Genre
Mystery
The Plot
Hercule Poirot is on holiday at a secluded hotel in Devon, on an island. Everything seems fine: the hotel guests are quite vivacious, with the pretty Mrs Arlena Marshall flirting with Mr Patrick Redfern, causing the fury of his wife, her husband and her step-daughter. Then, one morning, Arlena heads out to Pixy Cove and is found strangled to death by Patrick and another guest.
❤️ What I liked about Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie
🙎👨 The characters. As usual, Agatha Christie manages to create an incredible array of characters, all well developed. Nobody is who they pretend to be. Almost all of them are wearing a mask, but who is hiding the face of a murderer?
🏝️ The setting. The island and the hotel look incredible… if it wasn’t for the murder. Cliffs, walks, turquoise water, tennis games, swimming, rowing: who wouldn’t want to spend their holidays there?
🔍 The whodunit. The husband has been typing letters all morning. The step-daughter has been swimming with the jealous wife. The lover has been rowing with another guest… All the usual suspects seem to be ruled out until Poirot comes in.
👵👴 The Gardeners. This old couple is hilarious! The wife literally can’t stop talking or having an opinion about everything. And the husband is the sweetest, going “yes darling” through most of the book.
To the score
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 This is one of my favourite Agatha Christie’s books. I’m also a big fan of the film with Peter Ustinov (even if it’s a bit different from the book). I simply think it’s brilliant. I wouldn’t have guessed who the murderer was, not in a million years. This was @murderatthebookclub pick for August. Can’t wait to read the next one: Appointment with Death.