A Murder Is Announced

How does the setting of Chipping Cleghorn contribute to the story? Which elements of plot would necessarily be different if the story were set in an urban center, and what does this reveal about small-town communities?

Miss Marple’s virtuosity in detection is due partly to her keen intellect, yet her other traits—for example, her sympathy or humility—also come into play. Citing specific textual examples, explore how her nonintellectual personality traits enhance her detective processes.

Before interviewing the witnesses of the holdup, Inspector Craddock predicts they will “all have seen something different” (43). Why are so many of the witness accounts inaccurate or contradictory? What is Christie suggesting about the process of sight?

Dramatic irony involves the reader knowing something the characters do not—yet Christie uses many different kinds of irony, and her characters often know things the reader does not. How does her use of irony impact the novel as a whole? How might irony function uniquely in the mystery genre?

Postwar xenophobia pervades A Murder Is Announced. Discuss the characters’ attitudes toward Scherz and Mitzi. What is Christie’s stance on these attitudes? Use evidence to support your answer.

By the end of the narrative, the truth is revealed, and order is restored. What is the relationship between truth and order in this novel, and which of the story’s symbols or motifs highlight that relationship?

Christie depicts a generational divide. How do the generations differ, and why? Consider the ways in which Miss Marple’s success in the case relies on her age.

Discuss how Miss Blacklock is portrayed as both murderer and victim, and relate this portrayal to the novel’s implicit concept of justice. Does the novel predominantly emphasize moral ambiguity, or does it adhere to more clear-cut notions of “right” and “wrong”?