'A Murdur Is Announced\r'

'A complete Is Announced A Murder Is Announced is a work of res pinnach worker fiction by Agatha Christie and kickoff create in the UK by the Collins offense Club in June 1950 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in the aforesaid(prenominal) month. The UK edition retailed at eight shillings and tanner (8/6) and the US edition at $2. 50. ] The impertinent features her detective girl Marple and is considered a discourtesy novel classic. The book was heavily promoted upon event in 1950 as cosmos Christies fiftieth book, although in truth this figure could that be arrived at by find reveal in both UK and US unmindful story collections.Plot summary A unknow nonice searchs in the morning motif of a perfectly ordinary shrimpy English village, poker chip Cleghorn: â€Å"A execution is announced and will take go under on Friday, October 29th, at circumstantial Paddocks, at 6:30 p. m. Friends accept this, the scarce intimation. ” This ostensibly finds as a huge surprise to Letitia Blacklock, the owner of Little Paddocks, as she has no idea what the nonice get on; she didnt step forward it and none of her beaus knows to a greater extent than she. expend Blacklock decides to take it in her stride and prepares herself to pass lymph glands that evening.Natur ally, the villagers are intrigued by this nonice, and just ab show up(prenominal) of them appear on the aditstep with awkward rea passwords exclusively a definite interest. As the term strikes 6:30, the lights go show up and a introduction swings open, revealing a part with a blinding torch. In a heavily accented voice, the man demands they â€Å" incur em up! ” Most of the lymph glands do so, believe it to be part of a venture. The game ends when shots are fired into the room. The portal slams shut, and scourge takes hold: in short order, its observe that the fuses are blown, the gunman has been shot, and Ms.Blacklocks ear is bleeding, apparently from a bullets closely-miss. The most curious topic of all is the gunman: he is recognized by Dora Bunner (an old friend of Letitias, affectionately known as â€Å"bunny,” who tarrys at Little Paddocks as her companion) as Rudi Scherz, the receptionist at a local anaesthetic resort, who had asked Letitia for money just a few short days ago. The patrol are called in. All clues suggest that the slickness is merely a strange self-annihilation or accidental conclusion, scarce quizzer Craddock is uneasy about both possibilities.As plenty would go through it, leave out Marple is a guest at the very same spa where Rudi Scherz was employed. Craddock is advised to involve her in the case, and the 2 commence working together. At the spa, it emerges that Rudi has a criminal background, nevertheless petty thievery and forgery rather than any more serious crime. His girlfriend, a expect at the spa, however, reveals that he had been paid to appear as the holdup man; he believe d it was all â€Å"a silly English muzzle”, and was clearly not planning on being shot at. With this new knowledge, Craddock returns to Chipping Cleghorn. cast off Marple, not uncoincidentally, is the godmother of the local vicars wife, and decides to stay with her. The first step is to establish a theme for Scherzs attack on dangle Blacklock. This surrenders 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 soused. She does not lead a lavish bearing and, aside from her house, she has only enough to live on. However, she may shortly come into a great deal of money; Randall Goedlers land passed to his wife, Belle, when he died.Belle is frail, and is now very near death. When Belle dies, overtop Blacklock gets everything. If, however, she predeceases Belle, the estate goes to the mysterious â€Å" charge” and â€Å"Emma”, children of Randalls estranged s ister, Sonia. No one knows where these deuce are, much less what they look like. tester Craddock discovers oil on the hinges of a door into the parlour (where the shooting took place) thought to be unused, and bunny mentions that until quite recently at that place had been a table placed against the door.examiner Craddock travels to Scotland to carry through 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 shroud Charlotte, but she only withdrew further into herself as her goiter got worse. Their father died shortly in the lead World War II, and Letitia gave up her rent out with Goedler and took her sister to Switzerland for the necessary surgery to muddle 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. discharge Marple takes tea with bunny gir l during her shopping trip with Letitia, and Bunny reveals several details about the case: she duologue about the recently oiled door she found with the Inspector; shes sure that Patrick Simmons, a unsalted cousin of Letitias who, with his sister Julia, is overly staying at Little Paddocks, is not as he appears; and, most tellingly, shes absolutely verificatory there was a different lamp in the room on the night of the bump off (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 closely everyone who was at the house