Small Town Secrets: A Murder is Announced 2.0

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"Ye gods and little fishes," said Sir Henry, "can it be? George, it's my own particular, one and only, four-starred pussy. The super-pussy of all old pussies. And she has managed somehow to be at Medenham Wells, instead of peacefully at home in St. Mary Mead, just at the right time to be mixed up in a murder. Once more a murder is announced -- for the benefit and enjoyment of Miss Marple."
- A Murder is Announced, p. 71

The Sum of It

First of all how adorably quaint is that quote, which in these modern times COULD be read with one's mind in the gutter to much hilarity. So, exciting news in the little village of Chipping Cleghorn -- literally -- as the citizens open their morning papers over breakfast. "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," reads a small announcement amid notices of available dachshund puppies and antiques for sale. The curiousity of several is stoked, and they turn up promptly at Ms. Letitia Blacklock's home, Little Paddocks, to see what the mystery is all about. Everyone is quite shocked when a sudden power outage plunges the drawing room into darkness, and then a voice yelling at everyone to put their hands up is followed by one gunshot and then another! When the room is re-lit, the hostess is covered in blood from a wound on her ear due to a near miss, and the masked intruder lies dead in the hallway #DRAMA. 

Who put the notice in the paper? Who planned this whole event? Was someone really trying to kill Miss Blacklock, and if so why? The police must sort through the curious inhabitants of Chipping Cleghorn to find the answers to these questions and more, particularly after another murder follows the death of the intruder. Fortunately for them, Miss Marple just so happens to be in town visiting the local vicar's wife, daughter of one of her old pals. It quickly turns out the shooting is only one of many mysteries as Miss Marple and the local detectives uncover multiple secret identities, money plots, hidden doorways, and old ladies on the coast of Scotland to get to the bottom of the murder announced. 

The YOA Treatment

J'adore Miss Marple, and her ability to be on the spot just as mysteries pop up around her certainly delights in this classic tale. She's at the top of her game in this book, still sprightly enough to go tramping down village lanes and hide in cupboards, and certainly not missing a beat in her analyses of human nature. This is a well-crafted mystery, one that keeps the reader guessing, but also one that does offer some good hints along the way that might allow the clever reader to figure out who-dunnit, a rarity in Agatha's books! 

One of the interesting aspects of this book among the Agatha-folk is the inclusion of the characters Miss Murgatroyd and Miss Hinchliffe, two spinster ladies who live together and take care of each other. It honestly seems quite clear that the two might even be a couple, which seems awfully open minded of 1950's Agatha, herself quite Victorian in her typical sensibilities! Another one of my favorite aspects of the book is the prominent role a goiter plays, as this malady can't help but being amusing in its randomness and drama. I really enjoyed this story, and though I was familiar with its twists from the television adaptation (which is great #MatthewGoode #HeartEyesForever), I was still eager to reach Miss Marple's reveal of the true murderer in the end. I'll certainly recommend this one to Agatha-curious pals.

- E. 

Poirot's Mythology Lesson: The Labors of Hercules 2.0

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"In the period before his final retirement he would accept twelve cases, no more, no less. And those twelve cases should be selected with special reference to the twelve labors of ancient Hercules. Yes, that would not only be amusing, it would be artistic, it would be spiritual." 

-The Labors of Hercules, p. 14

The Sum of It: 

Poirot is going through one of those phases where he's being kind of dramatic about retiring. In that he's like should I retire? Should I not retire? Should I work on my vegetable marrow cultivation? (The whole vegetable marrow obsession of Poirot's is one of my favorite things in all of Christie's writing.) He's having a little night in with a rando pal named Dr. Burton and they're discussing retirement among other things and Dr. Burton randomly pivots to ask the history behind Poirot's first name: Hercule. Dr. Burton is wondering if it's like a family name? Were his parents really into reading The Classics? Poirot is like uh IDK, also IDK about The Classics, NEVER READ THEM. The next day Poirot is feeling lame for not having read The Classics, particularly those tales about his namesake, Hercules, and, after learning a bit about said Greek hero, decides he will give himself a little challenge: before he retires he will accept only twelve more cases, and each case will match up with one of the twelve labors of Hercules. 

What follows in this book is twelve short stories outlining these twelve "final" cases of Poirot (as we know, Poirot rarely follows through with his retirement ultimatums and always gets pulled into doing "one more!" so we can never take the word "final" very seriously). Besides the mythology connection theme, there isn't necessarily an overarching mystery thread going between them all, but this is kind of a welcome change to Poirot's usual stories, and we get to see a lot of different cases involving kidnapped dogs, missing school girls, disgraced prime ministers, blackmailed hotel guests, and even Poirot's old girlfriend, Countess Vera Rossakoff! 

The YOA Treatment:

As you probably heard time and time again during our initial Year of Agatha, Emily and I were not huge fans of Agatha's short story collections. Nothing against short stories in general, we just prefer a longer, more in-depth mystery in novel form. However, reading The Labors of Hercules might have converted me to a short story liker, if not a full blown short story lover. I was not very familiar with these particular cases (since Emily read them for our first Year of Agatha, and I can't remember if I had ever read this book as a kid!) so it was fun to experience some puzzles that were unfamiliar. The concept seems a bit gimmicky, but Agatha does a good job of presenting plausible cases that tie into Hercules's labors and with a bit of a lighter tone than some of her other short stories. It was also interesting to see her, as she has done with other short stories, test out some ideas that make it into her later novels. The most obvious example from this collection is the similarities between The Girdle of Hippolyta and Cat Among the Pigeons. I was a little sad to not see Hastings by Poirot's side in this set, but Japp and Poirot's ever-faithful valet, George, make several appearances. 

Overall, I heartily recommend The Labors of Hercules as a fun, easy Poirot that can be read in multiple sittings or, honestly, just one dedicated afternoon. And if you're usually averse to short stories, I dare you to give this one a chance and see if it doesn't make you a convert as well.

-A.

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