A clever mystery that leaves the reader guessing. A young girl outs drowned in a peculiar way and Peroit is called in. The characters are introduced as he interviews them. A flavor of the English countryside is added. ( )

One of her later novels (published in 1969), Christie hauls out Poirot from her bookcase of detectives to solve the mystery of 13-year-old Joyce's death, an annoying girl who is drowned in a bucket while bobbing for apples at a Halloween Party. Even Poirot seems a bit hackneyed on this job. A semi-enjoyable and fast read, but not one of Christie's best. The ending also was too abrupt, like she was hurrying to meet a deadline. A low pick. 3.5/5.

I enjoyed this story—and it's one of the few Christie books where I've guessed whodunnit* and why—but it's a lesson in public domain publishing as well. The copy that I read was an ebook I picked up cheap with "public domain" listed as the publisher, and the quality is very poor. Sentence and paragraph breaks in odd places were the worst offender. So, note to self: pay a little more next time and get a copy published by someone willing to put their name on it. I would have enjoyed this story more, I feel, had I not been reading such a poor quality copy of it. (Side note: the cover image on my copy is NOT the one shown here.)

* one of whodunnit, anyway ( )

My first Agatha Christie novel and it didn’t disappoint. This was a great mystery. I did feel slightly bogged down by the multiple characters conversations at times, I knew starting this book that was a thing.

I was quite surprised by who the culprits were but I enjoyed the story as it unfolded. Will definitely be reading more in the future. ( )

Hallowe'en Party opens with famed mystery authoress, Ariedne Oliver, in attendance at the preparations leading up to a children's Halloween party. The party is being hosted by the friend she is staying with for a short vacation away from home, a middle aged widow. A slew of people are also in attendance, some just popping in briefly to bring needed items, others hanging around to visit and many of the neighborhood children of various ages hastily preparing all the necessary props prior to the party's start. Ariedne can be found sitting and watching as well as munching on an apple she snags from the batch destined for the apple bobbing activity. (The apple motif is heavy in this novel). One of the children is a loud-mouthed, rather obnoxious girl of 13 named Joyce who, likely trying to get the famous murder mystery writer's attention, proclaims that she saw a murder in the past. Everyone scoffs at her, and no one believes her. She insists that she did and pouts when she is not believed.

Then the party activities begin and everyone is lost in the antics. At the end of the party, Joyce is nowhere to be found. Tragically, it is discovered that she has been drowned in the apple bobbing bucket. Upon this discovery, Ariedne immediately rings up her friend, the indomitable and relentless Hercule Poirot to aid in solving this terrible murder of a child at the party. He assents, of course; and so begins an intriguing detective story full of plot turns and twists and just when you think you have it figured out, another twist is thrown in to throw you off the trail. With one more thrown in for good measure right at the ending of the book! This is #41 in the series of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot mystery books. An enjoyable mystery all-in-all. ( )