日期：2025-09-16 Four THE ROYAL SPA HOTEL I George Rydesdale, Chief Constable of Middleshire, was a quiet man. Ofmedium height, with shrewd eyes under rather bushy brows, he was inthe habit of listening rather than talking. Then, in his unemotional voice,he would gi... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 IV Delighted gasps and feminine squeaks of appreciation were heard in thedarkness. Its beginning, cried Mrs. Harmon in an ecstasy. DoraBunners voice cried out plaintively, Oh, I dont like it! Other voices said,How terribly, terribly frightening! It... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 II Mitzi opened the door of the drawing room and admitted Colonel and Mrs. Easterbrook. She had her own methods of announcing people. Here is Colonel and Mrs. Easterbrook to see you, she said conversa-tionally. Colonel Easterbrook was very bluff and... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 Three AT 6:30 P.M. I Well, here we are, all set, said Miss Blacklock. She looked round thedouble drawing room with an appraising eye. The rose-patterned chintzesthe two bowls of bronze chrysanthemums, the small vase of violets andthe silver cigarett... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 II You are worried, arent you Lotty? Miss Blacklock started. She had been sitting at her writing-table, absent-mindedly drawing little fishes on the blotting paper. She looked up intothe anxious face of her old friend. She was not quite sure what to... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 Two BREAKFAST AT LITTLE PADDOCKS I At Little Paddocks also, breakfast was in progress. Miss Blacklock, a woman of sixty odd, the owner of the house, sat at thehead of the table. She wore country tweedsand with them, rather incon-gruously, a choker n... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 VOo, scrumptious! said Mrs. Harmon across the breakfast table to herhusband, the Rev. Julian Harmon, theres going to be a murder at MissBlacklocks. A murder? said her husband, slightly surprised. When? This afternoon at least, this evening. 6:30. Oh... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 Seven AMONG THOSE PRESENT I Dayas Hall had certainly suffered during the war years. Couch grass grewenthusiastically over what had once been an asparagus bed, as evidencedby a few waving tufts of asparagus foliage. Grounsel, bindweed and othergarden... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 III As Craddock and Fletcher went through the hall to the front door it wasflung open and a tall handsome young man almost collided with them. Sleuths as I live, cried the young man. Mr. Patrick Simmons? Quite right, Inspector. Youre the Inspector,... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 II Craddock, with Fletcher in attendance, found Mitzi in the kitchen. She wasrolling pastry and looked up suspiciously as he entered. Her black hair hung over her eyes; she looked sullen, and the purplejumper and brilliant green skirt she wore were... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 Six JULIA, MITZI AND PATRICK I Julia, when she came into the room, and sat down in the chair vacated byLetitia Blacklock, had an air of composure that Craddock for some reasonfound annoying. She fixed a limpid gaze on him and waited for his ques-tio... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED A Miss Marple Mystery Characters ? Miss Jane Marple ? Inspector Dermot Eric Craddock ? Letitia Blacklock, lady of the house, in her 60s? Dora Bunner, her elderly fluttery childhood friend, usually known byher nickname, Bunny ?... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 ONE A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED IBetween 7:30 and 8:30 every morning except Sundays, Johnnie Butt madethe round of the village of Chipping Cleghorn on his bicycle, whistling vo-ciferously through his teeth, and alighting at each house or cottage toshove t... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 II Mrs. Swettenham, pushing back the pretty little grey curls from her fore-head, opened The Times, looked with a lacklustre eye at the left- handcentre page, decided that, as usual, if there was any exciting news TheTimes had succeeded in camouflag... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 III Archie, said Mrs. Easterbrook to her husband, listen to this. Colonel Easterbrook paid no attention, because he was already snortingwith impatience over an article in The Times. Trouble with these fellows is, he said, that none of them knows the... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 IV The Chipping Cleghorn Gazette had also been delivered at Boulders, thepicturesque three cottages knocked into one inhabited by Miss Hinchcliffeand Miss Murgatroyd. Hinch? What is it, Murgatroyd? Where are you? Henhouse. Oh. Padding gingerly throu... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 Fifteen IMorning in the High Street. Miss Emily Barton comes out of the grocers with her shopping bag. Hercheeks are pink and her eyes are excited. Oh, dear, Mr. Burton, I really am in such a flutter. To think I really amgoing on a cruise at last! I... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 Thirteen I Things never come when they are expected. I was full of Joannas and my personal affairs and was quite taken abackthe next morning when Nashs voice said over the telephone: Weve gother, Mr. Burton! I was so startled I nearly dropped the re... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 III I cant tell you coherently the events of the next twenty-four hours. Vari-ous incidents stand out, unrelated to other incidents. I remember Joanna coming home, very white and drawn, and of how Itried to cheer her up, saying: Now whos being a min... 阅读全文>>

日期：2025-09-16 VWhere do ones fears come from? Where do they shape themselves? Where do they hide before coming out into the open? Just one short phrase. Heard and noted and never quite put aside: Take me awayits so awful being herefeeling so wicked. Why had Megan... 阅读全文>>