HALLOWE'EN PARTY

HALLOWE'EN PARTY by Agatha Christie

I thought I had read all the Agatha Christies. I thought I owned all of them. Recently, I saw this one in a bookstore, and for once, I did the responsible thing. I went home to see if I had it, found I did not, and purchased it. If I thought And Then There Were None was a bit spine tingling, Hallowe'en party takes us to the next level.

In general, I am not a horror person and we don't do Halloween at our house. (We do a Night of Light instead for anyone who cares.) So for me typically, a book with Halloween in the title wouldn't have much of a chance coming home with me, but slap Agatha Christie's name on it, and it's game on!

In the middle of a Halloween party thrown for local teens, Joyce, a seriously annoying thirteen-year-old, blurts out the statement that she once witnessed a murder. She just didn't realize what it was until recently. Since she is known to be a liar, everyone blows her off and goes about the party. It's not until she's found dead with her head in the bobbing for apples bucket, that it is considered that this time she might have actually told the truth and someone wants her quiet. Thus, the stage is set for Hercule Poirot to unravel what Joyce possibly could have seen a few years ago and who was responsible for that murder and now Joyce's as well. Agatha Christie does a fantastic job of keeping us on the edge of our seats until the big reveal.

HEADS UP- Obviously, a child dies. Later a second one does as well. There is some discussion of ritual killing and spiritual things in the end, SPOILER ALERT but it's good old fashioned greed that is the ultimate motive.