A seasonal read for me during this year’s spooky season was ‘Hallowe’en Party’ by Agatha Christie, which was, of course, recently filmed as ‘A Haunting in Venice’.
I have not managed many spooky reads this year, but I always am happy for any excuse to read a Poirot story – especially one that has a beautiful cover.
This is just everything that you want from a Poirot story, but with a little bit of a Halloween twist, which we can all get on board with once in a while. After a girl is murdered at a Halloween Party, Ariadne Oliver knows exactly who to call to help find the culprit – Hercule Poirot. It turns out that Poirot does not just have a current murder to solve but also, as it turns out, a historical case that nobody was quite sure was a murder.
As with all blog posts, there are no spoilers here; I think that, with Christie, much of the general plot is often already known, as her stories are just so famous, but I will keep the finer details from this post.
I found this story a real page-turner, because I just love seeing how Poirot works out his theories and reaches his succsessful conclusion. And I always enjoy Ariadne Oliver making an appearance, as she is always just one step behind Poirot and what he is coming up with, despite being a writer of detective stories. She brings a little humour to the tales.
I mean, it is fairly simple, but if you are a fan of the books of Agatha Christie then you will be a fan of Hallowe’en Party, and I guess you do not have to wait until next Halloween to read it.