A Murdur Is Announced

A take Is Announced 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 in the equivalent month. The UK edition retailed at eight shillings and sixpence (8/6) and the US edition at $2. 50. The novel features her detective devolve Marple and is considered a crime novel classic. The book was heavily promoted upon publication in 1950 as being Christies fiftieth book, although in truth this figure could solitary(prenominal) be arrived at by counting in both UK and US short story collections.Plot summary A strange notice appears in the morning story of a perfectly ordinary small English village, silicon chip Cleghorn A murder is announced and impart take give on Friday, October 29th, at smaller Paddocks, at 630 p. m. Friends accept this, the altogether intimation. This apparently comes as a great surprise to Letitia Blacklock, the owner of Little Pad docks, as she has no brain what the notice means she didnt place it and none of her companions knows more than she. cast off Blacklock decides to take it in her stride and prepares herself to guard guests that evening.Naturally, the villagers are intrigued by this notice, and several of them appear on the doorstep with awkward reasons besides a expressed interest. As the clock strikes 630, the lights go break and a door swings open, revealing a domain with a blinding torch. In a heavily accented voice, the man demands they Stick em up virtually of the guests do so, believing it to be part of a game. The game ends when shots are fired into the room. The door slams shut, and little terror takes nurse in short order, its discovered that the fuses are blown, the gunman has been shot, and Ms.Blacklocks ear is bleeding, apparently from a bullets near-miss. The more or less curious thing of all is the gunman he is recognized by Dora Bunner (an old friend of Letitias, in a he artfelt way known as bunny girl, who lives at Little Paddocks as her companion) as Rudi Scherz, the receptionist at a local holiday resort, who had asked Letitia for property undecom be a few short days ago. The police are called in. All clues suggest that the baptismal font is merely a strange suicide or accidental death, but tester Craddock is uneasy around both possibilities.As luck would have got it, fall behind Marple is a guest at the very same watering hole where Rudi Scherz was employed. 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 petty theft and forgery rather than any more serious crime. His girlfriend, a waitress at the spa, however, reveals that he had been paid to appear as the holdup man he believed it was all a idiotic English joke, and was clearly not planning on being shot at. With this new knowledge, Craddock returns to Chipping Cleghorn. get by Mar ple, not uncoincidentally, is the godmother of the local vicars wife, and decides to stay with her. The first step is to establish a motive for Scherzs attack on omit Blacklock. This presents a problem Letitia has no known enemies. She worked for a successful financier (Randall Goedler) and has done kinda well for herself but is not herself wealthy. She does not lead a lavish life and, aside from her house, she has wholly enough to live on. However, she may shortly come into a great deal of money Randall Goedlers country passed to his wife, Belle, when he died.Belle is frail, and is now very near death. When Belle dies, fall back Blacklock inherits everything. If, however, she predeceases Belle, the estate goes to the mysterious shoot down and Emma, children of Randalls estranged sister, Sonia. No one knows where these two are, much less what they look like. Inspector Craddock discovers oil on the hinges of a door into the parlour (where the shooting took place) thought to be unused, and bunny rabbit mentions that until quite recently there had been a hold over placed against the door.Inspector Craddock travels to Scotland to meet Belle she mentions that Letitia had a beloved sister, Charlotte, who was born with a goiter. Their father, an old-fashioned doctor, tried unsuccessfully to share Charlotte, but she only withdrew further into herself as her goiter got worse. Their father died shortly before World struggle II, and Letitia gave up her job with Goedler and took her sister to Switzerland for the necessary surgery to re pit 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. Miss Marple takes tea with bunny during her shopping bring out with Letitia, and Bunny reveals several details about the case she talks about the recently oiled door she found with the Inspector shes sure that Patrick Simmons, a young cousin of Letitias w ho, with his sister Julia, is also staying at Little Paddocks, is not as he appears and, most tellingly, shes absolutely positive there was a different lamp in the room on the night of the murder (the one with the shepherdess and not with the shepherd) than there was now.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, complete with almost everyone who was at the house when Rudy Scherz was kills and she asks Mitzi to make her particular(prenominal) legal community, which Patrick has nicknamed Delicious Death. This was while post-war austerity rationing was in effect butter and eggs were concentrated to come by even in a rural community, and the chocolate and raisins used in the cake were very difficult to get.A box of chocolates is also a present. Bunny loves chocolate but it gives her a headachek and she cant bring forth the aspirin she bought. She takes some of Le titias aspirin instead, lies down for a nap and dies. Miss Marple visits Ms. Blacklock, who mourns Bunny and starts crying. Miss Marple asks to canvass photo albums which might contain pictures of Sonia Goedler, daub and Emmas mother, but all photos of Sonia were taken out of the albums recently, although they were in place before the death of Rudi Scherz.Through deduction and re-enactment, Misses Hinchliffe and Murgatroyd (two spinster farmers who were also present at the time of the Scherz murder) figure out that Miss Murgatroyd could see who was in the room as she was standing behind the door when it swung open she couldnt have seen Rudi as he was on the other side of the opened door, but she could see whose faces were illuminated by the