A Murder is Announced

Author	Agatha Christie
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Crime novel
Publisher	Collins Crime Club
Publication date	June 1950 1950
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	256 (First Edition)
ISBN	None issued for First Edition (Reissue ISBN 0-007-20846-4)
Preceded by	Crooked House
Followed by	They Came to Baghdad

A Murder is Announced is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1950 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. It features her detective Miss Marple. It is considered a classic of the genre. Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), mainly known as Agatha Christie, was an English crime fiction writer. ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Sherlock Holmes, pipe-puffing hero of crime fiction, confers with his colleague Dr. Watson; together these characters popularized the genre. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... The Collins Crime Club was an imprint of UK book publishers William Collins & Co Ltd and ran from May 1930 to April 1994. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... See also: 1949 in literature, other events of 1950, 1951 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... ISBN-13 represented as EAN-13 bar code (in this case ISBN 978-3-16-148410-0) The International Standard Book Number, ISBN, is a unique[1] commercial book identifier barcode. ... Crooked House (published in 1949) is a whodunnit novel by Agatha Christie. ... They Came to Baghdad (published in 1951) is an espionage novel by Agatha Christie, inspired by Christies own trips to Baghdad with her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan. ... Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes Detective fiction is a branch of crime fiction that centers upon the investigation of a crime, usually murder, by a detective, either professional or amateur. ... Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), mainly known as Agatha Christie, was an English crime fiction writer. ... The Collins Crime Club was an imprint of UK book publishers William Collins & Co Ltd and ran from May 1930 to April 1994. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... See also: 1949 in literature, other events of 1950, 1951 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Frank Howard Dodd, (1844-1916), was the leading publisher at Dodd, Mead and Company of New York City from 1870 until his death, January 16, 1916. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple Jane Marple, usually known as Miss Marple, is a fictional character appearing in twelve of Agatha Christies crime novels. ... In the traditional sense of the term, a classic book is one written in ancient Greece or ancient Rome (see classics). ... Look up genre in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Plot

Chipping Cleghorn is a perfectly ordinary English village until a strange notice appears in the morning paper: "A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks, at 6:30 p.m. Friends accept this, the only intimation." This comes as a great surprise to Letitia Blacklock, the owner of Little Paddocks, who questions her residents. Dora "Bunny" Bunner, an old school friend turned companion, finds it "quite stupid and in very bad taste"; Patrick and Julia Simmons insist they've nothing to do with it; Philippa Haymes, a war widow renting a room from Letitia, seems too serious to even consider something so morbid, and Mitzi, the cook who fled to England to escape Nazi persecution, is petrified by the notice and attempts to tender her resignation. Running out of options, Ms. Blacklock decides to take it in stride and prepares herself to have guests that evening.

Naturally, the villagers are intrigued by this notice, and several of them appear on the doorstep with awkward reasons but a definite interest. It is repeatedly noticed that the central heating has been turned on and that the chrysanthemums are beautiful. Unexpectedly, however, just as the clock strikes 6:30, the lights go out and a door swings open, revealing a man with a torch.

In a heavily-accented voice, the man demands they "Stick 'em up!" Most of the guests do so, believing it to be part of a game. The game suddenly becomes much more serious when shots are fired into the room. The door slams shut, and panic takes hold: in short order, it's discovered that the fuses are blown, the gunman has been shot, and Ms. Blacklock is bleeding from a bullet's near-miss. The most curious thing of all is the gunman: Bunny recognizes him as Rudi Schertz, the receptionist at a local spa, who had apparently been begging Letitia for money just a few short days ago.

The police are soon called in, and, as luck would have it, Miss Marple is a guest at the very same spa where Rudi Schertz was employed. Inspector Craddock is advised to involve her in the case, and the two commence working together. At the spa, it emerges that Rudi has a criminal background, but almost exclusively petty theft and forgery. His girlfriend, however, reveals that not only had he been paid to appear, he believed it was all "a silly English joke": clearly he was not planning on being shot at.

With this new knowledge, Craddock returns to Chipping Cleghorn. Miss Marple, by happy coincidence, is an aunt of the local vicar's wife, and makes a surprise visit, much to the chagrin of her nephew-in-law.

