The setting:
The Jolly Roger Hotel on an island off the coast of England in Leathercombe Bay.
The victim:
The beautiful Arlena Stuart, a former actress. The "world's first gold-digger. And a man-eater as well." To some she is the personification of evil. Indifferent to her stepdaughter, reckless with her admirers.
The crime:
Murder by strangulation. The body is found in a little bay known as Pixy's Cove. Not much used for swimming with "rocks dotted fantastically about the beach", but a favored picnic area.
The suspects:
Kenneth Marshall, the wronged husband. Was Arlena afraid of him?
Patrick Redfern, with whom Arlena was having a rather public affair.
Christine Redfern, the meek but loyal wife of Patrick.
Rosamund Darnley, an old family friend of Kenneth's. The two grew up together and have met by chance on the island after many years apart. They show a natural affinity towards each other.
The Reverend Stephen Lane, feels a sense of foreboding on the island and is sure that amongst the guests there is "evil under the sun". But are his beliefs too fanatical?
Mr. Horace Blatt, rich with an awful and inappropriate sense of humor.
Miss Emily Brewster, a tough athletic woman.
Mr. and Mrs. Gardner, Americans on holiday. Odell, a henpecked husband. And Mrs. Gardiner, fragile nerves but with a sharp eye always trained on her husband.
Major Barry, an Anglo-Indian, former military man with far too many really bad stories in his repertoire.
Collateral damage:
Miss Linda Marshall, barely sixteen and just after having left school, hates her stepmother, adores her father, awkward as a young colt and prickly as a hedgehog. Her mother was accused of murder.
The sleuths:
Two local police, a Chief Constable and Inspector Colegate. The two are joined by hotel guest, M. Hercule Poirot. Belgian, not French! His reputation precedes him. A natty dresser he is, with a elegant and distinct moustache.
The clues:
Gabrielle No. 8.
A pair of scissors.
A broken pipe stem.
A bottle thrown from a window.
A green calendar.
A packet of candles.
A mirror and a typewriter.
A skein of magenta wool.
A girl's wristwatch.
The Solution:
Every bit as clever as you would expect an Agatha Christie solution to be. As always an entirely satisfying mystery, atmospheric, carefully constructed with interesting and colorful characters.
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I love Agatha Christie. I used to mind that I had come to her so late in life when so many other readers managed to find her when they were young and in some cases had even read through her whole oeuvre. Now I am happy I have so many books ahead of me to discover. I've seen her criticized for her workaday prose, but you really can't beat her for such clever constructions. How did she do it? Time and again write mysteries with such different crimes and solutions. Sometimes I can figure them out before I get to the end, and sometimes not.
I read Evil Under the Sun (1941) a number of years ago. While I knew who the murderer was, it in no way diminished my enjoyment of the story. Rather it was like revisiting an old friend. Actually in this case it was a matter of setting being the draw for me. I was looking for a good beach read, and it had all the right elements--a gripping story, a sunny warm setting by the seaside, a good puzzle to work out (since I knew the ending it wasn't a search for truth but a wondering of just how she pulled it all off) and the perfect atmosphere. I could visualize it all--the elegant Arlena, superbly dressed and coiffed, a glamorous woman in an attractive setting, yet one with evil lurking just under the surface.
Christie displays her usual aplomb in handling all the elements. And while, yes, this is a straightforward (classic) cozy mystery, it is also a meditation on the meaning of evil. And it's not exactly what you expect it to be. The cliché is to make Arlena the victim who asks for what she gets in all her nasty glory, but it's not that easy really. Christie, or maybe its M. Poirot actually presents her in a sympathetic light making the story and characters more complex than you might expect.
I've been slowly reading the Miss Marple stories in the order they were written, and am now up to A Murder is Announced. I've read a handful of Hercule Poirot mysteries and a good smattering of her standalone novels. I think I'm up for another Christie novel--perhaps a standalone so will try and squeeze one in before the end of the month, though I do have several other really good mysteries/crime novels on the go at the moment (will share more of my reading soon). Evil Under the Sun is one of my very favorite Agatha Christie books, but I plan on reading all of her oeuvre (she still makes for a good reread, too). I'm just happy I have so much of it ahead of me yet to enjoy!