‘Establishes firmly her claim to the throne of detection. The plot is as ingenious as ever… the dialogue both wise and witty; while the suspense is maintained very skilfully until the final revelation.’
A.A. Milne
Book blurb
An ordinary village
A shocking announcement
One morning the villagers of Chipping Cleghorn wake to find a strange notice in their papers:
‘A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30pm.’
Suspecting this is just a joke, they gather for some evening entertainment.
Then a gunshot is heard.
In desperation, the police turn to an old lady whose hobbies are gardening, gossiping – and solving murders.
After all, old ladies know better than anyone exactly what goes on in quiet English villages…
Never underestimate Miss Marple
My thoughts
Well a little late with my post but I did read this book by the 21 December deadline.
This up there as one of my favourite Christie books. It’s a terrific storyline – placing an advert in the local Chipping Cleghorn newspaper inviting readers to meet at a particular time 6.30 pm on a specific date Friday, 29th October at Little Paddocks – an invitation to a murder!
So the murder is announced.
The characters are introduced as they read this strange invitation and make of it what they will. Some are curious, some think it’s a joke, some that it’s an invite to a murder game to take place at their neighbours house.
But this is no joke, no game as they are to find out!
A man who has attempted to hold up by gun point the people who have gathered somehow shoots himself and dies! He has attempted to kill the hostess, Miss Blacklock, luckily only nicking her ear. It all takes place in the dark but is there more than meets the eye to this incident?
Inspector Craddock is called in to investigate and is aided, at first a little begrudgingly, by that marvellous little old lady sleuth Miss Marple.
There are quite tragically subsequent murders and I don’t think I will give anything away by saying that the investigation is concluded by taking a killer into custody following, as ever, the gathering of those who might well have ‘dunnit’ and a nicely theatrical declaration of who the murderer is and why they killed.
Christie writes wonderfully, as no doubt her fans know, leaving a breadcrumb trail of clues for those who enjoy the puzzling part of a crime story and masterfully pulling together each of them to solve the mystery of what happened, why the murders were necessary (in the killer’s mind) and who the killer is.
This is a thoroughly enjoyable read and a book well worth reading .
Book: Purchased
Classic club
The Classics Club
2024-2029
Here are the directions from The Classics Club:
At your blog, before Sunday October 19, create a post to list your choice of any twenty books that remain “to be read” on your Classics Club list.
On Sunday October 19, we’ll post a number from 1 through 20.
The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by December 21, 2025.
My read, My CC Spin (No42) list
As #17 was the number chosen I will be reading:
A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED BY AGATHA CHRISTIE | 1950 | 256PP (45 ON MY LIST)
Interested? JOIN THE CLASSICS CLUB
Information
Published: HarperCollins | 14 Oct 2010 (Originally published 1950) | 240 pp | ISBN-13 : 978-0007422524
Buy: HarperCollins | Amazon | Bookshop.org | Hive | Your local bookshop | Your local library
Author
Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in over 70 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 20 plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott.
Mysteries: The Man in the Brown Suit | The Secret of Chimneys | The Seven Dials Mystery | The Mysterious Mr Quin | The Sittaford Mystery | The Hound of Death | The Listerdale Mystery | Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?
Parker Pyne Investigates: Murder Is Easy | And Then There Were None | Towards Zero | Death Comes as the End Sparkling Cyanide | Crooked House | They Came to Baghdad Destination Unknown | Spider’s Web* | The Unexpected Guest* | Ordeal by Innocence | The Pale Horse | Endless Night | Passenger To Frankfurt | Problem at Pollensa Bay | While the Light Lasts
Poirot: The Mysterious Affair at Styles | The Murder on the Links | Poirot Investigates | The Murder of Roger Ackroyd The Big Four | The Mystery of the Blue Train | Black Coffee* Peril at End House | Lord Edgware Dies | Murder on the Orient Express | Three-Act Tragedy | Death in the Clouds | The ABC Murders | Murder in Mesopotamia | Cards on the Table | Murder in the Mews |Dumb Witness | Death on the Nile |Appointment with Death | Hercule Poirot’s Christmas | Sad Cypress | One, Two, Buckle My Shoe | Evil Under the Sun | Five Little Pigs | The Hollow | The Labours of Hercules | Taken at the Flood | Mrs McGinty’s Dead | After the Funeral | Hickory Dickory Dock | Dead Man’s Folly |nCat Among the Pigeons | The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding | The Clocks | Third Girl | Hallowe’en Party | Elephants Can Remember | Poirot’s Early Cases | Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case
Tommy & Tuppence: The Secret Adversary | Partners in Crime | N or M? \ By the Pricking of My Thumbs | Postern of Fate
Published as Mary Westmacott: Giant’s Bread | Unfinished Portrait | Absent in the Spring | The Rose and the Yew Tree | A Daughter’s a Daughter | The Burden
Memoirs: An Autobiography | Come, Tell Me How You Live | The Grand Tour
Play and Stories: Akhnaton | The Mousetrap and Other Plays| The Floating Admiral† | Star Over Bethlehem | Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly
*novelized by Charles Osborne | †contributor
Miss Marple
The sweet little old lady from St Mary Mead with an uncanny knack for solving crimes that baffle the police. Her seemingly sheltered village life in fact provides a microcosm of human nature that forms the basis of her intuitive deductions
Miss Marple Books
If you want to read the stories chronologically (in terms of
Miss Marple’s lifetime), the official Agatha Christie website recommend the following order:
The Murder at the Vicarage [1930]
The Thirteen Problems (short stories) [1932]
Miss Marple’s Final Cases (short stories) [1979]
The Body in the Library [1942]
The Moving Finger [1942]
Sleeping Murder [1976]
A Murder is Announced [1950]
They Do It With Mirrors [1952]
A Pocket Full of Rye [1953]
’Greenshaw’s Folly’ [1956]
4.50 from Paddington [1957]
The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side [1962]
A Caribbean Mystery [1964]
At Bertram’s Hotel [1965]
Nemesis [1971]
Notes: Although published in 1976, Sleeping Murder was written during World War II and portrays a sprightlier Miss Marple than Nemesis. The title Miss Marple’s Final Cases is a misnomer, because most of the short stories are actually set (and were written) in the 1940’s. ‘Greenshaw’s Folly’ is published in The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding.
Downloadable/printable List (U.K. and USA versions)
Miss Marple Books in published order
The Tuesday Night Club (1927) – aka The Solving Six
1. The Murder at the Vicarage (1930)
Death By Drowning (1932)
The Thirteen Problems (1932) – aka The Tuesday Club Murders
2. The Body in the Library (1942)
3. The Moving Finger (1942)
4. Sleeping Murder (1976)
5. A Murder Is Announced (1950)
6. They Do It with Mirrors (1952) – aka Murder with Mirrors
7. A Pocket Full of Rye (1953)
8. 4.50 from Paddington (1957) – aka What Mrs McGillicuddy Saw
9. The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side (1961)
10. A Caribbean Mystery (1964)
11. At Bertram’s Hotel (1965)
The Bloodstained Pavement (1966)
12. Nemesis (1971)
13. Clues for Miss Marple (1977)
Miss Marple’s Final Cases (1979) | Miss Marple and Mystery (2008)
Janet - LoveBooks, ReadBooks: A readers musings, thoughts and reviews 
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