Agatha Christie didn’t write as many cozy village murder mysteries as the stereotype suggests. But “A Murder is Announced” (1950) is one of them, with Christie perhaps going back to this old well in honor of it being her 50th book.
And it’s one of the most popular – featuring Miss Marple very much in her element. It’s too unwieldy to rank as an elite Christie, but its bevy of tropes at least make it a core entry.
Small-town life … and death
Marple’s stellar novel debut, “The Murder at the Vicarage” (1930), is set in her home village of St. Mary Mead. But because Marple knows everyone there so well, Christie had to move her around for future mysteries.
“A Murder is Announced” (1950)
Author: Agatha Christie
Genre: Mystery
Series: Miss Marple No. 5
Setting: Chipping Cleghorn, England, 1950
After all, Marple’s major technique is seeing parallels between the criminals in St. Mary Mead and people she meets in her current location. In his case, she’s staying with her friend, the vicar’s wife named Bunch, in Chipping Cleghorn.
Chipping Cleghorn … Bunch … Miss Murgatroyd … a murder that’s announced ahead of time in the classified ads. Christie was feeling whimsically humorous when writing this one. But it doesn’t end up quite as funny as she aims for. It starts slowly and sometimes rambles, clocking in at 288 pages.
Some of the length comes from Christie aiming to accurately portray a large team of Scotland Yard investigators. In adaptations, I’m betting this gets whittled down to two officials. Lead investigator Dermot Craddock, the godson of Sir Henry Clithering (introduced as Marple’s friend in “The Tuesday Club Murders”), meets Marple for the first time here.
He initially underestimates Marple, natch, but will later ask for her assistance in “4:50 from Paddington” and “The Mirror Crack’d.” Some investigative passages feature people higher or lower on the chain of command, but Christie writes them all the same way. I more or less read them all as being Craddock.
A delicious premise
Christie develops a solid supporting cast. Middle-aged Miss Letitia Blacklock reads in the paper that a murder will take place at her house, Little Paddocks, at 6:30 that evening (Oct. 29). She and her well-populated household (her best friend, two young cousins, a young boarder and a frantic cook) host the “murder party,” even though none of them placed the ad!
Although “A Murder is Announced” doesn’t maintain its giddiness – murder, after all, is not a game – it does tap into the fun of a murder party early on. The staging of the real killing at the party is excellent, featuring sudden pitch darkness, a wildly swinging flashlight, mysterious movements of the guests – and, later, the revelation of a secret door.
I would’ve loved a floor plan to be included. But even so, this sequence is ideal for a screen adaptation, because the confusion is built in.
All tropes accounted for
This is a core entry in Christie scholarship because it features a small village, a house, a poisoning, mysterious pasts, questionable identities, and Marple figuring it out many pages before sharing her solution with us. The answer is under our noses the whole time, yet Christie fools us (or, at least, me) with seeming ease.
“A Murder is Announced” does require some suspension of disbelief – but I was happy to participate.
One particular character, Letty’s cook Mitzi, is over the top in her hysterical fear and panic. Some readers might wonder if Mitzi is a reflection of Christie’s view of a certain type of foreigner, or instead Christie’s parody of how a “foreigner” might be portrayed in a murder mystery. Or one could argue that Mitzi’s antics are a potential clue.
At any rate, depending on a reader’s experience with Christie and cozy mysteries, “A Murder is Announced” could be a good introduction to her catalog, a mildly amusing near-parody, or (and I pick this one) an imperfect but enjoyable Marple entry.
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