torch beam. The two women conclude that the person who wasnt in the room (and therefore not seen by Miss Murgatroyd) could have sneaked out of the room when the lights went out and come around behind Rudi, and shot at himand Miss Blacklock.Jus t as she remembers the one person not in the room, the stationmaster calls to notify them that a dog has just arrived. As Miss Hinchliffe pulls absent in her car, Miss Murgatroyd runs into the driveway, shouting She wasnt there She is murdered while Miss Hinchliffe is away, and so does not reveal whom she did not see. Miss Hinchliffe returns and meets Miss Marple. They discover Murgatroyds body, and a distraught Hinchliffe informs Miss Marple of Murgatroyds cryptic statement. At Little Paddocks, Letitia receives a letter from the real Julia Simmons in Perth.She confronts Julia with the letter, and Julia reveals that she is actually Sonias daughter, Emma Stamfordis, masquerading as Julia so that she could attempt to gain a portion of the inheritance from Letitia and let the real Julia spend time engage an acting career. Julia/Emma insists she is uninvolved in the assassination attemptshe was a crack shot during the French oppositeness and would not have missed at that range, even in the darknor did she wish to prevent Letitia from acquire Randall Goedlers estate.She had intended to ingratiate herself with Letitia and try to obtain a portion of the money, and once the murder took place, had no option but to continue the masquerade. Phillipa Haymes (a boarder at Little Paddocks and a young widow) sneaks into the kitchen to speak to Julia/Emma, but Julia/Emma sends her away before finding out what Phillipa had to say. That night, the vicars cat, Tiglath Pileser, knocks over a glass of water onto a fray galvanising cord, which causes the fuses to blow, and the final clue falls into place for Miss Marple.Inspector Craddock gathers everyone at Little Paddocks and launches the final inquest, which is interrupted by Mitzi, Letitias foreign lady-help, crying out that she saw Letitia commit the murder. The inspector does not believe her, and continues with his questioning. The inspector continues, and pronto insinuates that Edmund Swettenham who, with his widowed mother, was also present at the shooting, is in fact Pip. However, Phillipa comes forward and confesses that she is in fact Pip Inspector Craddock then accuses Edmund of wanting to marry a rich wife in Phillipa by murdering Letitia.Edmund denies this and as he does so, a terrified scream is heard from the kitchen. Everyone rushes to the kitchen and discovers Miss Blacklock attempting to drown Mitzi in the sink. Miss Blacklock is arrested by a local constable who has been hiding in the kitchen with Miss Marple, who imitates Dora Bunners voice to make Ms. Blacklock break down. Miss Marple explains it quite simply it wasnt Charlotte who died in Switzerland, but Letitia.Charlotte, aware that Letitia was in line to inherit a fortune, posed as Letitia and returned to England few people knew Charlotte, as she had been a recluse before leaving England, and a minute change in Letitias appearance could be explained away to casual acquaintances by her time abroad during the war. She only nee ded to avoid people who knew Letitia well, such as Belle Goedler, and to always cover her throat with strings of pearls or beads to hide the scars from her goiter surgery. Bunny was one of the few people who remembered Charlotte as Charlotte, but by then, Charlotte was so lonely that she allowed her old chool friend to move in. However, Rudi Scherz could have ruined everything he worked at the Swiss hospital where Charlotte had been treated and could therefore identify Charlotte as herself. This is why Letitia/Charlotte hired him to come to Chipping Cleghorn and hold up a room full of guests she blew the fuse by pouring water from a vase of flowers onto the frayed cord of a lamp, slipped out the second door, stood behind Rudi, and shot him. She then nicked her ear with a pair of nail scissors and rejoined the others, playing the part of perplexed host.Bunny became the next target because she, too, could reveal too much. Bunny had an eye for detail, but was prone to slip-ups on sever al occasions, she referred to Ms. Blacklock as Lotty (short for Charlotte) instead of Letty (short for Letitia), and her conversation with Miss Marple in the cafe proved fatal. Miss Murgatroyd, the final victim, was also killed for guessing too much and for coming to the realisation that Letitia/Charlotte was the one person, beside herself, whose face was not illuminated by Rudi Scherzs torch.Mitzi and Edmund had been persuaded by Miss Marple to play parts in tripping Charlotte Blacklock up Miss Marples plans were almost brought down when Phillipa admitted to being Pip, but Inspector Craddock thought straightaway enough to turn around and claim Edmund was after Phillipas money. In the end, Phillipa/Pip and Julia/Emma inherit the Goedler fortune Edmund and Phillipa/Pip get married and return to Chipping Cleghorn to live. Characters in A Murder is Announced * Miss Jane Marple * Inspector Dermot Craddock Letitia Blacklock, lady of the house, in her early/mid 60s * Dora Bunner, her el derly fluttery childhood friend, usually known by her nickname, Bunny * Patrick and Julia Simmons, Miss Blacklocks spoiled and foolish young cousins (who call her Aunt) * Mitzi, Miss Blacklocks foreign housekeeper and cook, a young refugee * Phillipa Haymes, a young widowed paying guest/gardener with a young son at boarding school * Colonel Archie Easterbrook, blustery old colonel just returned from India * Laura Easterbrook, his considerably younger, glamorous wife * Mrs Swettenham, elderly lady who dotes on her son Edmund Swettenham, cynical young writer * Miss Hinchcliffe, efficient lady farmer * Miss Amy Murgatroyd, her loving but giggly companion * Belle Goedler, dying widow of Letitias former wealthy employer * Diane Bunch? Harmon, wife of the local vicar * Julian Harmon, the vicar * Tiglath Pileser, the vicarage cat * Rudi Scherz, a young man of Swiss extraction, the receptionist at a local spa * Myrna Harris, girlfriend of the latter, waitress at local spa * Chief Constabl e George Rydesdale, Craddocks superior