Yesterday afternoon,while on a walk with my family, I came across a lovely old home now being used by Parks and Recreation. The first words out of my mouth when the house came in to view were ” What a wonderful setting for a murder!” My children were a bit alarmed.
These past few weeks I have been absorbed in all things Agatha Christie. I am now working my way through The Murder At The Vicarage. This was Christie’s first novel in which Miss Marple appears. So far, The Moving Finger remains my favorite and I’m glad I waited to read Murder At The Vicarage until now. Miss Marple is quite different in the Vicarage mystery than she has been in the previous books I’ve read. A little more meddling,and not as likable. Whatever her demeanor,she presses in my brain and remains there even when the book is shut.
And so it was on said sunny afternoon walk that Miss Marple emerged from my memory banks and made her way along the dirt road to a house I was admiring. Here was a place a group could assemble for a disastrous dinner,or a criminal cocktail party. A quiet weekend in the country could end with the host missing, blackmailed,or dead. Such possibilities!
As I strolled around the deserted buildings,peering in any window I could,scenes from Christie’s novels played before me. Near the fireplace I could imagine Jerry and Joanna discussing the latest anonymous letter received in the mail. In another room sat Dora Bunner and Letitia Blacklock reading the Gazette over breakfast. I was convinced if Agatha Christie lived in Baltimore County this house would be in her books.
With the secret gardens, the odd little buildings and the rickety bridge that crossed a trickling stream, the house seemed ideal to star in a locked-room manor mystery. I have taken a few photos of the place and hope that I will be able to share them with you. I can’t think of any other writer who has inspired me in this way.
I hope that you are enjoying your summer reading.For those of you who wish to follow along with me on my Agatha journey the books I have read so far are :
1. A Murder Is Announced
2. The Moving Finger
3. The Murder In The Vicarage.
Thanks for reading!
Kim