“People in the dark are quite different, aren’t they?”

Once again guessed the murderer by complete accident. I’m the mystery reader equivalent of those characters you often see in farces who are complete idiots (usually lovable) and bumble about doing everything so wrong they come back around and get everything right.

I really enjoyed this book, which was apparently Christie’s 50th (although publishers had to count a book of short stories to make this true, and they really wanted to, because publicists never change). It starts out kind of like a game. An ad is taken out in the local paper of the small country village, Chipping Cleghorn (so British), announcing that a murder will be performed at Two Paddocks, the home of Miss Leticia Blacklock, an elderly spinster, at 6:30 that evening. Everyone who knows her assumes this is a murder mystery game being staged by Miss Blacklock herself, and conveniently show up “just to check in,” all excepting one oblivious person who comes right out and says she’s there for the murder, which Miss Blacklock then denies having any part of. They all wait to see what happens . . . and at 6:30 on the dot, the lights go out, and a murder is committed.

The rest of the book goes as Miss Marple books usually go. A local police inspector takes charge of the investigation, and Miss Marple does her thing* quietly in the background, aiding the police when possible, and using her old lady status to shake people down all gentle and quiet-like. A pool of suspects is soon determined, and the facts about inheritances and secret identities revealed.

*Language makes me laugh. Word usage just changes over time, man, and suddenly things written in 1950 take on a whole new meaning. For example, detectives repeatedly referring to Miss Marple as an “old pussy”. I’m sorry, I giggled. I couldn’t help it.

I did have a bit of trouble keeping track of the differences between all the generic British people at first, because they aren’t really identified beyond name, and in some cases, occupation (or wife of person with an occupation). That sorted itself out eventually, though, because Christie was very good at giving even her secondary characters personalities that shine through without exposition. Also, I listened to this on audio, and Emilia Fox is really good at voices.

As mentioned above, I did manage to perform a miracle and identify the murderer on my first guess, early on. This did not affect my enjoyment, because it was entirely a guess based on no clues or intelligence whatsoever. It was basically me spinning in a circle and pointing a finger at whoever I landed on when I stopped spinning. That I quickly abandoned my suspect is a testament not only to how bad I am at solving mysteries, but to Christie’s skill at planting red herrings and misdirections all over the damn place. I think it’s a rare person who could solve the mystery without guessing.