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4.17k reviews for:

Hallowe'en Party

Agatha Christie

3.39 AVERAGE

adventurous mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot

This book definetely passes the vibe check: I'm not a fan of scary things, and Halloween is a festivity that I really like, but also hate because of the non-spoken rule that everything, from costumes to decorations, to movies to watch, have to be the scariest possible. This is a great compromise (and I will possibly steal some ideas for a Halloween party from here, it seemed so much fun!).

As an Agatha Christie book, though, it doesn't deliver the same quality as other books that I've read. It's a lot more straight-forward both in the premises and the execution. It is immediately clear where the story is going, and the path is filled with so many useless details it's almost boring.
I don't know if it's meant as a more "relaxed" story to introduce children to mistery books, or simply the author was a bit lacking in inspiration (seen how far on this book was published), but the atmosphere that usually surrounds these stories, was not quite there.
mysterious
Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Very nice little mystery. It’s been awhile since I’ve read Agatha Christie. Read for prompt set in Autumn, genre = mystery/classic
dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I picked up this book because it’s October so I wanted a story that fit the season. Also, the big screen adaptation (the title was changed to A Haunting in Venice) just came to theaters.

As my 3 stars implies, this is not a book that I would recommend. If I didn’t know better, I might have assumed this was one of Agatha Christie’s early works, not one of her last.

The story has an intriguing premise. A girl is drowned at a Halloween party after bragging that she had witnessed a murder years earlier. But no one believed her story so is there a connection?

But after that, the story devolves into a long list of uninteresting interviews and I struggled to tell the difference in them. All the dialogue sounded repetitive.


Well-crafted, short mystery.

This is the only story written by Agatha Christie that I have read. I had guessed 2 possible murderers from the beginning, and though many other characters were introduced afterwards and threw me off the scent a couple of times, I narrowed it down to one and I was correct. However, I was totally off on the manner in which it occurred and the reason it happened at all. Though some parts seemed to drag a bit, I enjoyed my intro to AC. It was a lot of fun guessing who the murderer might be, and I especially loved the timing of this book club pick - perfect for the upcoming Halloween festivities!

I did read all of Agatha Christie's novels when I was a teenager, including this one, and I watched the ITV dramatisation a few years back, but I still couldn't remember who the villain was, so I decided to read this one again as part of my Halloween Reads.

This is a Poirot story, one of the later ones - written and set in the late 1960s - a fact I hadn't appreciated until I reached the line: 'The younger one was wearing a rose-coloured velvet coat, mauve trousers and a kind of frilled shirting.' Helping Poirot solve the mystery is his friend Ariadne Oliver, a crime writer - and one of my favourite Christie characters - I wish she'd had a series of her own!

The story starts with Ariadne going to stay with a new friend, Judith Butler, whom she met on a Greek cruise. Judith is a widow with a young daughter, Miranda. Also living in the village is the incredibly bossy Rowena Drake, who is organising a Halloween party for all the children. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as it turns out) Miranda is unable to attend because she is ill, but Ariadne still goes along to help. The descriptions of the various games brought back a few memories of the Halloween parties I went to as a child! I'd never liked apple bobbling - with good reason, as it turns out, because during this party thirteen-year-old Joyce is murdered by having her head shoved into the apple bobbing bucket. Why Joyce? Well, earlier she had been trying to impress Ariadne by telling her how she had once witnessed a murder, although 'I didn't know it was a murder when I saw it.' Of course, no one believes Joyce, because she is known for being a liar...

The story is mostly told from the point of view of Ariadne and Poirot. Once the murder has taken place, each chapter concentrates on a different suspect, very much like the game of Cluedo. You have to concentrate hard to remember what each person has said and pick out the clues from the red herrings - a style of crime fiction I've never much cared for, because it can feel a bit repetitive.

I worked out the villain without too much effort, although there were a few clever twists I didn't see coming! And I did enjoy the story - I'd forgotten how funny Christie could be - but I don't think I'll be rushing to re-read any more.

more of a cozy style mystery, great performance by the reader

3.5 stars!

I had my hunches and finally figured out most of the mystery, with a 1/4 of the book left.
It can happen friends but is very rare with AC books! It’s so rare, it’s kind of like seeing a yeti for the first time. 😂

This was a fun book and an interesting ending.
Not one of her best books but still highly entertaining.