A review by hannahmariebrankley
Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie

3.0

I really like Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot movies. When I saw the trailer for A Haunting In Venice, I knew I had to read the book before hand.

Being loosely based on the novel ‘Hallowe’en Party’, this is one of the later Hercule Poirot books written by Agatha Christie.

At a children’s Halloween party, thirteen year old Joyce Reynolds boasts that she once witnessed a murder. Only, she didn’t know it was a murder at the time. No one believed her, that was until Joyce was found dead. Drowned in the apple-bobbing tub.

Writer Ariadne Oliver, present at the party and a witness to Joyce’s story. As well as the discovery of her body, she calls upon an old friend. Hercule Poirot.

Just as Poirot starts to investigate, Joyce’s brother is found drowned too. Is Poirot now looking for a murderer or a double-murderer?

I love an Agatha Christie novel. The ABC Murders is a favourite of mine. But, this one was a little more difficult to get into. I decided to read it in tandem with the audio book. I find, when reading a “classic”, it is harder to find a pace. The audiobook helped immensely. I did really enjoy this. It was a little predictable in parts and I am interested to see how they have adapted this.

Because I wanted to read it before the film came out, it reinforced how much of a mood reader I am. For now, I give this 3.5 stars. I think if I hadn’t forced myself to get it read this month it may have scored higher.