A Murder Is Announced
Ratings109
Average rating4
‘'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 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.wordp
This book opens with the following message: ‘A murder is announced and will take place on Friday October 29th at Little Paddocks at 6.30pm. Friends, please accept this, the only intimation.' Would you be curious enough to accept the invitation to this party that ends with a literal bang? I sure would. In fact, maybe I should pin this invitation to the community activity board during Halloween next year. Muhaha.
I got it! This is only the third (edit: fourth actually, I completely forgot “The Moving Finger” lol) Miss Marple I've read, but I'm quite familiar with Poirrot, and the crime itself seemed very Poirrot-like to me. I utterly failed at guessing the killer (or even how the crime occured) in “The Murder at the Vicarage”, and while I guessed a few key points in “The Body in the Library”, this is the first book where I actually got most of what happened before the reveal.
Miss Blacklock seemed extremely suspicious to me since the very beggining. A murder attempt happening without an actual death always casts suspicions on the “victim” of said attempt, as per quite a few other Christie novels.
This suspicious weirdly only grew, and after Bunny's death I couldn't imagine anyone else being the killer. Blacklock's conversation with Miss Marple, where Marple mentions how she has family and friends, but it is heartbreaking to lose the one person who knew you as a child, completely solidified it. At this point though, I was under the impression that Bunny thought that Charlotte was Letitia and was murdered out of precaution, in case she started noticing/remembering things and that Miss Blacklock wasn't actually Miss Blacklock (well, she was, but not quite). I should've known this wasn't likely due to Bunny's personality and devotion to her friend, but oh well, I was bound to be misled somewhere.
Bonus: I also guessed who Pip was almost immediately! I had a friend of a friend with the name and nickname, and in true Miss Marple fashion, I drew similarities ;)
Overall, I really loved this book, and it felt like a very classic Agatha Christie mystery to me, which I always love!
Every time i read an Agatha Christie book i'm surprised how someone could perfect a genre like that. That plot kept on thickening and later every small detail was explained. Beautifully crafted mystery.
5/5 - One of Agatha Christie's best and definitely the best of the Miss Marple novels.
I am a fan of Agatha Christie's books, which I have been reading since I was a teenager (a lot of years ago). But if I have to choose a favorite, it has to be A Murder Is Announced. I read this book for the first time when I was about fourteen. It was actually the first Agatha Christie book that I read and the one and made me become a fan. Back then, I read a translation into Spanish, Se anuncia un asesinato. It was not until this year that I read the book in the original English, and I have to say that I liked it even more.
This is one of the better Miss Marple stories. None of the characters really stood out to me...nobody truly likable. However I liked the twists and turns.
One of my first Miss Marple books in a long time. I love reading this little old lady and her wide-eyed but “accidental” observations about human nature and facts that lead the police to uncover the solution to the mystery in front of them.
What I don't understand is why Miss Blacklock chose to announce the murder in the first place? Her objective was to get rid of Rudi Scherz, because he might possibly recognise her as Charlotte and not Letitia Blacklock, so why not a quiet murder? Why all these plans to fake a burglary and all that, which is sure to attract attention from the police??
Another suspenseful Agatha Christie mystery. It really had me guessing. While I suspected the murderer there were a lot of twists and turns at the end that I totally did not expect. Highly recommended.
This was a good mystery with lots of twists. I liked how Miss Marple and the Detective Inspector Craddock gradually put together the truth surrounding the murder announcement.
I like the whodunnit aspect of this, but it does get a bit bogged down in hidden identities and motives. And of course Miss Marple has the perfect hidden talent for the ending. Not bad, but not the best.