Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie

 

I read Evil Under the Sun at the end of August for the #ReadChristie2021 challenge.  The prompt was a story on a seaside.  Poor Hercule Poirot never gets a break, even when he is on a seaside vacation.  He goes to visit the Jolly Roger Hotel, Smuggler’s Island, Leathercombe Bay on a promontory that is cut off from England at each high tide.  He meets a motley crew of characters and soon enough, one is found dead on the beach.  Who committed this murder during a seaside vacation and why?

I enjoyed this Christie as I’ve been enjoying each one as I read them for the first time.  Christie tricked me again, but I loved going along for the ride and seeing how this mystery turned out.  This novel did not have a narrator and I liked how chapter one set up the seaside location including a map.  I loved how once again Poirot uses his little grey cells to understand people’s characters and to really look at how much they are saying or not saying.  He shows the reader and the characters of the novel that sometimes or own biases are what make it so that a murderer can be hiding in plain sight.

Favorite Quotes:

“It is romantic, yes. It is peaceful.  The sun shines.  The sea is blue.  But you forget, Miss Brewster, there is evil everywhere under the sun.”

“One can’t go back, can one?  That – never.  But I’d like to have gone on - a different way.”

Overall, Evil Under the Sun is the perfect mystery to take along on your next holiday.

Book Source:  Purchased from Amazon.com