How did you guess the murderer in ' A Murder is Annouced' Ann? Was it one particular clue in this case, and did you guess the identity of both twins early on? Going back to check feasibility is a good idea: like Poirot does!
How did you guess the murderer in ' A Murder is Annouced' Ann? Was it one particular clue in this case, and did you guess the identity of both twins early on? Going back to check feasibility is a good idea: like Poirot does!
SOPOILER - It was the "Letty and Lotty' references by Dora Bunner that convinced me, plus the fact that I worked out that the murderer could have slipped out of the door in the dark. When Miss Murgatroyd was remembering and called out, "She wasn't there," I was positive that I was correct.
That is fantastic. You got all the ones which AC had positioned, but most people wouldn't see. And this is just from reading, and not seeing the actors emphasising key phrases. What about the 'enquire' inquire clue in Lettie's notes? My old edition had copy edited out the difference, but I would not have guessed, anyway. Do you think, as do some other posters, that this is her most distinguished work? I certainly find the premise for the plot very plausible. Did you guess the murderer in The Moving Finger or Roger Ackroyd?
That is fantastic. You got all the ones which AC had positioned, but most people wouldn't see. And this is just from reading, and not seeing the actors emphasising key phrases. What about the 'enquire' inquire clue in Lettie's notes? My old edition had copy edited out the difference, but I would not have guessed, anyway. Do you think, as do some other posters, that this is her most distinguished work? I certainly find the premise for the plot very plausible. Did you guess the murderer in The Moving Finger or Roger Ackroyd?
No, I did not guess in The Moving Finger. I think I suspected the beautiful governess, as I cannot remember my first reading of it that well.
I never got the chance with Roger Ackroyd as a friend spoilt the ending for me when I was reading it at school when I was 14.
She picked it up and turned to the back and read out loud a couple of sentences that gave the ending away before I could stop her. As a result, I never had the pleasure of that surprise ending like everyone else.
I don't remember the clue about the notes.
I do love A Murder is Announced, but it is not my favourite. I think her best work is Sleeping Murder.
@Griselda ... How can anyone guess the murderer in the moving finger when they said it is a women?? Because I failed hahaha .. @anne.clough.3 I too had the ending of Roger ackroyed spoiled but it was still enjoyable and shocking knowing the ways and the method
Sorry Maryamalbulushi , perhaps we should all have been a little more suspicious of the actual killer in The Moving Finger because it is always supposed to be likely SPOILER ALERT that the person closest to the victim, or the spouse, will have done it. Lots of other murders, and lots of involvement of other people as a smoke screen is a theme AC has used before,SPOiLER ALERT eg, inThe ABC Murders.
Started The Man In The Brown Suit with the intention of trying to solve it.....By Chapter 26,my head is spinning with clues and potentials !!!!!! Just gonna read and enjoy.....My admiration to all of you who have solved one !!!
Started The Man In The Brown Suit with the intention of trying to solve it.....By Chapter 26,my head is spinning with clues and potentials !!!!!! Just gonna read and enjoy.....My admiration to all of you who have solved one !!!
I know my place !!!!
Read AC's autobiography and it tells you all about that one, including who the murderer is.
About "The moving finger, WARNING SPOILER: today, there appeared an article about who was the real Jack the Ripper. (here is the link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11771381/Jack-the-Ripper-identity-mystery-solved-in-new-book.html). It is similar to "The moving finger" in the sense of camouflaging a wife killed by her husband within a larger crime. According to the new Ripper theory, the Ripper was the husband of one of the women, a former prostitute whom he had married, and who returned to prostitution out of boredom with her married life. His aim was to kill his wife, and he killed the other women as a cover.
Also similar to The ABC Murders...In that four murders were committed to cover up one.....Quite an interesting article...There was also a rumour that Jack was a member of Royalty !!!
I want to say it isn't rocket science but if SPOILER ALERT the murder takes place in a house the person best suited to be the \murderer is the owner of the house, they will know the topography of the house but if it was that simple I would have solved loads.
Liked the Guardian Article.......Would take the fun out of it though..........But do you suppose anyone who does solve one,maybe subconsciously goes through this process anyay ?
I must read that article. I think that one can get used to AC's style and predict on that basis. When there is a sudden flurry of activity in the action leading to the naming of someone, - SPOILER ALERT Edwin, AMIA, Aimee Griffiths, TMF, the accountant, D on the N, that is often a sign it's a red herring. Then a tract of conversation which has no apparent relevance often contains the key clue: eg, about the other actor friends Ariadne meets, in Mrs M is Dead, or Miss Marple chatting to Pat, in Pocket full of Rye. Like in any tv drama, you are not going to have loads of focus, I suppose, on one or two characters if their story is going to have nothing to do with the murder. I'm thinking, SPOILER ALERT, Death on the Nile, as key example, also, SPOILER, the governess and her beauty and kindness, in The Moving Finger. I think AGatha Christie' enormous skill is the way she makes it look that all that detail about one person is there for a different reason, eg, in The Moving Finger, to establish Jerry's personality and sense of humour in order to make him a pleasant acceptable narrator.
It would be a Good Scientific Experiment to see if the scientific Culprit is the culprit, it would be like an Episode of Quincy where he said to a student to take swabs and follow your own investigation, I would have loved it if Hastings had been in Cards On The Table, had the same clues follow his hunches and done his own investigation would he have accused the same person as Poirot did, I am sorry if this isn't what the Article was saying.
What Imhave noticed is that AC will often give a real clue, and then immediately have some shock announcement, eg, somebody coming in with a telegram, so we forget all about the clue.
What Imhave noticed is that AC will often give a real clue, and then immediately have some shock announcement, eg, somebody coming in with a telegram, so we forget all about the clue.
I really like that insight Griselda. It is what critics referred to as her 'sleight of hand'. Like a magician, the magic is done while we focus our attention on something else. I had that very experience in my last read "Hercule Poirot's Christmas". When I went back and re-read when and how the murder took place, after it is revealed by Poirot, I could not believe how it all happened before myvery eyes - but I wasn't looking! To quote Poirot, Mon Dieu!!!!
It is amazing how she does it. I marvel at the skill with which she makes the characterisation support the credibility of the red herrings. In Hercules Poirot's Christmas it was utterly believable that any of the main characters could have done it. What, SPOILER ALERT, an unusual crime too, not to have been motivated by greed or adulterous intentions, like so many. I think that in a few novels, such as Taken at the Flood, the characterisation is not quite as rich and fluent, and you "think would that person really have done that: I'm not going to fall for that mis-lead", and you finish the book and think that maybe AC could have put in more background detail to make the real culprits seem likely, even though you will, of course, have been looking in the other direction, and not spotted the obviousness at the time. In Taken at the Flood, it was all done SPOILER ALERT by the accent and tone in which David speaks to the girl, and just a little bit of a clue with her interest in the farm, and general personality suggesting what her true background may have been like. I think the very best genius AC novels are those, like HPC, in which there is plenty of interaction between the characters to throw in extra possibilities and nuances. A Murder is Announced is like this. In some, such as Three Act Tragedy, in the characters are rather lined up like ducks for the police or HP interviews, and we are rather judging them on their CV so to speak, rather than being able to detect things from the interactions and atmosphere when they are all socialising.
In the Moving Finger, SPOILER ALERT, Jerry almost gives the whole game away by narrating his dream to the reader, but in storms Mrs Dane Calthorpe with a big idea, and we forget the dream, and anyway the whole dream has been made to sound like one of those which servicemen had been used to having on their return from the front line.
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