Review: Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie

Posted October 31, 2013 by shooting in Uncategorized / 18 Comments

Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie
Review by Lauren
 
bought my own copy; all opinions are my own


Official Summary: 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…

Happy Halloween!!!


Review: This is probably my fourth novel from Agatha Christie, and the third one featuring detective, Hercule Poirot. I came across Hallowe’en Party while planning for my own British-themed Halloween party. Once I read the summary of the novel, I knew I had to read it during the month of October, and boy, am I glad I did!

I ended up finishing this right before I had my party, so I brought it along for a fun decoration. It’s about a Halloween party, and it takes place in England. What could be better for a British Halloween party? But enough about my party…on to the book!

Poirot is a fascinating detective. I love that as you read, you know he’s collecting evidence and ideas based on what he sees and what people tell him, and yet, I couldn’t figure it out! I’m learning all the same things as Poirot, but not being the awesome detective he is, I never did figure out who the culprit or culprits were (I’m not going to ruin that particular question – is there one murderer, or two?).

I think it’s fun to try and guess who done it, but I don’t mind not figuring it all out. Sometimes it’s more fun to be surprised in the end…and when Poirot put all the pieces together, I was a bit shocked by what had happened. However, while the surprise was there, I wasn’t blown away by any of the revelations. In that regard, Hallowe’en Party is a fairly average mystery novel, but one that I really enjoyed reading!

One thing I enjoy about Christie’s novels is that she includes such varied characters. Everyone mentioned is described in order for the reader to picture them, and most characters end up being a suspect at one point or another. That type of characterization can be rare in murder mysteries, since authors want to focus on the twists and turns and less on the people inhabiting the story. Christie does both in this one, and I think that’s just another good reason to pick it up.

While it may be Halloween today, that doesn’t mean you can’t grab this book sometime soon…or even another Christie novel! I recommend The Murder of Roger Ackroyd as another great Christie book that features Hercule Poirot!

18 responses to “Review: Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie

  1. Sounds like a fun book to read for Halloween! I haven't read anything from Agatha Christie yet, but I want to. What book would you recommend first?

  2. Lauren! I'm so thrilled you picked up an Agatha Christie mystery. I've read just about all of them. Don't ask me for details because I could re-read (as I've done a few times) and still be surprised, lol! I love Hercule, he's is often quite hilarious, although he doesn't mean to be. He's so vain it's comical, but he has reason to be cause he's so dang brilliant!

    Oh, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd! I still remember that one. How could you, Agatha?!! Lol. 🙂

  3. I've never read an Agatha Christie novel before, but I love how the mystery works, how you're never sure who could be the culprit. This a great review once again, you've definitely made me want to pick some mystery novels up right away!

  4. I'm still waiting to become an Agatha Christie fan. We were at the book fair last weekend and her books were really cheap. My friend bought few so I'll be borrowing them until I start to enjoy them. I'm so happy you enjoyed this one and it sounds like a perfect read for this time of the year. Great review 🙂

  5. You know, I have never read an Agatha Christie novel before. How sad is that?! After reading and loving The Cuckoo's Calling though, I would totally be up for reading another detective novel – and Christie would be a good place to start! Being surprised at the identity of the murderer is the best thing 🙂

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