Customer Reviews

Hallowe'en Party (Hercule Poirot)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Even though "Hallowe'en Party" was written later in Agatha Christie's career, and some might believe it to be somewhat of a letdown from earlier works, it retains all the trademarks of what make Christie's intricately woven, delightfully detected mysteries so endearing and timeless. With Hercule Poirot serving as the sleuth who steps in to solve the murder, "Hallowe'en Party" is quick-paced and filled with a cast of characters who seemingly all have something to gain, or hide.

When a young teen is found murdered at a Halloween party, Hercule Poirot is called in by a visiting mystery writer. She is troubled by something that the girl had said during preparations for the party. The young victim claims to have seen a murder committed, and Poirot is quick to believe that she was murdered in order for that murder to remain unknown. He soon sets himself to the task of interviewing a wide cast of the town's inhabitants, raising questions about not only present events, but those in the past that just might be connected to the tragedy. When another murder hits too close to home, Poirot knows that he must convince the lawmen in charge that he has fitted the puzzle together correctly.

"Hallowe'en Party" is plotted out to perfection; the solution, and the requisite explanatory chapter in which Poirot explains how he solved the crime at hand, is as ingenious as it is 'right before your eyes' if the reader is paying close attention to the clues. As always, Agatha Christie has fashioned a delectable mystery that has remained timeless in its plot (even if some of the language, and fashions mentioned for that matter, are a bit dated).

The story begins innocently enough - a children's Hallowe'en party. One of the adult guests is Ariadne Oliver, the famous crime novelist. One of the children at the party, in order to impress Mrs. Oliver claims to have seen a murder committed. No one takes any notice, dismissing her story, until the girl turns up dead at the end of the party. Horrified by the tragedy, Mrs. Oliver turns to her old friend Hercule Poirot for help, despite her belief that women should be running Scotland Yard! Poirot begins investigating and realizes that the child was killed in order to prevent discovery of another, much older crime. But raking up the past is dangerous as it can cause a killer to strike again...very chilling mystery, notable for its air of subtle menace and cruelty. Although the identity of the killer was fairly obvious midway through the book, I think Christie afficionadoes will like the psychological analysis of the motives for the crime, as well as of the criminal. Another good Poirot mystery.

Agatha Christie was a true mistress at presenting unique mystery plots and shocking conclusions! Although Miss Jane Marple is my favorite of her series detectives, Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is just as engaging and worth getting to know. His gentle arrogance and wit alone are well worth taking the time to try one of the instalments in this particular series, not to mention his brilliant deductive powers. "Halloween Party" is one of Christie's Hercule Poirot works, ranking up there with "Death On the Nile," "Murder On the Orient Express," and "The ABC Murders." The only minor complaint for me is that Captain Arthur Hastings does not appear in this book.
This particular instalment involves Poirot's friend, mystery writer Ariadne Oliver, who is helping a friend prepare a halloween party for preteens of the country village. The party is a huge success until one of the girls, who has a habit of revealing more information than she should, is found drowned in the apple bobbing tub. She had told people earlier in the day that she had seen a murder being committed a year or two earlier. Could someone at the party have heard her and decided to silence the girl before she revealed what she knew? Ariadne Oliver enlists the help of Hercule Poirot, and his brilliant "Little Grey Cells" begin their work. This mystery has a chilling undercurrent, because Christie uses the horrific occurrence of a child being murdered, and Poirot must confront a truly sociopathic killer who will stop at nothing to remain in the dark.
The audio verssion of this book is superb, and features John Moffat as narrator. He originally played Poirot on several BBC radio productions of the series, and does well portraying different characters. I thoroughly recommend the book on a long car ride or while working around the house. It will make the time go much faster.
Agatha Christie presents readers with another gem! As with mostly all of her books, this one certainly does not disappoint. Please give it a chance. Happy reading!

One of the later Hercule Poirot novels, this book is deftly written and keeps you guessing until the end. Everytime I thought I had it figured out something popped up that made me question my conclusions.

This book has all of Agatha Christie's usual flair for plotting out a plausible solution to a seemingly unsolvable crime. In a few places the narrative seemed a little drawn out, but this was more than made up for by an exciting ending and Christie's excellently descriptive writting.

Highly recommended for fans of Agatha Chritie and mystery novels in general.

This is one of Christie's easier mysteries to figure out but the murders are just nasty enough to be almost comical. The drowning of children shouldn't be funny but here, I think Agatha was in a dark, black comedy mood. Besides, the 2 victims are rather obnoxious... so it makes it more humorous. While you'll guess the whodunit right away (how can you not?), she does throw in a few twists at the end that only Poirot could have unravelled. Not a great book, but not bad either. After all, Christie did write it and she seldom wrote a bad story in her career. Good stuff, as one reader mentioned, to curl up with in autumn weather.

