A Murder is Announced (Miss Marple #5) By: Agatha Christie

Plot:

Villagers expect a fun game after a Gazette announcement of murder, but when lights flash off, shots ring out, and a masked burglar falls dead, the Inspector and vicar’s wife Bunch call in expert Miss Jane Marple. Was Swiss hotel clerk Rudi framed? Miss Letitia Blackstone houses scatty Dora, cousins Julia and Patrick, gardener widow Phillipa, and paranoid cook Mitzi.

Review:

This is the first Agatha Christie novel I’ve ever read. I’m kind of ashamed to say that. I’ve watched several movies based on her novels and I’ve meant to read some of her books for a while, I just never got around to it.

Anyway, the mystery was great I didn’t figure out who did it until the very end. I also really liked the idea and thought it was cool, surprised I haven’t seen it done more often. Miss Marple didn’t play as large a part in the story as I thought she would based on the movies I’ve seen. There were also some language and cultural differences that I had to overcome. Still it was a great mystery and great story and I’m looking forward to reading more.

I liked the fact that the policeman knew Marple and didn’t treat her like a batty old woman and actually went to her for help. In the movies I’ve seen with her she’s always in such control and I didn’t really get that from the book. She really came off as a nosy little old lady.

I think I might try a Poirot next.

4/5

Side note: There’s a whole paragraph where they talk about old women and how nosy and useful they are, only they don’t call them old women, the use a slang term that means something else entirely and it was freakin hilarious and at the same time uncomfortable to read.