A Murder Is Announced

This novel was published in 1950. The well-known Agatha Christie character, Jane Marple – an old lady detective – is the central character of the novel. It is one of the Agatha Christie novels with an interesting plot set for a crime.

The local newspaper ‘The Gazette’ of the village of Chipping Cleghorn carries a news stating that a murder will happen at Little Paddocks – house of an old lady Letitia Blacklock. The events which follow is the theme of the novel. Inspector Craddock, Dora Bunner – friend to Miss Blacklock, Patrick and Julia Simmons – cousins of Miss Blacklock, Mitzi – housekeeper of Miss Blacklock, Phillipa Haymes – a widowed gardener, Colonel and Mrs Easterbrook, Mrs Swettenham and Edward Swettenham, Miss HInchcliffe and Amy Murgatroyd and Mrs Harmon are the other major characters of the novel.

Unlike Hercule Poirot novels, Jane Marple in this novel is not a character present throughout the storyline. She comes and goes but essentially is the heroine who solves the mystery. Just like every other Agatha Christie novels, the reader’s intellect may seem a little far away from solving the crime. The twists she puts into her novels are far too clever for a common reader to recognize and hence her novels are a delight to read.