One of my confirmed all-time favorite books not only in the Miss Marple series but in Agatha Christie’s entire body of work.
Like in the case of The Man in the Brown Suit and Crooked House, there currently is an audio double feature available combining The Secret of Chimneys (our “Appointment with Agatha” February 2021 read) and A Murder Is Announced, so it was pretty much a given that I would obtain this edition (even though I already own other print and audio editions of both books individually) and just continue listening when I was done with The Secret of Chimneys.
I reviewed the TV adaptation of this novel from the series starring Joan Hickson eons ago; that review still stands in its entirety and easily also applies to the novel: With the exception of minor details such as a few supporting characters’ names (e.g., Miss Blacklock’s maid, who is called Mitzi in the book, and the cat, who in the book goes by the archaic mouthful appellation of Tiglath Pileser) as well as the (sparing) transformation of some internal monologue into brief pieces of dialogue, that adaptation is excessively faithful to the novel, so I’m just going to point to that review in lieu of writing much the same thing all over again. (Mild spoiler warning as to the number and identity of the killer’s victims: If you don’t want to have that information beforehand, stop reading before you get to the review’s final paragraph. Though the death of the first victim happens early on and is the event on which practically the entire novel hinges, so I don’t consider that particular revelation a spoiler.)
It is one of her best books. Much underrated.
So true!