The first step is to establish a motive. This initially presents a problem: Letitia has no known enemies, and while she worked extensively for a successful financier (Randall Goedler) and has done quite well for herself, she does not lead a lavish life: aside from her house, she has only the necessities. "Nothing you might call 'loot", to quote Philippa. However, when Randall Goedler died, he left his entire estate to his widow, Belle. Belle is frail and sickly, however, and will very likely die within months. Once Belle dies, the Goedler fortune passes to Letitia. Perhaps most importantly, though, if Letitia dies, then everything goes to two children of Randall's estranged sister, who are known only as "Pip" and "Emma". Nobody knows who Pip and Emma are, where they currently reside, or even what they look like, but as it emerges that they are the only ones with a motive to kill Letitia, suspicion falls over the entire village.

Inspector Craddock travels to Scotland to meet with Belle, and uncovers some interesting information about Letitia's past: Letitia and Charlotte were sisters, but Charlotte was born with a tragic disfigurement: a goitre. Their father, a traditionalist doctor, tried to treat this with home remedies, but it only exacerbated Charlotte's isolation and made her withdraw further. Just before the first world war, however, their father died, and Letitia (who had been working for Randall Goedler as an accountant and was quite wealthy) paid for the necessary surgery to repair the defect. The two sisters waited out the war in the Swiss countryside, but before it was over, Charlotte died very suddenly. Letitia returned to England shortly thereafter. A goitre (or goiter) (Latin struma), also called a bronchocele, is a swelling in the neck (just below Adams apple or larynx) due to an enlarged thyroid gland. ...

Miss Marple takes tea with Bunny, and Bunny reveals several details about the case: there is a second door into the room where the murder took place, and it has been oiled recently; she's sure that Patrick Simmons is not as he appears; and, most tellingly, she's absolutely positive there was another lamp in the room on the night of the murder. Their tete-a-tete is interrupted, however, as Letitia arrives, and she and Bunny resume their shopping.

That evening, Letitia arranges a birthday party for Bunny with half the village present. Afterwards, Bunny goes to bed early, complaining of a migraine, and takes some of Letitia's aspirin as her own seems to be missing. Bunny dies from poisoning in her sleep.

Meanwhile, there is a revelation at Boulders, a nearby pig farm. Through deduction and reenactment, Misses Hinchchliffe and Murgatroyd figure out that Murgatroyd could see who was in the room: she was standing behind the door when it swung open, meaning that she couldn't have seen Rudi, but she could see whose faces were illuminated by the flashlight beam. Someone must have snuck out of the room when the lights went out, used the second door to the hall, stood behind Rudi, and shot at him--and Miss Blacklock! If Murgatroyd can remember who wasn't in the room, she can remember who the murderer is!

Before she can remember, though, the telephone rings: one of their dogs is ready to be collected from town. Hinchliffe hops in the car and heads into the village, while Murgatroyd continues to ponder the question. Suddenly, it hits her, and she runs into the driveway, shouting "She wasn't there!" as Hinch pulls away. She continues screaming as it begins to rain, and realizing that Hinch isn't turning around, goes to collect the washing from the line so it doesn't get wet.

As Hinchcliffe sings along to the radio as she drives, Murgatroyd is throttled from behind with a pair of tights. Hinchliffe meets Miss Marple in town and invites her back for a cup of tea; upon their return, they discover Murgatroyd's body, and Hinch reveals a key clue to Miss Marple: "She wasn't there".

At Little Paddocks, Letitia receives a letter from Julia Simmons; or, rather, the real Julia Simmons, who lives in Perth. She confronts "Julia" with the letter, and "Julia" reveals that she is actually Emma Stamfordis, of the quizzical Pip & Emma. Patrick, however, is still Patrick: the two are madly in love, and had been posing as bother and sister for propriety. The real Julia is studying to become an actress, and agreed to the plot in order to satisfy her parents.

Emma insists she is wholly uninvolved in the assassination attempt. As proof, she cites her experience in the French resistance: "If I had been shooting at you, Letitia Blacklock, I wouldn't have missed." She's simply a poor, abandoned child who had hoped to have some of her family's money, and had been meaning to come forward prior to the murders. Understandably, when the bodies began showing up, she assumed it was best to keep her mouth shut and let it pass.

As Mitzi is now in complete paranoid dementia, she is refusing to cook. Emma makes omelettes for everyone, and while she is doing so, Philippa Haymes sneaks into the kitchen with yet another revelaton: she is Pip, and is equally uninvolved in the murders.

