Amazon.co.uk:Customer reviews: A Murder is Announced (Marple, Book 5) (Miss Marple Series)

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 August 2020

Christie captivates again. When an advert in the local paper announces a murder is to occur at Miss Blacklock's house at 6.30pm that day half the village turns up. Lo and behold a murder does occur, the lights go out, a man enters and demands they "stick'em up" flicks a torch around the room and fires three shots.

Two were aimed at Miss Blacklock herself, nicking her ear but no worse. But with the third shot kills himself.

When the lights come back on the astonished gathering see a bleeding Miss Blacklock and the body of a dubious looking young man; a man who worked at a local hotel who has a shady past.

Inspector Craddock is sure something isn't right about the case and when his uncle, Sir Henry, ex-comissioner of Scotland Yard, invites Miss Marple to look over the case she agrees. Craddock and Miss Marple piece together the snippets and discard the red herrings that Christie dexterously slips into her narrative.

As always it's possible to work it out, which is one of the best things about her novels, or at least have a good guess at who but when the denouement arrives you'll see just how many tiny clues you missed!

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Drew Payne

“A murder is announced and will take place on Friday October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30 p.m.”

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 January 2022

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“A murder is announced and will take place on Friday October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30 p.m.”

So reads the announcement in the Chipping Cleghorn Gazette that morning. That evening, the local neighbours all dutifully turn up at Little Paddocks, all with their different excuses for being there. At 6.30 p.m., without warning, all the lights go out and…

This is the beginning of one of Agatha Christie’s most intriguing novels that is firmly rooted in post-war Britain. She chose to set it in the classic, golden age of crime setting of an English country village. But this is a place very changed by the Second World War. No longer is it a place where everyone knows everyone else. This is a place of strangers. The war caused such upheaval; many people left the village, many never to return, and newcomers have moved in, people whom everyone else has to accept are who they claim to be without “knowing their people”. Christie uses this as a strong thread to her plot, are these people even who they say they are?

Her intriguing plot is served well by the tone Christie creates in this novel. At first it is light-hearted and almost comic, the surprise and speculation in the characters’ reactions to the announcement of a murder, none of them believing it is anything sinister. Even after the first murder, she maintains this light tone; the victim is a stranger and certainly not a “good type” of person. But slowly the novel darkens; the second murder is too close to home and casts a dark shadow over the story. Christie handles this well; the grief of some of the characters is uncomfortable to read.

This novel uses several plots trails that will be familiar to Christie readers, but here she certainly plays around with them. The village setting but with a cast of characters very different from her pre-war novels, her use of sexism to aid her plot and having the detective gather all the suspects together in one place to announce who the murderer is. Christie created this convention with her first novel, though she used it sparingly in her subsequent works nowhere near as much as the film adaptions of her works would lead us to believe. Here, though, it is the police inspector who gathers together the suspects, not Miss Marple, and it is not to unmask the killer but to lay a trap for them.

This novel also benefits from having Miss Marple as its detective, rather than Poirot. Poirot was always the star of the novels featuring him, while Miss Marple was so often one of the supporting characters, watching the events from the sidelines. Here Christie uses her to her best, aiding the plot but also giving the other characters chance to breathe by not being in every scene.

In the centre of all this is a portrait of a lesbian couple, whom all the other characters except without question. Only at the end, after tragedy has struck, do we see the depth of their love.

Agatha Christie might not have been the greatest of literary writers, but what she did do she did so well. She knew how to plot her novels; she created twists that never left the reader feeling cheated. She laid just enough clues so that once the twist occurs you can feel, “Oh that makes sense now.” She also knew the characters she wrote about, the upper middle-class English, though her novels also chronicle the changes in English society. She might not have been the finest descriptive writer but she knew how to create characters with dialog and used that effectively.

This certainly is a classic Christie, plot, characters and setting all come together to make a fascinating read. I challenge you to work out who the murderer is, until they are revealed and then it all makes horrible sense.

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The booktrail

Mystery set in Chipping Cleghorn

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 April 2020

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All Agatha Christies are good but this has a special charm to it. I’m on a mission to read all the Christie’s I haven’t read yet and this was one of them until recently.
Set in the fictional village of Chipping Cleghom in England, there is a furore and excitement when the following appears in the local newspaper:

“A Murder is Announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th at Little Paddocks at 6:30pm. Friends please accept this the only intimation.”
Well of course, you can imagine what happens next. The entire village turns up and of course, there is a murder. The characters in this novel leap from the page and there are so many red herrings, relationships, secrets, resentments and anger bubbling under the surface, it’s hard to decide where the novel will go.

