Agatha Christie: The Hollow

[mr_michel]

i had been reading some of her books lately (poirot ones, dont like miss marple), and this must be my favorite along with murder on... in every book i read i can see a different style from the author.
i mean older books are 100% about the murder (for example in murder on the ... you get to know a little to the characters because their past are clues, poirot only chitchat a little with the train executive and the rest of the book he is playing detective).
then there are books like evil under the sun where poirot socialize a little with the rest of the characters before asuming the role of detective.
and then i read this one which while there its a murder to be solved by the man with the little grey cells, you get to know the characters for other reasons than being a clue.

what make its special is that while the other books (the ones i have read) are novels about a murder, this is more like a family novel with a murder on it. (in fact poirot doesnt appear to often in the novel, its pretty much a secundary character).

im not saying that that makes better than the others (i mentioned that murder on... its the opposite in this aspect and still one of my favorites), but its refreshing and some of the characters are great, (would love to have an aunt like lucy).

Synopsis
Lady Angkatell, intrigued by the criminal mind, has invited Hercule Poirot to her estate for a weekend house party. The Belgian detective's arrival at the Hollow is met with an elaborate tableau staged for his amusement: a doctor lies in a puddle of red paint, his timid wife stands over his body with a gun while the other guests look suitably shocked. But this is no charade. The paint is blood and the corpse real, turning a pleasant country weekend into one of Poirot's most baffling cases.

i recomend this one if you havent read it

if you had read this one

Spoiler

any idea why lucy took the gun??

 

[dele]

I'll have to re-read that one. I can't remember the details just now. It's funny how looking back through her books, I can remember loving the stories, but I can rarely remember whodunnit and why.

 

[Bird54]

I have read most of her books. My favorites - Ten Little Indians and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (I'm not sure about this last name). I have never been able to tell you who committed the murder.

The only Poirot novel I did not like was Curtain. I don't want to ruin it for you. I just found the ending disappointing.

 

[Cathy C]

Death on the Nile is one of my favorites. I don't think I've seen "The Hollow." Could it have a different title in a previous version? I know several were re-issued with different titles.

Cathy

 

[mr_michel]

Death on the Nile is one of my favorites. I don't think I've seen "The Hollow." Could it have a different title in a previous version? I know several were re-issued with different titles.

Cathy

maybe, in spanish its called "blood in the swimming pool", but in the agatha christie official webpage appears as "the hollow"

 

[dele]

It's also called Murder After Hours. Most of her books were republished with different names. Here's a good website that lists them all:

Fantastic Fiction

 

[mr_michel]

Death on the Nile is one of my favorites. I don't think I've seen "The Hollow." Could it have a different title in a previous version? I know several were re-issued with different titles.

Cathy

so have you read it with either title??

 

[Cathy C]

Ah! Murder after hours is very good! Thanks, dele! This is one of those books that really didn't need Poirot to solve it. It was almost as though he was thrown in at the last minute, because most of the book had developed by the time he arrived. But it was a very good book. I liked the multiple guns as red herrings.

 

[Beatrycze]

Well, in Polish the title is translated as "The Sunday at the coutry" , so it's really confusing...

Spoiler

Lucy wanted to help the murderer.

 

[Landslide]

I've read this book, and I really liked it. I agree with mr_michel when he says that poirot is almost a secondary character in the book, which is not common in poirot books (at least the ones I read so far).

if you had read this one

Spoiler

any idea why lucy took the gun??

Spoiler

To make sure she destroyed any evidence it contained, like fingerprints. Other characters, like Henrietta, also help manipulate the evidences to help Gerda.