The final clue, however, slides into place that night at the vicarage. Miss Marple spills a glass of water on the frayed cord of a lamp, and the fuse is blown. Everything suddenly makes sense.

Inspector Craddock gathers everyone at Little Paddocks and launches the final inquest. Each person present has an alibi, and some have suspicions, most of them incorrect. This is interrupted by Mitzi appearing, revealing that she knows who has committed the murder: she accuses Letitia. Those present quickly diffuse and ridicule her, after all, Ms. Blacklock was shot at. Mitzi returns to the kitchen, depressed and despondent.

Ms. Blacklock reprieves herself from the room, and goes to rest a bit. The inspector continues to probe, and quickly discovers that "Julia" is Emma, while Philippa is Pip. They deny any involvement.

The real murderer is in the kitchen, attempting to drown Mitzi in the sink. Mitzi was right: it was Ms. Blacklock all along. She's interrupted and arrested by Miss Marple and a local constable. The struggle attracts the attention of the others, and Hinchliff attacks Ms. Blacklock, furious and raging over Murgatroyd's death, before breaking down in tears over the loss of her friend.

Miss Marple explains it quite simply: it wasn't Charlotte who died in Switzerland, but Letitia. Charlotte posed as Letitia, returned to England, and claimed her fortune; after a few years away from the country, a slight change in appearance would be understandable, and the two sisters had many of the same friends to begin with. This is also why "Letitia" started wearing neck jewelry after returning to England: it hid the surgery scar and made it easier to pass as her sister.

However, Rudi Schertz could have ruined everything: he worked at the Swiss hotel where the sisters had stayed, and could have remembered far too much. This is why "Letitia" hired him to come to Chipping Cleghorn and "hold up" a room full of guests: after she blew the fuse by pouring water from a vase of flowers onto the frayed cord of a lamp, she slipped out the second door, stood behind Rudi, and shot him. She then nicked her ear with a pair of scissors and rejoined the others, playing the part of perplexed host.

Dora became the next target because she, too, could reveal too much. Despite her weak mind, Dora had an eye for detail, and was prone to slip-ups: more than once or twice, she accidentally referred to Ms. Blacklock as "Lottie" instead of "Lettie", and her conversation with Miss Marple in the cafe proved fatal. Dora simply knew too much, and had to be eliminated.

Miss Murgatroyd, the final victim, was also killed for knowing too much.

Characters

• Miss Marple
• Inspector Craddock
• Letitia Blacklock, middle aged lady of the house
• Dora Bunner, her fluttery childhood friend
• Patrick Simmons, Ms. Blacklock's nephew
• Julia Simmons, Ms. Blacklock's niece
• Mitzi, Ms. Blacklock's Housekeeper and cook
• Phillipa Haymes, a widowed paying guest
• Colonel Easterbrook, blustery old colonel just returned from India
• Mrs Easterbrook, his considerably younger wife
• Mrs Swettenham, elderly lady who dotes on her son
• Edmund Swettenham, cynical young gentleman
• Miss Hinchcliff, efficient lady farmer
• Miss Murgatroyd, her pleasant but giggly companion
• Bunch Harmon, wife of the local vicar
• Rudi Schertz, the receptionist at a local spa of Swiss extraction

Stage and film versions

Adapted for the stage in 1977 by Leslie Darbon. It was acted live for NBC in 1956, and filmed with Joan Hickson as Miss Marple in 1986 (director David Giles). A later version featuring Geraldine McEwan, with radical plot changes, was made in 2005. The cast included Zöe Wanamaker as Letitia Blacklock; and Christian Pedersen as Rudi Scherz. Live television refers to television broadcasts of events or performances on a delay of between zero and fifteen seconds, rather than from video recordings or film. ... The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... Joan Hickson played Miss Marple in the popular BBC TV series Joan Hickson OBE (August 5, 1906 – October 17, 1998) was an English actress of theatre, film and television, who achieved fame in her old age playing Agatha Christies Miss Marple. ... David Giles is a British television film director. ... Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple Geraldine McEwan (born Geraldine McKeown on May 9, 1932, in Old Windsor, Berkshire, England), is a British actress (of Irish extraction) with a diverse and successful history in film, theatre and television spanning 55 years. ... Zoë Wanamaker CBE (born May 13, 1949)) is an American-born English actress. ...

Divergences Between 1986 and 2005 Versions

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External links

• http://www.all-about-agatha-christie.com/a-murder-is-announced.html