A Murder is Announced

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A Murder is Announced (published in 1950) is a detective novel by Agatha Christie, featuring her detective Miss Marple. It is considered a classic of the genre.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Characters 3 Stage and film versions 4 External Links

[edit] Plot

A mysterious invitation excites an entire town: "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." A host of people show up to play what they assume is a murder game.

A mysterious stranger shows up outside the door just as the lights go off. The door opens and he directs his lighted flashlight at everyone in the room. No one can see his face. Then there are sounds of gun-shots and the assembled party panic. After the lights come up, the frightened party find the stranger lying dead outside the door. Someone has shot at Ms. Letitia Blacklock, the mistress of the house. She is safe but her dress is drenched in blood.

Fearing another murder, Miss Marple is called in to solve the crime.

[edit] 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 Hinchcliffe, efficient lady farmer
• Miss Murgatroyd, her pleasant but giggly companion
• Bunch Harmon, wife of the local vicar

[edit] 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.

[edit] External Links

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

Agatha Christie
Detectives: Hercule Poirot • Miss Marple • Tommy and Tuppence • Ariadne Oliver • Arthur Hastings • Superintendent Battle • Chief Inspector Japp • Parker Pyne
Novels: The Mysterious Affair at Styles • The Secret Adversary • Murder on the Links • The Man in the Brown Suit • The Secret of Chimneys • The Murder of Roger Ackroyd • The Big Four • The Mystery of the Blue Train • The Seven Dials Mystery • The Murder at the Vicarage • The Sittaford Mystery • Peril at End House • Lord Edgware Dies • Murder on the Orient Express • Three Act Tragedy • Why Didn't They Ask Evans? • Death in the Clouds • The A.B.C. Murders • Murder in Mesopotamia • Cards on the Table • Death on the Nile • Dumb Witness • Appointment with Death • And Then There Were None • Murder is Easy • Hercule Poirot's Christmas • Sad Cypress • Evil Under the Sun • N or M? • One, Two, Buckle My Shoe • The Body in the Library • Five Little Pigs • The Moving Finger • Towards Zero • Sparkling Cyanide • Death Comes as the End • The Hollow • Taken at the Flood • Crooked House • A Murder is Announced • They Came to Baghdad • Mrs McGinty's Dead • They Do It with Mirrors • A Pocket Full of Rye • After the Funeral • Hickory Dickory Dock • Destination Unknown • Dead Man's Folly • 4.50 From Paddington • Ordeal by Innocence • Cat Among the Pigeons • The Pale Horse • The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side • The Clocks • A Caribbean Mystery • At Bertram's Hotel • Third Girl • Endless Night • By the Pricking of My Thumbs • Hallowe'en Party • Passenger to Frankfurt • Nemesis • Elephants Can Remember • Postern of Fate • Curtain • Sleeping Murder
As Mary Westmacott: Giant's Bread • Unfinished Portrait • Absent in the Spring • The Rose and the Yew Tree • A Daughter's a Daughter • The Burden
Short story collections: Poirot Investigates • Partners in Crime • The Mysterious Mr. Quin • The Hound of Death • The Thirteen Problems • Parker Pyne Investigates • The Listerdale Mystery • Murder in the Mews • The Regatta Mystery • The Labours of Hercules • Poirot's Early Cases • The Harlequin Tea Set
Plays: Akhnaton • The Mousetrap • Witness for the Prosecution • Verdict • Rule of Three • Fiddlers Three