Case 16: A Murder is Announced

A notice in the Chipping Cleghorn gazette announces: "A murder is announced and will take place on Friday October 29th at Little Paddocks at 6.30 p.m." Guests gather at Letitia Blacklock's home thinking it's a game. When the lights go out, a masked man appears and shots are fired—and the "robber" ends up dead. Miss Marple and Inspector Craddock must find who placed the ad and who really pulled the trigger.

Your mission: Use SQL to meet the suspects, see who was at Little Paddocks that night, find who was paid to stage the hold-up, who stood to inherit, and reveal who committed the murder.

About this case

Based on A Murder is Announced (Agatha Christie, 1950). A shocking announcement in a local newspaper promises a murder at a specific time and place. When guests gather for what they think is a game, a masked intruder appears and violence erupts. The question is not whether a murder occurred, but who truly pulled the trigger.

What you'll practise

This sophisticated case requires advanced SQL mastery:

WHERE with multiple conditions — to track who was paid to stage the robbery
ORDER BY — to reconstruct the sequence of events during the attack
Inheritance tracking — identifying who benefited financially from the death
Alibi verification — determining who had opportunity within the chaos

The database

You'll query the suspect_info table, tracking guests at Little Paddocks, their financial circumstances, family relationships, and their movements during the dramatic evening.

Difficulty

Intermediate to Advanced. A village mystery with multiple layers of deception. Requires careful analysis of who orchestrated the "game" and who turned it into actual murder.