A Murder is Announced vs The Body in the Library: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Miss Marple, Amateur, Agatha Christie, Series, Detective, Classic
A Murder is Announced
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The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn, including Jane Marple, are agog with curiosity over an advertisement in the local gazette which read: 'A murder is announced and will take place on Friday October 29th, at Little…
The Body in the Library
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The very-respectable Colonel and Mrs Bantry have awakened to discover the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing evening dress and heavy make-up, which is now smeared across her cold cheeks. But who is…
Side by side
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- The Body in the Library has the widest readership — 134865 ratings behind its score.
- A Murder is Announced runs the darker storyline; The Body in the Library stays the lighter read.
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How to choose
Scores by source
| A Murder is Announced | The Body in the Library | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.0 (90291) | 3.8 (134865) |
| Hardcover | 3.9 (184) | 3.7 (257) |
| Google Books | 5.0 (1) | — |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (47) | 4.0 (216) |
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Reception
| A Murder is Announced | The Body in the Library | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 90291 | 134865 |
| Editions | 127 | 127 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 44295 | 70442 |
| Reading it now | 3459 | 4708 |
| Written reviews | 6456 | 9732 |
| Wikipedia attention | 4774 | 5387 |
| Pages | 288 | 207 |
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Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: A Murder is Announced or The Body in the Library?
A Murder is Announced has the higher combined reader rating across sources (A Murder is Announced 4.0/5, The Body in the Library 3.8/5).
Which is shorter to read: A Murder is Announced or The Body in the Library?
The Body in the Library is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: The Body in the Library (207 pages, ≈ 3 h 50 m); A Murder is Announced (288 pages, ≈ 5 h 20 m).
Which is harder to read: A Murder is Announced or The Body in the Library?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — A Murder is Announced: Challenging; The Body in the Library: Challenging.
Have both books been made into films?
A Murder is Announced: 1 film adaptation; The Body in the Library: no film adaptation on record.