A Murder Is Announced: Miss Marple and the Newspaper Notice That Came True
A strange advertisement appears in the morning paper. It announces that a murder will take place on Friday 29 October at 6.30 p.m. Unable to resist their curiosity, a crowd gathers at the home named in this announced death on the appointed day and hour. When the clock strikes half past six, the lights go out and a shot rings out...
Author: Agatha Christie (1890–1976)
Title: A Murder Is Announced (1950)
Format: English paperback (HarperCollins), 320 pages
Series: Miss Marple
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/0008196559 (ASIN 0008196559)
A Party Game?
Those gathered at Little Paddocks assume it is a party game, a ’murder’ of the kind played at country-house weekends. But what seemed nothing more than a tasteless joke meant to frighten poor Miss Blacklock turns into a real murder that only Miss Marple will be able to unravel.
Village Secrets
The village of Chipping Cleghorn is full of people who are not quite what they claim to be, and in the post-war years it is hard to check anyone’s past. Miss Marple, with her knowledge of human nature, notices the small inconsistencies that everyone else misses.
Little Paddocks
The house belongs to Letitia Blacklock, a capable woman who lives with an assortment of companions: her old school friend Dora Bunner, known as Bunny, sweet-natured and forgetful; two young cousins, Patrick and Julia Simmons; a war widow, Phillipa Haymes, who works as a gardener; and Mitzi, a refugee cook whose tragic stories and dramatic outbursts enliven every scene. When the lights go out, shots are fired, and the body on the floor turns out to be a young Swiss hotel employee whom almost nobody knew.
Post-War England
Christie wrote the novel in 1950, and it is one of her most vivid portraits of a changed country. Rationing is still in force, everyone is short of eggs and butter, and Mitzi’s famous chocolate cake, which Patrick names "Delicious Death", is a luxury. Above all, people have moved: after the war, as Miss Marple observes, nobody in a village really knows who their neighbours are, where they came from or whether they are who they say they are. That uncertainty lies at the heart of the mystery.
Miss Marple’s Allies
Inspector Craddock leads the official investigation, with Miss Marple staying at the vicarage with her goddaughter, Bunch Harmon, the vicar’s warm and practical wife. The village is full of memorable residents, including two women farmers, Miss Hinchcliffe and Miss Murgatroyd, whose partnership gives the book some of its most affecting moments. Christie published the novel as her fiftieth book, and it was promoted as such.
Adaptations
Leslie Darbon adapted it for the stage in 1977. The BBC version of 1985, with Joan Hickson as Miss Marple, is a faithful and much-loved adaptation; a later ITV version starred Geraldine McEwan.
Fair Play
The novel is often cited as a model of fair play. Christie gives the reader every clue Miss Marple uses: a door that ought not to open, a lamp, a letter, a conversation about a birthday and a slip of the tongue. Rereading it after knowing the solution reveals just how openly she laid them out, which is the mark of the best detective fiction. The opening advertisement, printed among the ordinary small ads of the local paper, remains one of the most memorable starts in the genre.
For Newcomers
It is an excellent first Miss Marple: self-contained, full of village life and with a solution that rewards attention.
Why Read It
It is one of the best Miss Marple novels, with a brilliant opening and a cast of villagers drawn with real affection. Christie plays fair with the reader, and the solution is both surprising and logical.
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