At dinner one evening, Clement offhandedly remarks that anyone who killed Protheroe would be doing the world a favour. Colonel Lucius Protheroe, Clement's churchwarden, is a wealthy, abrasive man who also serves as the local magistrate, and is widely disliked in the village. He lives with his much younger wife Griselda and their nephew Dennis. The Reverend Leonard Clement, the vicar of St Mary Mead, narrates the story. These earlier stories were collected in book form in The Thirteen Problems in 1932. The character had previously appeared in short stories published in magazines starting in December 1927. What is it precisely that people find so cosy about such stories?' This first look at St Mary Mead led a reviewer in 1990 to ask why these are called cosy mysteries: 'Our first glimpse of St Mary Mead, a hotbed of burglary, impersonation, adultery and ultimately murder. It is the first novel to feature the character of Miss Marple and her village of St Mary Mead. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence and the US edition at $2.00. In radio adaptations actors John Baddeley and Stephen Critchlow portrayed Inspector Slack.Īctor Stephen Tompkinson portrayed Inspector Slack in the 2004 episode The Murder at the Vicarage.The Murder at the Vicarage is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in October 1930 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. He replies, 'They do it with mirrors, ma'am.' This gives her the idea of how the crime was committed. When Miss Marple sees him with his magician's suitcase, she asks him how they make a person appears to be at two places at the same time. Here he has a hobby of being an amateur conjurer. He replaces Inspector Curry from the original novel. In They do it with Mirrors (1991), Slack is a Chief Inspector.

Due to the success of the character he was added to other episodes in-place of the other detectives. Slack is played by actor David Horovitch in several episodes of the television series Miss Marple.

Tape-Measure Murder (short story) (1950).

The Case of the Perfect Maid (short story) (1942).

Murder at the vicarage 2004