From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

Evil Under the Sun (Hercule Poirot, #24)

Agatha Christie

Start date: December 1, 2019

Finish date: December 31, 2019

Discussion: Archive: Poirot Buddy Reads

Why we're reading this: Another classic title in our series of Poirot buddy reads.
[close] Another classic title in our series of Poirot buddy reads.

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 71 topics — 1,981 comments total

Archive: Poirot Buddy Reads

* Reading Order for the Unofficial Poirot Buddy Reads
By Jessica-sim · 54 posts · 155 views

last updated Dec 27, 2020 08:20AM

Poirot Buddy Read 40: SPOILER THREAD Curtain
By Jessica-sim · 20 posts · 35 views

last updated Feb 05, 2021 06:12PM

showing 6 of 6 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Aug 10, 2021 Bev rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: agatha-christie, mystery, vintage-mystery, mount-tbr-2021, british-mystery, bought-2017

Hercule Poirot is taking a holiday at the Jolly Roger Hotel, an exclusive resort on the Devon coast. And, despite his emphasis to his fellow residents that he is definitely not on a case, he finds that murder has decided to holiday on the coast as well.

Arlena Marshall, a beautiful former actress, is seen by the other guests as a femme fatale. Her long-suffering husband, Captain Marshall, must stand by as men fall over themselves to get close to her. Her latest conquest is Patrick Redfern, a han Hercule Poirot is taking a holiday at the Jolly Roger Hotel, an exclusive resort on the Devon coast. And, despite his emphasis to his fellow residents that he is definitely not on a case, he finds that murder has decided to holiday on the coast as well.

Arlena Marshall, a beautiful former actress, is seen by the other guests as a femme fatale. Her long-suffering husband, Captain Marshall, must stand by as men fall over themselves to get close to her. Her latest conquest is Patrick Redfern, a handsome young man with a rather mousy little wife. Poirot observes that Redfern is really quite in love with his wife and that may be so, but the young man seemingly can't resist the siren's call.

One morning, Arlena asks Poirot to help her launch her little boat--insisting that she wants to be alone for once and that he should tell no one where she's gone. It's obvious to the detective that she has an assignation, but when Redfern appears on the beach and looks about helplessly it would seem that the beautiful Arlena is meeting someone besides the ardent young man. Redfern later goes out rowing with Emily Brewster, a rather athletic young woman who always goes rowing in the mornings, and he just "happens" to row in the direction Arlena had taken. They spot her sunbathing with a large green hat over her face and Redfern insists on going onto the beach and surprising the sunbather. But it's he who gets the surprise...a rather nasty one. He shouts to Emily that Arlena is dead, strangled. He volunteers to stay with the body and sends Emily for help.

Soon Poirot is setting aside his holiday in order to help the local police get to the bottom of the case. Naturally, the local inspector is looking at the most likely suspect--the betrayed husband. But the husband seems to have a perfectly good alibi. There are others who may have wanted Arlena out of the way--from her stepdaughter, Linda Marshall, to Rosamund Darnley, an old friend of Captain Marshall's who perhaps would like to be more than friends. There's also the Reverend Lane who is a bit of a fanatic and may have been pushed over the edge by what he calls a scarlet woman. When a cache of drugs is found in a little cave at the beach where Arlena was murdered, it begins to look like she may have run afoul of drug smugglers. But Poirot is focused on the most likely suspect--a suspect even more likely than the betrayed husband. He'll have to figure out what a thrown bottle, a mid-day bath, some candles and green bits of cardboard, a wristwatch, and an older murder case have to do with Arlena's death before he will be ready to present his case to Inspector Colgate and the Chief Constable, Colonel Weston.

Another great mystery from Dame Agatha. I enjoy the way it seems everyone has an alibi and Poirot manages to figure out how someone who "couldn't possibly have done it" did. It had been so long since I actually read this (junior high school, I believe). I've watched the filmed versions several times since then and it was interesting to see what had been changed for the two films--with Peter Ustinov as Poirot in 1982 and David Suchet in 2001. Ustinov's version is a bit more camp while Suchet's is a bit darker and changes Marshall's daughter into a son (for some unknown reason), but each follows the plot very closely.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting portions of review. Thanks. ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Mar 12, 2021 Grisette rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: my-kind-of-detective-thriller, 3rd-pers-narration

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

5 likes · Like · see review

Mar 24, 2019 P. rated it it was ok · review of another edition

The plot plods along until the not at all believable, bespoke end, which puts paid to the tale. Even worse one of the characters whose business is going under [no fault of his own!!] decides to marry a woman with a thriving, successful business which she created from the ground up by herself as long as she gives it ALL up to marry him and live 'in the country' no doubt on huckleberries and moonbeams. 1941. ...more

Like · see review

Jan 07, 2023 Teri-K rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, zz-2023-my-book-club

A good mystery with plenty of suspects, but it suffers from too many characters. Also, Poirot says at the revelation that he knew who to suspect due to their character, but that seems to me to not be supported by anything but intuition, which doesn't feel like fair play to me. Also, this is pretty anti-feminist, even for Christie. ...more

Like · see review

Aug 10, 2013 Rita Marcella rated it it was amazing

Dec 19, 2013 Christine rated it liked it

Shelves: british-literature, library-books, mystery-thriller-suspense, law-enforcement, authors-a-to-d, audiobooks, read-in-2015, library-7

1 like · Like

Jul 06, 2014 Paperbackreader rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: my-library, all-collections, favorites, read-and-owned, british, classic, mystery, detective, hercule-poirot, mysteries-set-in-isolated-places