Miss+Marple+Comes+to+Tea

A Murder is Announced Chapter 11 Summary

 * Miss Blacklock invites Mrs. Harmon to tea, and Miss Marple comes along with her.
 * Miss Marple plays the batty old lady who has "a constant preoccupation with burglars" (100).
 * Letty cheerfully says, once again, that she has "nothing much to burgle" (100).
 * Miss Marple suggests that she get a deadbolt, which Miss Blacklock says Mitzi would love.
 * Miss Bunner then remembers to tell Lettie about how Inspector Craddock had found the dummy door to have been oiled and in good use.
 * While she's saying this, Lettie tries to tell her to be quiet, which she realizes too late.
 * Dora then starts tripping over herself, saying "Oh, Lotty, I'm so- sorry- I mean, oh I do beg your pardon Letty- Oh, dear, how stupid I am" (101).
 * Miss Blacklock makes Bunch and Miss Marple promise not to tell anyone what Dora said, saying that Craddock wouldn't "want that talked about" (101).
 * She then, ironically, says that there are no secrets in Chipping Cleghorn.
 * Bunch suddenly says that she thinks she knows what happened, but after a few fumbling sentences, it's clear she doesn't.
 * Miss Marple then asks if the murder took place in the room they're sitting in (it did).
 * Bunch and Miss Bunner then begin to tell a very rambly version of the story, "with occasional emendations and corrections from Miss Blacklock" (102).
 * Patrick then come in and turns the story into a sort of play, acting out the bits of Rudi Scherz.
 * The ladies are distracted with talk of cigarettes and tables and lamps.
 * Miss Marple brings up how much she values old photos of her family, and how Miss Blacklock must have "many photographs" of Patrick as a child (103).
 * Apparently she only had one and she "didn't keep it", as the family is very broken up and doesn't speak to each other often (103).
 * After the party, Miss Marple comments that it's interesting that Miss Blacklock didn't know what either Patrick or Julia looked like before they arrived, and that it's something she thinks Craddock would like to know.