Scatterbrained Lady Angkatell has invited an unfortunate selection of people for the weekend; forceful, vibrant Dr. John Christow; his mistress Henrietta, a sculptress; his faded, worshipful wife; Midge, a practical sort of cousin who works in a shop; and Edward, who loves Henrietta and is the object of Midge's affections. There will be two visitors: actress Veronica Grey, who was once engaged to John and is enraged when he doesn't want to take up where they left off, and Hercule Poirot, their neighbor. When Poirot arrives for lunch, he finds Gerda Christow standing over her husband, revolver in hand. But is all as it appears?

Not the best of the Poirots. Christie herself felt that Poirot should not have been included. There is little for him to really do besides solve the murder, whereas he often straightens out everyone's personal lives as well. ( )

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Sad, not her best mystery, but lovely characterisation, ( )

Christie's The Hollow is an intense psychological study of a successful Harley Street doctor, John Christow, and his immediate circle of family and friends. The first half of the novel is all set-up. We get inside the heads of Christow's adoring, self-effacing, rather stupid wife Gerda; his friend Henrietta, who is an artist; Henrietta's relative, the vague and dangerously charming Lady Angkatell; Midge Hardcastle, another of Henrietta's family; and various other characters.

And when the murder happens, it's really misty... everyone has a motive and no one has a motive. All trails lead nowhere. You can suspect everyone of doing it, and new motivations are revealed as the story progresses.

One of the more interesting characters in the book is actually a very minor one, Mrs. Crabtree. She is a poor woman who is fighting off the disease that Christow specializes in. He had been hugely impressed by her zest for life and determination to live — and indeed it is a recurring theme in the book, how Christow was alive and everyone else around him was a rather insubstantial ghost of themselves. The last chapter is quite unnecessary, but I did love seeing Mrs. Crabtree for myself rather than just hearing about her from the other characters. It was a good ending.

I'm happy to say that I made a few guesses as to the murderer and one of them was right! I suppose *one* of them was bound to be correct though. Some very heavy clues are dropped in the opening chapters, and then you start to wonder if they were too heavy; if, as Poirot would say, the eye is seeing what it is meant to see.

Christie doesn't usually make any profound philosophical comments, but she fearlessly states in this book that "worship eradicates personality." I don't quite agree; I think it depends on the object of the worship. She uses that contention to show why Gerda subordinated herself so completely to her husband, but there are even darker undertones with Henrietta's sculpture "The Worshipper."

Poirot was good in this, but I never fail to be struck by how everyone comes to him and tells him their version of the story, quite uninvited! It's like clockwork. As a plot device it's a little artificial by now, but for psychological studies, it works very well. It's interesting to see how people twist the facts when you don't even know what the facts are. You have to reach conclusions about what really happened based on their personalities and motivations; what would they hold back or twist, and why?

I started reading this late one night and the set-up was so good that some of the characters (Lady Angkatell in particular) popped up in my dreams that night! There are a lot of adult themes, marital infidelity in particular, but nothing explicit. It isn't my favorite Christie, but it's still quite good. ( )

This is a fascinating tale with bluff and double bluff centred around a fascinating family. The characterisation in this novel is superb.. The plot is peppered with red herrings, but Poirot gets there in the end. ( )