larsdradrach 's review for:

Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie

3.0

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Another solid Poirot novel and a reappearance from Ariadne Oliver, who witness a murder at a teenage Halloween party. Even though it’s an enjoyable read, it also felt a little repetitive and predictable and for once I managed to guess the murder early in the story.

There’s a clear progression in Poirot’s approach to a case, from the early pompous buffoon, solving the riddles in a mischievous way, without ever showing his hand, to these late novels where we are witness to his inner dialogue, pondering about the case and unraveling of society in general. This probably mirrors Christie’s own experience, there are after all nearly 50 years between this novel and the first Poirot novel from 1920 and it’s clear that Christie at 79 feels somewhat out of touch with the late sixties.

This one has just been adapted as a movie with Kenneth Branagh, which I really have to watch one of these days.