St. Peter

  7 The Blue Geranium

  8 The Companion

  9 The Four Suspects

  10 A Christmas Tragedy

  11 The Herb of Death

  12 The Affair at the Bungalow

  13 Death by Drowning

  14 Miss Marple Tells a Story

  15 Strange Jest

  16 The Case of the Perfect Maid

  17 The Case of the Caretaker

  18 Tape-Measure Murder

  19 Greenshaw’s Folly

  20 Sanctuary

  Credits

  About the Author

  Other Bundles by Agatha Christie

  The Agatha Christie Collection

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  Agatha Christie

  The Murder at the Vicarage

  A Miss Marple Mystery

  To Rosalind

  Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  One

  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.

  I was inclined to agree with her. My wife’s name is Griselda—a highly suitable name for a parson’s wife. But there the suitability ends. She is not in the least meek.

  I have always been of the opinion that a clergyman should be unmarried. Why I should have urged Griselda to marry me at the end of twenty-four hours’ acquaintance is a mystery to me. Marriage, I have always held, is a serious affair, to be entered into only after long deliberation and forethought, and suitability of tastes and inclinations is the most important consideration.

  Griselda is nearly twenty years younger than myself. She is most distractingly pretty and quite incapable of taking anything seriously. She is incompetent in every way, and extremely trying to live with. She treats the parish as a kind of huge joke arranged for her amusement. I have endeavoured to form her mind and failed. I am more than ever convinced that celibacy is desirable for the clergy. I have frequently hinted as much to Griselda, but she has only laughed.

  “My dear,” I said, “if you would only exercise a little care—”

  “I do sometimes,” said Griselda. “But, on the whole, I think things go worse when I’m trying. I’m evidently not a housekeeper by nature. I find it better to leave things to Mary and just make up my mind to be uncomfortable and have nasty things to eat.”

  “And what about your husband, my dear?” I said repr
oachfully, and proceeding to follow the example of the devil in quoting Scripture for his own ends I added: “She looketh to the ways of her household….”

  “Think how lucky you are not to be torn to pieces by lions,” said Griselda, quickly interrupting. “Or burnt at the stake. Bad food and lots of dust and dead wasps is really nothing to make a fuss about. Tell me more about Colonel Protheroe. At any rate the early Christians were lucky enough not to have churchwardens.”

  “Pompous old brute,” said Dennis. “No wonder his first wife ran away from him.”

  “I don’t see what else she could do,” said my wife.

  “Griselda,” I said sharply. “I will not have you speaking in that way.”

  “Darling,” said my wife affectionately. “Tell me about him. What was the trouble? Was it Mr. Hawes’s becking and nodding and crossing himself every other minute?”

  Hawes is our new curate. He has been with us just over three weeks. He has High Church views and fasts on Fridays. Colonel Protheroe is a great opposer of ritual in any form.

  “Not this time. He did touch on it in passing. No, the whole trouble arose out of Mrs. Price Ridley’s wretched pound note.”

  Mrs. Price Ridley is a devout member of my congregation. Attending early service on the anniversary of her son’s death, she put a pound note in the offertory bag. Later, reading the amount of the collection posted up, she was pained to observe that one ten-shilling note was the highest item mentioned.

  She complained to me about it, and I pointed out, very reasonably, that she must have made a mistake.

  “We’re none of us so young as we were,” I said, trying to turn it off tactfully. “And we must pay the penalty of advancing years.”

  Strangely enough, my words only seemed to incense her further. She said that things had a very odd look and that she was surprised I didn’t think so also. And she flounced away and, I gather, took her troubles to Colonel Protheroe. Protheroe is the kind of man who enjoys making a fuss on every conceivable occasion. He made a fuss. It is a pity he made it on a Wednesday. I teach in the Church Day School on Wednesday mornings, a proceeding that causes me acute nervousness and leaves me unsettled for the rest of the day.

  “Well, I suppose he must have some fun,” said my wife, with the air of trying to sum up the position impartially. “Nobody flutters round him and calls him ‘the dear Vicar,’ and embroiders awful slippers for him, and gives him bedsocks for Christmas. Both his wife and his daughter are fed up to the teeth with him. I suppose it makes him happy to feel important somewhere.”