Just Finished Reading: A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie (FP: 1950) [310pp] 

It came as a surprise to everyone in the village, including the family who was to apparently host the event. The ‘hostess’ thought it was someone’s idea of a joke but knew that there would be those in the village who would inevitably fall for it so ordered a minimum of preparations to be made – just in case the expected few did, in fact, show up. The rest of the village inhabitants didn’t quite know what to make of it suspecting that it was going to be one of those ‘murder adventure’ evenings where a ‘victim’ was randomly picked and the rest of the party had to work out exactly who ‘dunnit’? Dutifully, on the evening in question the guests arrived and waited in anticipation for something to happen – and happen it did. At the appointed hour a young stranger appeared and threatened the assembled group just as the excitement (and potential giggles) began to rise two shots rang out followed by a third. When the lights came back on the stranger was lying dead on the floor, his gun besides him. Accident? Stupidity? Suicide? What exactly had just happened? When the police arrived it looked, on first examination, all very straight forward. It was, everyone naturally agreed, a botched robbery. Luckily no one, apart from the incompetent perpetrator had been harmed. But something didn’t quite ‘feel’ right and the planned inquest was delayed. As the police began investigating further things became more complex, more confused. Was it actually an attempted robbery or something much more sinister? Where lives still at risk? The case had to be solved – and quickly. The Chief Inspector had a rather unconventional idea which might help the investigation gather the necessary speed, someone who had been of assistance in a previous case, a consulting detective as it were. Her name, Miss Marple. 

This is my 5th Miss Maple book and yet another one that confounded me to the very end. In my defence it was probably the most complex Miss Marple case that I’ve come across so far. For one thing the cast of suspects was larger than usual – or at least it felt that way – and their relationships quite convoluted. As usual, with the great gift of hindsight, all of the clues were in the text, Christie does not, in my experience, need to pull clue rabbits out of plot hats in order to bamboozle her readership. Close attention to the text and especially what people say (or don’t) points the way – as I learnt (much to my shame and embarrassment) at the end! As usual in these things, and real life, not everyone was telling the truth and not everyone was who they appeared to be (or said they were!). I managed to pick out (or at least I suspected) one such interloper but honestly that didn’t help much. I still read through Miss Marple’s explanation, over tea and cake naturally, and found myself repeating “Of course” and “Why didn’t I see THAT!” As always HIGHLY entertaining and definitely recommended for all classic murder mystery fans. 

Now the other stuff: As with all ‘older’ works, and not just the Classics, there are countless references throughout to events of the day which would have seemed completely normal (and unworthy of further comment) and often added as ‘filler’ to add a level of authenticity. Looking back 70 years such things are a mine of information if you’re interested in what was happening at the time and especially what people were thinking or focused on. Several things in particular are worth highlighting – there was much talk throughout the book about rationing (and in particular coal shortages) which didn’t fully end until 1954. Interestingly, there was also MUCH talk about people in the village operating a barter system with eggs, vegetables and chickens which was (unknown to me) apparently illegal! Another thing that jumped out at me was the number of characters who were living with friends or family out of long-term necessity. I’m guessing that this was because the housing stock in bombed cities still hadn’t recovered. [Side note: on my daily walk I stroll past a fairly large group of pre-fabricated single floor houses originally designed to cope with the post-war housing shortage and which were expected to be demolished within a year or two as people moved back into new builds. Surprisingly some people became really attached to their pre-fabs and demanded to stay in them. 70 plus years later you still see them all across the country.] 

One of the stranger characters in the book was a refugee from ‘Mittl Europa’ who served as the cook in a main character's house. There was much talk about her being ‘difficult’ and exaggerating her troubles during the war. It was never made clear exactly where she came from but she had a real fear of the police and anyone in uniform. Interestingly, despite being hired as a cook her expertise was in Economics. Something that raised an eyebrow, and a few laughs to be honest, was a brief discussion of the reluctance to own German breed dogs – like the dachshund. Personally, I both like and feel sorry for these little guys who seem to struggle on their walks because of their little legs. I do think they’re quite cute though. Of course, the implication, rather understandable a mere 5 years after the war, was a prejudice against all things German. I guess parking a VW beetle outside your cottage might get a few mumbles, sideways glances and ‘tuts’ whilst standing in the post office waiting to be served. I probably missed a few things, but you get my point – old novels are a great way of discovering (or at the very least thinking about or being prompted to investigate) elements of the past that might never cross your mind otherwise. More Miss Marple to come – of course!