It takes you along for the ride, and what a ride it is!

A classic Christie setting not just in location but in time and place - this is a world after WW2 that is changing and this time Christie really goes into that world, the historical context and the fact that people travel, move around, disappear and move away like never before.

Recommended and then some!

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White Rose

outdated, I guess

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 March 2021

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I really wanted to like this, had plans to read all Agatha Christie['s books but I gave up half way through the first chapter... some things have aged well, some haven't, this was a good idea but dull (to me) writing and too much explaining. The first shots were no surprise and after that the book was deleted from the kindle.

It's the same with Jane Austen, I can't read this old stuff any more...
apart from Jane Eyre, which is still worth reading, all RF Delderfield books, Nevil Shute books... Ray Bradbury... OK, so I'm wrong, I can read old stuff but it has to be relevant and these authors are still relevant today. On the Beach could be talking about Covid-19
Go explore.

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M. King

Not her best

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 September 2020

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Spoilt for me in that it was fairly easy to conclude who the villain was very early on in this book..it’s not her cleverest writing. And once you know, the rest of the story becomes inconsequential fluff unless the characters are very well drawn, which unfortunately they’re not.

Add to which the first murder which actually is complete overkill (pardon the pun) and serves only to direct attention where the murderer wouldn’t want it.

Silly and predictable and highly unconvincing.

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Polly Morgan

Clever and witty!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 November 2020

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We all know that Agatha Christie is the Queen of murder mystery novels, but I was incredibly surprised by just how many intricate clues were weaved throughout this story. The beauty of these novels is how interactive they are – you can play along trying to guess the killer. They are perfect for ‘arm chair detectives’ and for analysing each detail. Everything means something, which demonstrates how clever Agatha Christie was. There are red herrings galore and plenty of clues to be able to identify the killer (not that I ever can!). The writing is clear, clever and witty, which makes it such a joy to read.

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A murder is announced

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 June 2012

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Locals are inclined to think it is a joke when they see a murder announced at the personal column of their local paper. Naturally they all decide to turn up at the address shown at the right time to see what happens. When a murder - or possibly suicide - does actually take place they are all horrified. Miss Marple is fortunately staying at the hotel where the victim worked and has soon accepted an invitation to stay with the vicar and his wife for the duration of the police investigation.

This is a fascinating mystery with many secrets and many people not being exactly what they seem to be. Trying to piece together all the strands of information will keep most readers guessing. I didn't work out who was the murderer until they were actually revealed. I thought all the characters were very well drawn and convincing and the clues and red herrings were well scattered around. Miss Marple played much more of a part in this story than she does in some. I liked the police characters in this story especially Inspector Craddock who seemed very calm but also very intelligent and observant.

I read most of Agatha Christie's novels back in the 1960s and 1970s and reading them again decades later I am finding they have stood the test of time extremely well. If you want crime novels with excellent characters and brilliant plotting then you cannot beat Agatha Christie.

12 people found this helpful

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Miss Read

Good for Agatha Christie fans

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 September 2019

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A Miss Marple who done it. A complicated plot may be a bit dated for some. The story line is good and the characters well drawn.
I haven't read this kindle edition yet so don't know if there are the usual typos, but have read the book several times over the years.
I build up my kindle library with old favourites when they are on offer so when I go away I have a good choice. I know I will enjoy dipping into this one

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Molly143

As always with Miss Marple...whodunnit

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 October 2019

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As a lover of Miss Marple I am sorry to only give this book a 4 star rating, the reason is purely that I found the beginning very slow. However to all readers please keep reading because it does develop and you get to that stage where you want to know the ending.

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jacky mercury

Classic Miss Marple

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 October 2019

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I read this and many other Agatha Christie books when I was about 14, but although I did enjoy it immensely, I do now see she wasn't the perfect writer i thought her to be. None of that matters, the charm of the characters, ingenuity of plot and familiarity from dozens of Tv and film adaptations of her books, make it irresistible.

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5 star		68%
4 star		22%
3 star		6%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

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