The beauty of Arlena Stuart Marshall moved nearly everyone she met either to love her or to hate her. Men fell for Arlena because of her beauty. Women hated her because her one real pastime appeared to be stealing men from other women – more often than not, their husbands. That summer at the Jolly Roger resort hotel, the passions of summertime romance exploded into violence and murder. Fortunately, Hercule Poirot was also a guest at the Jolly Roger. And it was Poirot who would uncover the truth behind the events presented to us in Agatha Christie's Evil Under the Sun. It's the book I review today on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the complete recording by clicking here.
I have a somewhat guilty secret to share with you: there are books by Agatha Christie that I haven’t read yet – and more that I read so long ago, a couple of decades at least, that I have forgotten all the plot twists and turns that make reading a Christie novel such a treat. This week, I decided to tackle a Christie book that I think I last read 20 or more years ago. My choice was Evil Under the Sun, first published in 1941, during the later years of England’s Golden Age of Detection.
It’s a solid read, one of the author’s best books, the story of Arlena Stuart Marshall and the men and women in her life. I must confess that I was still genuinely surprised by some of the plot twists – and the genius of Christie’s signature misdirection. While Poirot (and Christie) do play fairly with the reader, I think you’ll be very surprised indeed at the resolution of the story when you see how cleverly you have been led astray by a master storyteller. Evil Under the Sun plays with your expectations and delivers interesting characters and a plot that keeps its promise of evil. I think you’ll enjoy it.
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