Reviews with content warning for Death - A Murder Is Announced

The first thought on my mind after finishing this book was that Tiglath Pileser is such an insane name for a cat and that I love it so much. The second thought was that I felt catfished. This is a "Miss Marple Mystery" yet she takes on such a passive role in the story, and doesn't appear for quite a long time. My difficulties with this thought come from two directions though. This type of mystery does require a lot of exposition, and the cast of characters is huge so I understand her diminished role in the story. Also, I have only ever read some of Agatha Christie's stand-alones and Poirot novels, so I've come to expect Poirot-level screen time (page time?) and involvement.

Of Christie's books that I've read, this is one of my least favorites. I am surprised by this because I heard such high praise for this book. I have a taste for more dynamic mysteries I guess and this was more feel-good in a way. I also found it extremely difficult to remember the names and roles of the characters. It took two months of off-and-on reading to finish this book which means my own memory is definitely to blame. To make myself feel better I'd like to think that the amount of

secret identity reveals

also had a part in my lapses of memory.

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fyre_flies's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was an assigned reading that I happened to quite enjoy! This was my first Agatha Christie novel, and I can see myself picking up more of her work. What was surprising about this Miss Marple novel is just how little she shows up in this book and how little she does when she's there. I dinged a star for this reason, as well as because I think the novel could've been about 50 pages shorter to keep it from dragging towards the end. The twists, however, were quite good, and it was easy to get invested in the plot and characters. It was definitely a page turner!

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megelizabeth's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

I absolutely loved the plot of this book and the fact that Miss Marple has a much more prominent role than in the previous book in the series. This one is so, so clever and tense and meticulously thought-out, with a brilliant set of characters, and some of the events really hit me in the feels as well. I also really appreciated the overarching post-war social commentary and thought that it provided a super interesting angle which I hadn't really considered before.

The one thing I didn't like about this book was how much casual xenophobia there is. Part of the ending sort of redeems some of this, but not in a way that goes far enough or that truly criticises the xenophobia that is prevalent throughout much of the rest of the book. I of course appreciate the time in which this was written, but it still makes for uncomfortable reading and of course is still worth viewing critically. I did really enjoy the book overall, but it would've just been so much better if these attitudes had been more thoroughly addressed.

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bonsai_delores's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A well written murder, best understood after a second reading. Holds up amongst her other titles, I was pleasantly shocked.

The use of the “silly old lady” trope helps heighten tension in some places and highlights one of the key turning points of the mystery. It helps that Agatha Christie was good at distinguishing the different types of silly old ladies, and making each of them endearing in their own way. The reveal was shocking enough to be a surprise, but believable enough to make sense during the detective’s synopsis. The only thing that was a little too rushed was the triple reveal at the end.

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