Book Review: A Murder is Announced

A Murder Is Announced - Agatha Christie

Book: A Murder is Announced

 

Author: Agatha Christie

 

Genre: Fiction/Mystery

 

Summary: The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn are agog with curiosity when the Gazette advertises "A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6:30 p.m." A childish practical joke? Or a spiteful hoax? Unable to resist the mysterious invitation, the locals arrive at Little Paddocks at the appointed time when, without warning, the lights go out and a gun is fired. When they come back on, a gruesome scene is revealed. An impossible crime? Only Miss Marple can unravel it. - William Morrow, 2011 (First published in 1950).

 

 

I'm almost ashamed of myself for not finishing this sooner. It's Agatha Christie for heaven's sake! It's not that it bored me or lost my interest - I simply found myself preoccupied with other things and lost track of time. Now that I've finally finished it, I can give my final thoughts.

 

I was glad I read this so soon after a Poirot mystery - it allowed me to really see the difference in styles for how Christie writes Miss Marple versus Poirot. While Poirot is very procedural and to the point, Marple's style is more "story telling" in nature. Marple herself is hardly in the story at all and does the majority of her deductions "behind the page" as it were. This wasn't really an issue for me because I like being given the opportunity to examine the crime and suspects on my own without being "guided" by the detective in question.

 

For this particular mystery, I think I would've been completely taken aback had I not already spoiled myself by watching the BBC episode of Marple years before. In spite of this, I still found the mystery and its pieces to be truly clever. No piece came out of left field. Everything had a connection, even if it wasn't obvious at first. It makes me appreciate Christie's creativity all the more.

 

The locals of a village are shocked and curious when an advertisement for a murder is placed in the local paper. After they all gather at the potential scene of the crime, the "joke" turns into a more serious matter. Miss Marple and the police have to solve the mystery behind the tragic results of the announcement, as well as who placed it.

 

The writing is very engaging and less methodical, as I mentioned before. The characters are pretty easy to keep track of and I think it was one of the most fun (if you can call it that) reads I've had this summer.

 

I give A Murder is Announced an A+.

 

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