Friday Night Murder: A Murder is Announced | 1950

(image from here)

He said reverently: "She's just the finest detective God ever made. Natural genius cultivated in a suitable soil." 

-Sir Henry Clithering, A Murder is Announced, p. 58

The Sum of It:
Our latest read just happens to be one of my very favorites: A Murder is Announced. Not only does it feature Miss Jane Marple (who I dare say may be my favorite Agatha detective to read! #stillalsolovepoirot #dontworry), but the premise and solution are some of my very favorites.

This postwar story takes place in the small village of Chipping Cleghorn (these town names just get better and better!) on the morning of Friday, October 29th. Everyone is casually opening up their morning papers and reading every bit of it (as one should read the paper), including the section where people are selling their furniture and whatnot, and lo and behold there is a murder announcement:

"A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6:30 p.m. Friends please accept this, the only intimation"

Uh, weird, right? Friends of the mistress of Little Paddocks, one Miss Letitia Blacklock, are a little puzzled by the announcement, but are also 100% planning to show up at 6:30 to see what happens. Stranger still, Miss Blacklock and her household of "scatty" (*frequently used Agatha descriptor*) companion Dora, two cousins Julia and Patrick, lodger Philippa, and dramatic maid Mitzi, are equally puzzled after reading the newspaper, with no-one owning up to placing the announcement. Evening arrives and the neighbors start arriving, pretending like nothing is up and all nonchalantly commenting on how Miss Blacklock has turned on the central heating and has some lovely flowers on display (#chrysanthemums). But the evening turns deadly when the lights suddenly go out, a man demands everyone in the darkened to "stick em up!", shots are fired, and when the dust clears, the group's stranger attacker is found dead in the hallway, presumably having killed himself when the robbery went wrong.

Inspector Craddock appears on the scene to interview each of the bizarre evening's attendees and ends up with conflicting reports, many revealed secrets, and more questions than answers. Who was the rando who ended up dead? Was he trying to kill Miss Blacklock? If he didn't kill himself…then who did? But never fear, Miss Marple enters the mix via her old pal Sir Henry Clithering and makes quick work of this Chipping Cleghorn conundrum.

The YOA Treatment:
It's a bit difficult to talk about what exactly I LOVE about this particular Agatha Christie novel because it would require #spoilers (don't worry - I shan't really give away anything!) What I'm getting at is that the story's solution is built upon a succession of such terrifically placed clues, some of which are typographical (#hint) and therefore so delightfully clever! When I finished reading this book for the first time, I had to go back nearly page by page so search out the breadcrumbs Agatha had left me along the way that I had just completely breezed by.

This was another one of Agatha's personal favorite books, and in the same way of And Then There Were None and Orient Express you can tell the added effort she made with both the story and her characters. You still have the fairly formulaic roles (the gruff army Colonel, the sulking young people, a bumbling companion, etc.) and yet their personalities shine through more than many Agatha books.

All in all, I would highly recommend A Murder is Announced and keeping an eye on your local newspaper - you never know what kind of announcements you'll find!

-A.