Murder in the News


"I read the news today, oh boy"

Originally exclusive on HPC's Facebook Page, Murder in the News is a feature that first appeared in March through April. Suppose you're sitting at the table at home for breakfast. Or suppose you're waiting to board the airplane or for the train's arrival. You open the newspaper (Eh? What's that?) and read the headlines. That's the idea behind "Murder in the News"--ie, you're reading the papers back in time when an Agatha Christie crime was reported. Was it national or world news? The latest Poirot case? Or simply an affair in a quiet village? I got the inspiration for this from two songs: 1) from "Headline News", the 1994 parody song by "Weird Al" Yankovic of the Crash Test Dummies hit "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" and 2) from The Beatles song "A Day in the Life", from their famous 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The name itself of "Murder in the News" is taken from the Poirot short story titled "Murder in the Mews" (1936).

In posting these here, I was originally not going to include the title of the novels or short stories. On Facebook, I was rather specific whether the answer was a novel or short story (as some short stories were also rewritten and published by Christie as a novel or novella). These headlines included Poirot stories, Marple ones, or neither. Some of the photos included with the news clippings are from televised or theatrical adaptations of the stories. Finally, let's see if you can spot "Easter eggs" or clues as to the stories themselves withing the short headlines and their accompanying newspaper articles. Hope you enjoy these.

You may post your comments on these "newspaper clippings" (below) after the following entries.