Halloween Party / Agatha Christie

3.5 out of 5 stars

A teenage murder witness is drowned in a tub of apples... At a Hallowe'en party, Joyce—a hostile thirteen-year-old—boasts that she once witnessed a murder. When no-one believes her, she storms off home. But within hours her body is found, still in the house, drowned in an apple-bobbing tub. That night, Hercule Poirot is called in to find the 'evil presence'. But first he must establish whether he is looking for a murderer or a double-murderer...

 My first Hercule Poirot novel—probably not the best one to start with, but still very enjoyable. Having enjoyed David Suchet’s portrayal of M. Poirot, I felt I had the basis of the character and was quite comfortable jumping in at number 36 (!) of the Poirot mysteries.

I really enjoyed getting a contemporary look at the late 1960s in Britain in this novel—the young men with their sideburns and their fancy fashions! Plus, Dame Agatha is such an accurate observer of the human condition. She includes all the types that I would expect to find in a small town: the catty gossips, the one woman who seems to organize everything and is simultaneously appreciated and resented for it, the cads, the bounders, and the decent men.

Probably not the strongest entry in Christie’s canon, but it filled a very enjoyable evening.

Read to fill the Set on Halloween square on my 2016 Halloween Book Bingo card.