The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

How do you take a character built for a series of short stories and turn them into the protagonist of a novel? That is the challenge Agatha Christie gave herself with The Murder at the Vicarage. Miss Marple would, of course, go on to become a character who rivals her other major detective, Hercule Poirot, in appeal. That she did is a reflection of the clever choices and design found in this, her…