A Murder Is Announced

This was a very enjoyable read. I liked that it was a novel dominated by collecting and grinding through data to solve who did it and why. Instead, it was a novel lit up by the diverse set of women who lived in the village and were associated with the crime.

At first, I was a little put off by how many of the women declared themselves or were declared by their friends to be stupid. Then I realised that with one charming exception, the 'Oh, I'm so stupid about such things' stance was camouflage that hid both secrets and intellects.

I liked that almost all of the characters were likeable to a degree. There was no obvious evil witch in their midst wreaking havoc just ordinary and sometimes admirable women making the best of things, show more Except for whoever it was who was killing people and even they seemed to be taking no joy in their actions.

This a Miss Marple novel (although she would protest, modestly, that she merely shared a few thoughts and that it was that bright young policeman who solved the crime) and her way of looking at who people really are, her lack of trust in who people present themselves as being and her resigned acceptance that even nice people may find a good reason to do bad things, set the tone for the story. One consequence of this is that the novel, published in 1950, gives some fascinating details of village life after World War II. How migration had changed the character of the village by adding people who had not grown up there or been introduced by people whom one knew and trusted but who had rather presented themselves and their story on arrival and built their lives anew. How the continuation of rationing had drawn all of the women in the village into an illegal but taken-for-granted barter system that combined intimacy with complicity. How much loss the war had imposed on families, how much dislocation it had caused, and how much change it had driven, particularly in the lives of women. Taken together, these things painted a picture of village life in transition with everyone having to adjust to new and unasked-for realities and, for the most part, supporting one another in muddling through.

For me, this credible, fallible, very human context made the murders into violations that seemed much more unforgivable than the deaths in the Poirot books where it often seems that bad people kill other bad people in clever ways for trivial reasons. In this book, the people do not deserve to die and the killings destroy the murderer's peace of mind as well as spreading grief throughout the village.

I've always preferred Miss Marple to Poirot, She's scarier than he is but more human. She sees the world clearly and expects very little of it but never descends into bitterness. She hopes that people will do the right thing but has is never surprised when they do the wrong thing or the easy thing instead.

For me, the biggest difference between Marple and Poirot is that, to Marple, murder is not a game. It's not a puzzle to be solved with the little grey cells. It's a tragedy in progress, an eruption of evil that must be contained and stopped. The whole novel is coloured by this way of seeing the world and is the richer for it.

The plot was clever, if a little improbable. The explanations all worked although I paid them little attention in the end. I'll remember the deaths and the grief long after I've forgotten the mechanics of the plot. show less

Believe it or not, this is the first book by Agatha Christie I have read. She is a much-beloved mystery writer, and was extremely prolific. Perhaps you can divide the reading world into those who are Agatha Christie fans, and those who are not. I, unfortunately, fall into the Not-a-Fan crowd. I didn't like the dated characters or the contrived way in which the crime occurred and was solved. However, for those who haven't read this one, which belongs to the Miss Marple series (of which my only knowledge is the Angela Lansbury reruns my mother watches), here is a brief description:

One Friday morning an announcement appears in the local newspaper: "A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks at show more 6:30 p.m. Friends please accept this, the only intimation." Based on this notice, the owner of Little Paddocks prepares refreshments for a gathering that evening, and various residents of the town who read the announcement drop 'round Little Paddocks for drinks. All are mystified by the announcement. Promptly at 6:30, the lights go out, and all are in darkness, until the door is opened and a dark figure holding a flashlight stands in the doorway. Shots ring out. When the lights go back on, a stranger lies in the doorway, dead, and the hostess has been wounded. Police begin an investigation, and Miss Marple arrives in town to gently guide them on their way.

I think Agatha Christie fans would like this, and technically there's nothing wrong with it. As I said, however, this type of book isn't my thing.

2 1/2 stars show less

This is the second Miss Marple book I have read, but it won't be the last. I loved it! Everyone in Chipping Cleghorn is stunned when "a murder is announced" in the local gazette. Naturally, they all assume it will be a dinner party with a dramatized crime, but it's still odd that no one knew anything about it beforehand - least of all Ms. Blacklock, at whose house it is supposed to occur! Knowing her neighbors as she does, she expects them all to drop by at the appointed time. Once everyone is gathered, the lights go out and a gun goes off. The body of a young man is very real, as is the bullet graze on Ms. Blacklock's ear. Who could have orchestrated this and why would anyone want to harm Ms. Blacklock?