The choice of murder victim in this book is a little different than most Christie victims. The scene is an English village and the murder occurs at a Hallowe'en party for pre-teens. The murder victim was a 13 year old girl, who was known for talking too much, and for making up untrue stories. Aridane Oliver is at the party and when the young girl is found dead, she calls her old friend Poirot to come to solve it. Poirot discovers a killer who is totally without normal human feelings, and more people die or are found dead before he unmasks the true villain. This is late-Christie type fair, but the plot line is tight and there are a number of red herrings to keep the reader guessing. It's interesting to read Christie's take on young people of the late 60's too.

I feel this is one of Christie's very best, with both Hercule Poirot and Christie's mystery writer Ariadne Oliver adrift in a bizarre, unearthly setting. A perfect book to read as Halloween approaches, it has a truly bewitching feel to it, with a mysterious hanging garden constructed in a quarry as backdrop to the strange goings on. The characters, ranging from slightly odd children to menacing adults, add to the haunted feel of the book. In the midst of it all, Poirot's offended and suspicious air, and Oliver's battiness are quite amusing. Well worth the read. Come September, get yourself a copy of this, and of Tom Tryon's Harvest Home, and have a truly spooky, atmospheric autumn!

One would think that by 1969, Hercule Poirot (created by Agatha Christie in 1920!) would have lost most of his trademark charm, but such is not the case. HALLOWE'EN PARTY (one of my favorite Christie mysteries of all) has an ingenious solution, the requisite "explanation scene" - and an elegiac quality which puts it in a class virtually by itself: this is fine literature as well as fine suspense. After nearly fifty years, Poirot and his creator are as brilliant as ever.

I LOVE Agatha Christie. Her books are fast, smart and well thought out. The atmosphere is great in this book and she gives you something you rarely see in mysteries or thrillers: children in REAL mortal danger. Adults who would murder children is not a pretty sight and one not easily and only rarely touched on by other authors. Christie hits is straight on here.

(SPOILER ALERT)

As well thought through as Christie's books usually are, it shocked me that there were two MAJOR problems that made this mystery completely foolish and without sense. It could have been great. The great thing is that in order to solve the central murder...the reader has to go back and find the killer of a murder that happened years before. It's like trying to solve a puzzle within a puzzle. As is that isn't clever enough...the previous murder "could" have been any one of three separate murders. This set up really keeps the plot twisting back in on itself.

That said....it makes no sense that:

1.) Miranda would have such a strong friendship with Michael...especially since she'd seen him and Rowen commit a murder!!! HOW on earth would she feel safe and secure around him. Her "wanting to be a sacrifice" at the end was dumb. It made NO sense. It would have been better if Miranda had only seen Rowena dispose of the body. That would have made her growing friendship with Michael even more dangerous and creepier....because he'd KNOW she knew about the murder....but NOT that he was involved. This would have added credibility to his ability to manipulate her.

2.) Michael murdered Olga, who was already beneficiary to the will in question. If he wanted money...why didn't he just marry her? That's what Olga wanted? Why murder her? The excuse for this in the book is LAME. Maybe if he'd had a passionate love affair with Rowena, who convinced him to marry Olga and THEN murder her shortly after so they could be together...THAT would have made sense.

3.) The fact that Michael was Miranda's father felt tacked on for extra drama but just turned out to be a "groaner". Ridiculous. If Miranda's mother KNEW Michael was her father and felt there was something "evil" about him....it made NO sense that she would let her daughter play alone with him in the woods. Dumb.

This book is the classic Christie "slow build". In fact, the last four chapters are page-turners. Still....when you get to the Big Reveal....it's a let down. I love the set up, atmosphere, kids in danger...etc. It just fell apart for me at the end. This book could easily be revised to make it terrific. As is....it's just all right.

The manner in which Halloween is celebrated in England, with its games, masks, and its emphasis on the macabre, disgusts Poirot. The name Halloween means the Eve of Saints (Day). All Saints Day occurs on November 1. It is a solemn day designed in the Roman Catholic tradition to remember all of the saints. Halloween occurs on the prior eve, on October 31. Perverting this holy day with macabre frivolity can only lead to trouble. And it did. A young girl is murdered and Poirot is called in to investigate and identify the murderer in this well-told, interesting, and sometimes humorous tale.

The young girl had blurted out during a Halloween party, surrounded by many children and some adults, that she saw a murder committed some years back. They all laugh at her because she had lied in the past. But shortly thereafter, during the party, she is found dead, drowned in the apple dunking bowl. Poirot discovers that there had been three deaths in the village in the past three years and one disappearance. The first to die was a very old rich woman who did not leave her fortune to her relatives, but to her au pair. The will giving the estate to her relatives had been superseded by a codicil, which was soon shown to be a clumsy forgery. This au pair soon disappeared. A man with a criminal past was stabbed in the back. A school teacher drowned. Are all four incidents related, just some of them, or none? What did the child see? Was she telling the truth? Can Poirot unravel the mystery?