The setting: a children's halloween party complete with bobbing for apples, looking in the mirror to see your true love, a "real" witch ... and the presence of a well-known writer of mystery stories. A child boasts that she witnessed a murder, and hours later she is drowned. See how a murder committed years ago comes back to haunt a community. With characteristic references to Greek mythology of a bevy of characters, a beautiful garden .... and a complicated plot of money and saving beauty for beauty's sake. And Poirot saves the life of yet another just in time! ( )

A more modern but fey Poirot. Beautiful and sad. ( )

Mrs Oliver - who seems to be involved in murder everywhere she goes - attends a children's party at which a young girl claims that she had witnessed a murder. Claims which are ignored until later that evening she is murdered. Mrs Oliver calls in her friend Hercule Poirot to investigate. A good late Poirot. ( )

May 18, 1999
Halloween Party
Agatha Christie

Of course I was attracted by the title, and then by the synopsis: a schoolgirl is found dead at a Halloween party. This introduces me to the character of Ariadne Oliver, a recurring character in many of Christie’s books, apparently. It’s a Poirot mystery, and Ariadne, some say, is a parody of Christie herself. She’s a mystery writer with a fondness for apples, etc.

The storyline is great. Young girl (pre-teen) murdered sometime during the party, after claiming she’d seen a murder. The ending seemed nonsensical, though, and could’ve been much better. ( )

Some beautiful imagery of gardens and of the emotions they evoke give this mystery its charm. A child is drowned at a party, after boasting that she had seen a murder - but all the evidence suggests that she did not see any such thing, so why would she be killed? Christie makes it all come together with a twist in the end, as always. ( )