This is a Miss Marple mystery, show more but like her first case Murder at the Vicarage, it is not told from her point of view. This time, the Constable tells the story as he tries to sort through all the witnesses, make sense of small town life, and track the killer. Miss Marple appears about a third of the way through, visiting friends. Her keen observations, and familiarity with small town life, help point the way for the constable. She isn't the only one who connects some of the dots, and there will be more victims before she solves the mystery.

It's rare for a book to surprise me, even a mystery, but the conclusion here was nearly as brilliant as the one in "And Then There Were None." Further, it was completely earned. Sometimes, I feel like the deduction of super sleuths are too contrived - they arrive at the last to put the puzzle together with information only they have. Here, Christie laid out all the clues Miss Marple pieces together so the solution works. A great read. show less

Everybody in Chipping Cleghorn reads the personal column in "the Gazette." One day a strange listing appears declaring a murder will take place at Little Paddocks on Friday, October 29th at 6:30 p.m. Everyone who knows Miss Blacklock thinks it's a murder party so they all show up. Miss Blacklock didn't put the announcement in the paper and she doesn't know what will happen. Then a youngman appears in the doorway, the lights go out, a flashlight blinds the group, and three shots ring out. Miss Blacklock is wounded and the only casualty is the youngman. Who is he? Why would he want to rob or kill Miss Blacklock?

This is the first Miss Marple story I have read and I found her to be a lovely character. She is an expert on human nature show more because of all the people she has known in the small town she lives in. When puzzling out a murder case she simply relates the incidents to simular situations from her past.

The novel is an interesting look at English life right after World War II. It was originally published in 1950. Miss Marple talks about how you don't know yours neighbors as well as you used to because so many people have been displaced because of the war and have moved to smaller towns. There is an interesting barter system in Chipping Cleghorn where people trade meat, milk, honey etc. One of the characters is a young war widow with a small son who works as a gardener.

A friend of mine had told me that she finds reading Agatha Christie mysterys very soothing. I didn't know what she ment until I started this novel. It was if my mind sighed and relaxed. I'm not British, yet I found the characters way of speaking very familiar and enjoyable. Maybe that is why the genre is called "cozy." show less

One of my favourite Miss Marples. Set in a small village in post war Britain, where the social order has been disrupted by the war populated by types who may or not be who they say they are, a murder IS announced in the local paper and the locals turn up expecting a game only to find a real murder taking place in their midst. Miss Marple is invited by her goddaughter, the vicar's wife, to help solve the crime. I particularly love the discrete but obvious depiction of the loving female couple Hinch and Murgatroyd. A very entertaining read.

This was excellent - lots of twists and turns, and as usual I suspected each character in turn. Miss Marple was ably assisted by Inspector Craddock, and even Mitzi emerged from the xenophobia everyone addressed to her somewhat triumphant.

‘’People with a grudge against the world are always dangerous.’’

An idyllic village in the English countryside is waking up, its quirky residents about to start their day with their favourite newspaper, where an invitation to murder is waiting for them. Can you think of anything more interesting? Leticia, the ‘’queen’’ of the village, is completely unaware of the play supposedly staged in her house, but what the heck, let’s go with the flow. And a murder does take place but not in the way everyone has imagined. Thus, everything is ready for one of the finest mysteries by Queen Agatha.

In my opinion, this novel has one of the most interesting, vivid, quirky, memorable characters in all Dramatis Personae ever composed by show more Christie. From the lady of the manor, the disturbed veteran, the farm ladies in a relationship (Agatha never shied away from sexual dynamics), the alluring siblings, the kind-hearted friend who is there for everyone. My favourite characters have always been Philippa, the gardener, and Mitzi, the housemaid who escaped a war ravaged country to find herself face-to-face with strange murders. As always, identities are mixed, unrevealed secrets kill by the dozen, relationships are broken and mended, lights go out to hide the faces of evil. This is one of the cleverest crimes conceived by the brilliant mind of the Queen of Crime. My grandma had a shepherdess memento from Italy. I remember that after reading A Murder Is Announced, quite a few years ago, I never looked at that porcelain thing in the same way as before. Not that I ever liked it but anyway...Revisiting this mystery always feels like reading it for the very first time.

Would you accept an invitation to murder?

‘’People in the dark are quite different, aren’t they?’’

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com show less