Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie #ReadChristie23

Title: Evil Under the Sun
Author: Agatha Christie
Publication: Dodd, Mead & Company, hardcover, originally published in 1941
Genre: Mystery
Setting: 20th century England

Description: A mansion on a small island off the Devon coast has been turned into the Jolly Roger Hotel where guests can swim, play tennis, take walks, and enjoy the convenience of a causeway to the mainland. Hercule Poirot is out of his element but never wearies of observing people, and like the other guests he notices beautiful actress Arlena Marshall, on vacation with her husband and stepdaughter. All the guests notice that Arlena is carrying on with an infatuated young man, whose forlorn wife attracts pity from observers. When Arlena is found dead, sunbathing, her husband, Captain Marshall, is the obvious suspect. But if he has an alibi, perhaps any of the hotel guests or staff could be the murderer. It is up to Hercule Poirot to assist the local detectives and Chief Constable in solving the crime so they don’t allow a killer to go free . . .

My Impression: Death at a secluded hotel is a variation on the classic country house murder with a closed circle of suspects and, as always, Christie sets the scene with likable and unlikable characters, some of whom had reason to want Arlena Mitchell gone. All the men find Arlena very attractive but can tell she is trouble by the way she behaves, so she is much observed and criticized. In fact, Poirot warns his fellow guests that despite the sunshine and blue water, “there is evil everywhere under the sun.” Despite his unease, Poirot enjoys chatting with Rosamund Darnley, an elegant Londoner who has her own clothing company and grew up with Arlena’s husband, Captain Marshall. Rosamund still carries a torch for him, which gives her a motive to remove his wife. Everyone hopes it was a deranged stranger who killed Arlena but Inspector Colgate questions the proprietor about access to the island by non-guests:

“How do you stop them coming here?”

“There are notices. And then, of course, at high tide, we are cut off.”

“Yes, but at low tide?”

Mrs. Castle explained. At the island end of the causeway there was a gate. This said, “Jolly Roger Hotel. Private. No entry except to Hotel.” The rocks rose sheer out of the sea on either side there and could not be climbed.

The detectives conclude that coming by boat would be possible but hard to avoid being seen, so the likelihood of a guest being involved is high.

Poirot seems out of his element on holiday by the sea so it is a relief when murder restores balance by allowing him to use his little gray cells to aid the police. Everyone knows the most likely killer is not always the guilty party so we aren't going to assume the long-suffering husband is guilty but even the guests with motives all seem to have alibis. A sinister minister (which sounds like the title of a book or chapter) would have been good to blame: he was weird and no one liked him. There is a particularly fatuous American couple staying at the Jolly Roger. I sometimes wonder why Christie, who surely appreciated her revenue from book sales in America, depicted my countrymen in such a negative way. Didn’t she ever meet clever Americans?  I need to read Lucy Worsley’s biography of Christie which I bought last year to find out!

It would be fun to have stayed at a resort hotel from a bygone era. Presumably, they were more affordable then! The modern equivalent of renting an entire cottage or an Airbnb may provide more space but you miss out on the interesting fellow guests (murderous or preferably not), the meals prepared by someone else, and chambermaids who tidy your room and know your name. When I visited Prince Edward Island with friends in 2014, we spent one overpriced night at Dalvay-by-the-Sea, a summer resort hotel since the 1930s. Our room was quite ordinary but I loved the hotel, which had wraparound porches, a grand first floor with high ceilings, and provided great scope for imagination as well as an ocean view. It was used as the White Sands Hotel in the television version of Anne of Green Gables and it would be a great place to set a time travel novel.  I recommend a visit if you ever go to PEI!  You can eat at their lovely restaurant if just want to stop by briefly.

Source: Library. Evil Under the Sun is the July book for Read Christie 2023 and my twenty-second book for Carol’s Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge.