Agatha Christie – A Murder is Announced
Unlikely and underappreciated literary fact: crime is the perfect comfort reading.
Not all crime, obviously. Not modern, unsettling, vicious crime. Christie-crime is comforting because there is something essentially gentle about the books, no matter how gruesome the murders.
You will never have to put Agatha Christie in the freezer, a la Joey from Friends. You can still read her after dark, when you are by yourself. You don’t have to worry about graphicness or horrible pictures on your eyelids when you shut your eyes.
A Murder is Announced has all the perfect Christie ingredients. Batty vicar’s wife. Harrumphing Colonel formerly stationed in India, what-ho. Weird foreigners who don’t fit in. Tweed wearing, wellington clad spinsters. Lovely English village with ducks and seething undertones of unspoken loathing. Mistaken identities and assumed names a go-go.
The premise of this book is that A Murder is Announced in the newspaper. Everyone turns up, twittering with excitement, to see it(wouldn’t you stay away?) Shots fired, police baffled, Marple to the rescue, hooray. I worked it out on page 228, but unlike Miss Marple, I only knew who, not why. That is the fun.
I like to think Christie knew when she was being mega-over the top and is secretly sharing a joke with the reader. Like this: a character may be a foreigner ‘but there’s no reason to believe he speaks broken English and gesticulates with his hands.’ She must have had her tongue so far in her cheek it was poking out the other side.
One day, I’m going to divide the world into two types: those who like Poirot best and those who like Marple best. I’m Team Jane all the way.
Posted on April 6, 2011, in Uncategorized and tagged agatha christie, books, crime, fiction, reading. Bookmark the permalink. 8 Comments.
Sounds like a fun book. I like the premise, knowing there will be a murder but not who, how, and why. I read a mystery by Jacqueline Winspear this week, which was a light read, situated in the 1930s, really good fun, too.
What a lovely and uplifting post! I love Agatha Christie and would be hard-pressed to choose Poirot over Marple or vice versa. I love them both! I may lean a little more towards Marple, and only because I’ve watched some of the books into movies on tv.
I just reviewed Partners in Crime, another Agatha Christie novel (a collection of short stories featuring Tommy and Tupence). Swing by when you have a moment, won’t you?
Have you watched any of the poirot ones? I do love those too…
a wonderful mystery I love christie as my gran loved her so I remember her every time I ve read one ,I ve brought few at the works recently they had some nice hard backs very cheap ,with the orginal covers ,all the best stu
I think that’s a common thing, Stu, a lot of people love Christie because of their Grandmas!
I don’t want to comment on my own post in a weird way, but a friend left this on my facebook page which I thought was very interesting:
Perhaps comforting because there is always resolution of some sort. Even in gruesome crime fiction the motive or perpetrator is revealed, the bad guy, or gal, gets their comeuppance, justice is done in one way or another. Crime fiction is often also very formulaic which also provides comfort of a sort. I think it’s like doing a jigsaw puzzle – lots of disorderly pieces, chaos reigns but order is brought to bear. Crime fiction also allows the reader to confront their fears in a safe environment where they know all will end well, or at least conclusively, and perhaps that’s why the vast majority of readers are female?
I just came across your blog and have enjoyed your posts. Had to comment when I saw this though as I recently read a couple of Agatha Christie’s (haven’t read that many altogether).
I agree, A Christie novel is perfect for comfort reading. It’s light and filled with humour. I love the cliches and the stereotypes. It’s part of the fun and I think you are right that it’s all part of Christie’s humour.
I do like Miss Marple but…. I am in the Poirot camp. There is just something about him.
Every once in a while I purge books, but my Agatha Christies are always safe, no matter what. I find that there are so many of them that if I don’t read one for two or three years, I completely forget and it’s like reading it for the first time. Except for Crooked House, of course. LOVE that book.
Great post! Team Jane all the way!