A Murder Is Announced - Agatha Christie

Author: Agatha Christie

Series: Miss Marple #5

Genre: Cosy Mystery

Rating: 3.5 stars.

Finally a Marple mystery that worked for me…. somewhat!

I can safely say that this is the best Marple story I have read (which isn’t saying much, considering that I have read exactly one full-length novel and three short stories featuring the iconic character.) By now, I have attuned myself to the format and was hence prepared for the huge infodump in the final 20%. (Not that I liked it; I tolerated it.)

What clicked for me:

😍 Miss Marple doesn’t just make an appearance a lot earlier (around the 30% mark) but also gets an active role in the proceedings. I finally feel like I know the character to some extent.

😍 There are several complicated but memorable characters. They might not be layered (possible because there are too many of them to go in depth about) but the variety of persons adds to the interest factor. Mitzi the cook was my favourite of the lot, followed by Bunch the parson’s wife.

😍 The resolution of the mystery isn’t entirely dependent on the “detective” Miss Marple but is resolved in bits and pieces by many characters.

😍 There are plenty of red herrings, but also an equal number of intelligent clues scattered throughout the narrative that are all helpful in guessing the culprit. As such, the resolution doesn’t spring out of nowhere (like it did in the other Marple stories) but comes logically from the plot. The intricacy of the planning is such that what I had assumed to be typos also turned out to be clues. Quite intelligent plot structuring!

😍 It seems fairly fast-paced. (I say “seems” because I didn’t get to test this hypothesis due to my adamant brain’s refusal to cooperate for an enthusiastic reading of the book.)

What didn’t work for me:

😔 The book hasn’t aged well. There are plenty of xenophobic & racist references. I know the book is a product of its times, but when the number of such allusions goes beyond an acceptable minimum, it becomes tougher and tougher to ignore. Of course, I am not docking stars for this, because a book ought to be judged as per the era it was written in rather than the year it was read in. But these elements were still a downer for me.

😔 I have no idea why, but I kept zoning out of the narration after every few paragraphs. This could partly be blamed on my dislike for this genre. It could also be because there was a lot of blah-blah-blah in the first half. The second half is where the narration starts picking up its stride. Until the 70% mark or so, my intrigue was at a minimal level and I could keep the book aside more easily than I could pick it up.

😔 Infodump at the climax, as in every single mystery. The “big reveal” starts from the 80% point and goes almost till the end.

😔 A couple of character actions didn’t make sense, but if they were to make sense, there would have been no mystery. Oh well!

This above-average experience doesn’t change my mind about the Miss Marple series, which I now feel isn’t for me. I will still complete the Marple anthology I have going on, but thereafter, I shall bid adieu to this character. Maybe I will have better luck with Poirot. Fingers crossed. It sucks not to be able to connect with the works of an author that the whole world except you seems to adore.