Which Murder at the Vicarage recording should you buy?
Miss Marple's first novel, sold as a complete reading, a star-cast Audible adaptation, a BBC radio play, and Collins retellings for English learners by different readers, each labelled only by a code on the line beneath the title.
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Short answer
Richard E. Grant for the novel: the only complete reading here, and solo. The Toni Collette edition is an Audible Original adaptation with a large cast, and the BBC edition with June Whitfield as Miss Marple is a radio play — both are plays, not the text. The two Collins listings are graded readers for people learning English, and this time the narrator is no help at all: Roger May reads the "B2+" one and John Hasler the "B2" one, at the same length, with the same description. Neither is the novel.
The recordings, compared
| Narrator | Length | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Richard E. Grant Our pick | 8 hrs 11 mins | Complete novel | The complete novel, solo. |
| Toni Collette, Kit Harington, Meera Syal and a full cast | 4 hrs 2 mins | Audible Original, full cast | An adaptation with a large cast, Collette as Miss Marple. Audible's listing data marks it unabridged, but its own description calls it an adaptation. |
| Full cast with Imelda Staunton, June Whitfield, Nigel Davenport | 2 hrs 17 mins | BBC full-cast dramatisation | A BBC radio play with June Whitfield as Miss Marple. Listed without "The" in the title. |
| Roger May | 3 hrs 27 mins | Collins graded reader (B2+) | NOT the novel: a Collins graded reader for people learning English. Plain title, a bare "B2+" on the line beneath it. |
| John Hasler | 3 hrs 27 mins | Collins graded reader (B2) | NOT the novel either: Collins's other range, a different reader, the same length, "B2" beneath the title, and a description word for word the same as the B2+ listing. |