In 2017, before Kenneth Branagh’s version of “Murder on the Orient Express”, I reread that book. That’s the last time I read one of Agatha Christie’s mysteries until I saw a discussion on Twitter of A Murder is Announced. That’s when I realized I hadn’t ever read that Miss Marple mystery, and it was time. What an excellent puzzle, although I’ll admit I did pay close attention and caught the killer before the grand reveal.

The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn might read other newspapers, but they always read the personal ads in the North Benham News and Chipping Cleghorn Gazette (the Gazette). One ad caught everyone’s attention. “A murder is announced and will take place of Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks, at 6:30 P.M. Friends please accept this, the only intimation.” It certainly caught the attention of Miss Blacklock, owner of the home, Little Paddocks. She asked the cook, Mitzi, to prepare a few tidbits because she expected the neighbors to show up.

Miss Blacklock is correct. Her neighbors do show up, many of them expecting an evening of the “Murder Game” when someone is it, taps someone as the victim, and everyone has to guess who is the killer. There was excitement when the lights went out at 6:30, and even more excitement when there were shots. When everyone could see again, there was a dead victim, and an injured one. But, the police have a confusing mess on their hands as they try to identify possible suspects, and, even the potential victim.

Early on, Sir Henry Clithering, ex-Commissioner of Scotland Yard, is visiting with the officers in charge of the murder investigation. When asked about the village itself, he says he recognizes the type, “Nice old pussies and retired colonels.” He describes his own “old pussy”, Miss Marple. “She’s just the finest detective God ever made. Natural genius cultivated in a suitable soil.” And, he warns Detective Inspector Dermot Craddock. “Don’t you despise the old pussies in this village of yours, my boy. In case this turns out to be a high-powered mystery,…remember that an elderly unmarried woman who knits and gardens is streets ahead of any detective sergeant.”

While Clithering’s comments about “nice old pussies” don’t sound correct to our 21st century ear, he’s actually an admirer of Miss Marple and her ability to discover the truth about a mystery. In fact, Miss Marple accepts the stereotype of old women, “That we old women always do snoop. It would be very odd and more more noticed if I didn’t.” She’s skillful in inserting herself into village life, and getting to know all the suspects. And, she’s cognizant that, since the war, people have moved, changed their social positions in life, and no one really knows their neighbors as they did in the past.

Despite the fact that I realized who the killer was, it was worth the time to go back and read one of Agatha Christie’s traditional mysteries. As a friend said, her plots, and her adept way of unveiling a mystery will remain a gold standard. I enjoyed A Murder is Announced, with the grand reveal. I’m going to try to pick up more of the Miss Marple mysteries that I haven’t read.

Here’s the library edition of A Murder is Announced that I read. A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie. Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 1950, 1978. ISBN 9781579126292 (hardcover), 288p. Note: The jacket cover shown is not the jacket cover of the book I read.


FTC Full Disclosure – Library book