Hallowe’en Party (Poirot)

Product Information

When the party ends, Joyce is found dead, having been drowned in an apple-bobbing tub. Ariadne Oliver, attending the party while visiting her friend Judith Butler, calls on Hercule Poirot to investigate the murder and Joyce's claim. This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.

In A Haunting in Venice, we take the bones of Agatha Christie's mystery, a book called Hallowe'en Party, and put it into Venice with all these wonderful actors to create the perfect, haunting mystery," explained Kenneth Branagh in a behind-the-scenes video. When Joyce mentions to Ariadne Oliver in Chapter 1 that she should have themed the party around a fake murder in honour of her presence, Ariadne replies "never again". This is a reference to Dead Man's Folly, an earlier Poirot novel where she is asked to write a fake murder for a charity fête that turns into a real one.

My Book Notes

Yet, I look at the date of this novel—1969—and realize that perhaps one of my favorite mystery authors was simply getting tired of her characters and writing to meet a deadline. Perhaps she had used up all of her suspenseful endings and gripping characterizations. Granted, Curtain--a novel that ranks with her best works—was still to come, but I think this novel was part of the reason she was so ready to give Poirot his send-off. Hallowe'en Party is the perfectly themed Agatha Christie Mystery to listen to in October and is one of the last Poirot stories Christie wrote. It feels dated and a bit old-fashion considering the year it was published in. 1969, when Modern was a buzz word, this story has words such as Authoress, Disappearess, and Jollification. Yep, that feels like a bit of a time-warp, I'd say. Kenneth Branagh's Third Hercule Poirot Film 'A Haunting in Venice' Casts Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, Michelle Yeoh and More". Variety. 10 October 2022. Both Christie's novel and A Haunting in Venice introduce us to a spooky Halloween-set mystery with multiple deaths and plot twists, as the famed detective tries to uncover the truth after being lured into the case by mystery writer Ariadne Oliver (played in the movie by Tina Fey).

Mrs Llewellyn-Smythe placed her codicil in a book titled Enquire Within upon Everything, a real book of domestic tips published from 1856 to 1994. Poirot also reveals that Judith is not really a widow. She once had a brief affair with Michael Garfield, and Miranda is the child of that union. The Butlers met Michael again by chance years later; though fond of Miranda, Michael was willing to kill his own child to satisfy his need to create. Satisfied with Poirot's help, Judith thanks him. Miranda meets with Garfield, who takes her to a pagan sacrificial altar with the intention of poisoning her. However, he commits suicide when two youths recruited by Poirot save Miranda's life. Miranda reveals that she was the one who saw Garfield and Rowena drag Olga's body through the quarry garden, and she secretly told Joyce. Miranda had not been present at the preparations for the party, so Joyce tried to seek famous Ariadne's attention by claiming Miranda's story as her own. Hercule Poirot – Belgian detective, asked to help investigate the murder of Joyce Reynolds by his friend Oliver.

Preview Book

Hallowe'en Party was released by HarperCollins as a graphic novel adaptation on November 3, 2008, adapted and illustrated by "Chandre" ( ISBN 0-00-728054-8). A letter was sent to Hercule Poirot from Mr. Goby, who appeared in The Mystery of the Blue Train, After the Funeral, and Third Girl.