REVIEW: A Murder is Announced

A Murder is Announced
Author: Agatha Christie

A Murder is Announced was first published in serial format in 1950 in both the UK and US. The book was also first released in 1950.

Miss Marple shines in this classic mystery story. I read this novel before years ago. Luckily, enough time had passed that I didn't remember the killer's identity. 

The Basics: The Village of Chipping Cleghorn is all aflutter with excitement. An advertisement in the personal section of the newspaper announces that a murder will occur on October 29th at 6:30 pm. A crowd gathers at the announced time and place out of curiosity. And just as 6:30 comes along....the lights go out....three gunshots ring out....and the murder has happened as promised. Miss Marple is on the case!  

In my Christie book collection was a very old paperback copy of this novel [Pocket Books, 1972, 197 pages]. It had the most strange cover art. Totally bizarre and more than a little creepy! I just had to take photos of the front and back cover to include with my review. Yikes! So dark and weird! But, it is a murder mystery. What was I expecting - cute puppies? :)  

As I read my old paperback, I listened to an audio book version (thank you to my local library and Hoopla!) I actually checked out two audio versions of this book -- one narrated by Joan Hickson (HarperCollins, 2012, 7 hrs 45 minutes) and one narrated by Emilia Fox (HarperCollins, 2013, 8 hrs 56 minutes).  I love hearing Joan Hickson's voice as I loved her as Miss Marple in the television series, but she is hard for me to understand and she reads at a very fast pace. Her voice at times seems like she was having speech problems or had badly fitting dentures. With my hearing loss, she is just too difficult to understand. So, I listened to part of the book as read by Joan.....and then switched over to Emilia Fox.  

Delicious Death - Multiple times in the story characters talk about the Cook Mitzi's most decadent and wonderful cake. They call it "Delicious Death"   And yes -- I found a recipe developed by English Actress Jane Asher to celebrate Agatha Christie's 125th birthday. https://www.deliciousdeath.com/ddcake.html It looks delicious!! 

Adaptations: 

This book is one of Miss Marple's most famous cases. So it's been adapted numerous times.  

Early Television: Goodyear Television Playhouse broadcast this story for television in 1956. Gracie Fields played Miss Marple. I couldn't locate this episode online, unfortunately! I will keep looking. If I come

across the video, I will update this review.  

Stage Play: This novel was adapted into a play in 1977. 

Miss Marple: This long-running television show starring Joan Hickson adapted this novel in 1985. It was originally broadcast in 3 parts. I watched on BritBox (one of my fav streaming services!) There were a couple minor changes, but otherwise it followed the novel quite closely. I absolutely loved watching Joan in this episode. She is so marvelous as Miss Marple!! 

Agatha Christie's Marple:  Geraldine McEwan played the famous elderly detective in this television show. This book was adapted for the show in 2005 [Season 1, episode 4]. I watched this episode on BritBox. There are several odd changes to the story. It was still an enjoyable watch, but I think the Miss Marple version with Joan Hickson is better. 

Audio drama: BBC Radio 4 broadcast this story in 1999. Some minor characters were removed, but it keeps closely to the original story. All of the BBC adaptations of Christie's books/stories I've listened to have been wonderful! They are all full-cast with music and sound effects. There are always some changes to the stories, but very enjoyable!

Japanese Television: A Japanese made-for-television movie called A Notice of Murder was first broadcast in 2007. Miss Marple was played by Keiko Kishi. 

French Television: Les Petits Muertes d'Agatha Christie has an episode based on this novel [Season 2, episode 11]. The show always makes lots of changes including setting the stories in France and replacing the detectives with French investigators. The show is entertaining all the same!  If your local library offers Kanopy, the show is available there and the episodes are subtitled in English. 

South Korean Television: In 2018, Miseu MaBoksooui Yeoshin presented 4 episodes based on this novel. 

And, Japanese television adapted this book again in 2019. The made-for-television movie was titled Yokoku Satsujin and starred Sawamura Ikki as the lead investigator. 

I couldn't find any of the non-English adaptations, except for the French television episode. 

This is one of my favorite Miss Marple mysteries. 

When I finished reading my old, worn-out paperback, I put it in the recycle bin. 

I've been carting all of these paperbacks everywhere I've lived for many, many years. It's time to let them rest.....and have some open bookshelf space for new books. I am very thankful to the years of enjoyment these books and stories have given me. But, shelf space is at a premium, and I don't want to keep an entire bookshelf of falling-apart paperbacks anymore. Agatha Christie wrote many books, and I had almost all of them at one time. This labor of love -- reading through all of Christie's mysteries -- is not just so I can finally enjoy all of her stories, but also a bit of pragmatic downsizing. 

So if you saw a similar ad in a newspaper or online -- A murder is announced....such and such a place and time -- would you go out of curiosity?  I think I would stay home! :) 

Moving on!!