After several weeks of picking through a chapter here and a chapter there, I've finally finished Agatha Christie's A Murder is Announced. It's only my third Christie novel, and all I can say is," Wow."

It is about the inhabitants of a small English village who are one day shocked to discover an announcement of murder in their local newspaper. The message reads, "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." Drawn by their curiosity, several people show up to Little Paddocks at the appointed time and... Of course, I'm not going to tell you what happened. That would ruin all the fun for you if you want to read it yourself!

Actually I borrowed A Murder is Announced from my local library and I didn't want to return it without finding out the ending, so I stayed up last night to finish it. At about 2 a.m. I read the last page and closed the book in awe. The ending was just so chillingly surprising that it took me a while to get to sleep. I just kept going through certain scenes in my mind, trying to figure out how I missed so many clues.

I won't reveal the ending in case you wanted to read it. Let me just say that there's a reason why Agatha Christie is the queen of murder mystery. I've been reading this book for the past couple of weeks, trying to guess what the twist in the plot will be. I wouldn't have guessed it in a million years! I definitely recommend this, or any Christie novel, for a great summer read!