Books with title A Murder is Announced

Agatha Christie: A Miss Jane Marple Mystery. From the back cover: The date was advertised in the Gazette. The ad read: "A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks, at 6:30 p.m. Friends please accept this, the only intimation." Everyone thought it was a harmless game. So, on the night of October 29th, the neighbors dropped by, out of curiosity. Then, as the clock chimed six-thirty, the room went dark. A gun exploded. A body fell. A woman screamed. When the lights went on, a man was lying on the floor in a pool of blood - dead!

[A BBC Radio 4 Full Cast Dramatization starring June Whitfield] ''A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29, at Little Paddocks, at 6:30 p.m. Friends please accept this, the only intimation.''Nestled among the usual notices about dogs for sale and appeals for domestic help, the startling entry in the personal column of the Chipping Cleghorn Gazette has the the entire village agog with curiosity. Is it a game? And who is meant to attend? Sure enough, the evening sees a crowd of residents standing expectantly in the drawing room at Little Paddocks. Then the clock strikes the half-hour, the lights go out, and three gunshots ring in the dark. When the lights go back on, the promised murder has been committed. Can Miss Marple work out what has happened and why?