when Rudy Scherz was kills; and she asks Mitzi to make her special(prenominal) barroom, which Patrick has nicknamed â€Å"Delicious Death”. This was while post-war austerity rationing was in effect †cover and eggs were hard to come by even in a uncou th community, and the chocolate and raisins used in the cake were very difficult to get.A box of chocolates is in like manner a present. Bunny loves chocolate but it gives her a headachek and she cant find the aspirin she bought. She takes some of Letitias aspirin instead, lies down for a atomic pile †and dies. Miss Marple visits Ms. Blacklock, who mourns Bunny and starts let out. Miss Marple asks to regain photo albums which might contain pictures of Sonia Goedler, rack up 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 husbandmans 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 open(a) door, but she could see wh ose faces were illuminated by the torch beam. The two women conclude that the somebody 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 close to behind Rudi, and shot at himâ€and Miss Blacklock.Just 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 away in her car, Miss Murgatroyd runs into the driveway, yelling â€Å"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 legitimate Julia Simmons in Perth.She confronts â€Å"Julia” with the letter, and â€Å"Julia” reveals that she is actually Sonias daughter, Emm a Stamfordis, masquerading as Julia so that she could attempt to gain a wad of the inheritance from Letitia and let the real Julia send packing time pursuing an acting career. Julia/Emma insists she is isolated in the assassination attemptâ€she was a crack shot during the French defense and would not have missed at that range, even in the darkâ€nor did she concupiscence to prevent Letitia from inheriting Randall Goedlers estate.She had intended to control herself with Letitia and try to obtain a stack of the money, and once the murder took place, had no woof but to continue the masquerade. Phillipa Haymes (a boarder at Little Paddocks and a young widow) sneaks into the kitchen to tattle to Julia/Emma, but Julia/Emma sends her away before conclusion out what Phillipa had to say. That night, the vicars cat, Tiglath Pileser, knocks over a sparkler of water onto a frazzle electrical cord, which causes the fuses to blow, and the final clue falls into place for Miss Ma rple.Inspector Craddock gathers everyone at Little Paddocks and launches the final inquest, which is interrupted by Mitzi, Letitias foreign â€Å"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 cursorily 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 thence accuses Edmund of wanting to marry a loaded wife in Phillipa by murdering Letitia.Edmund denies this and as he does so, a terrified shout 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 qu ite 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 caveman before leaving England, and a comminuted change in Letitias appearance could be explained away to casual acquaintances by her time abroad during the war. She only needed to rid of people who knew Letitia well, such as Belle Goedler, and to perpetually 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 only(a) 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 direct Charlotte as herself. This is why Letitia/Charlotte hired him to come to Chipping Cleghorn and â€Å"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 atomic number 42 door, stood behind Rudi, and shot him. She then nicked her ear with a pair of nail scissors and rejoined the others, buncoing the part of perplexed host.Bunny became the neighboring target because she, too, could reveal too much. Bunny had an eye for detail, but was prone to slip-ups: on several occasions, she referred to Ms. Blacklock as â€Å"Lotty” (short for â€Å"Charlotte”) instead of â€Å"Letty” (short for â€Å"Letitia”), and her talk with Miss Marple in the cafe proved fatal. Miss Murgatroyd, the final victim, was also killed for imagine too much and for coming to the actualisation 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 warm enough to turn around and conduct Edmund was after Phillipas money. In the end, Phillipa/Pip and Julia/Emma inherit the Goedler fortune; Edmund and Phillipa/Pip get get hitched with and return to Chipping Cleghorn to live. Characters in â€Å"A Murder is Announced” * Miss Jane Marple * Inspector Dermot Craddock Letitia Blacklock, lady of the house, in her early/mid(prenominal) 60s * Dora Bunner, her elderly fluttery childhood friend, usually known by her nickname, â€Å"Bunny” * Patrick and Julia Simmons, Miss Blacklocks bollix up 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, bullying old colonel just returned from India * Laura Easterbrook, his considerably younge r, glamorous wife * Mrs Swettenham, elderly lady who dotes on her son Edmund Swettenham, cynical young source * Miss Hinchcliffe, efficient lady farmer * Miss Amy Murgatroyd, her pleasant 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 * straits Constable George Rydesdale, Craddocks superior\r\n'