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Evil Under the Sun - Agatha Christie

A quiet holiday at a secluded hotel in Devon is all that Hercule Poirot wants. Inevitably, he connects with the others on holiday. Arlena Marshall is a beautiful red-headed actress and a flirtatious young woman with many men attracted to her. She goes to the Jolly Roger Hotel with her husband and stepdaughter, Kenneth and Linda Marshall. Linda Marshall (aged 16) hates her step-mother. Arlena flirts with handsome Patrick Redfern, to the evident fury of his wife, Christine, a former schoolteacher. Also staying at the hotel are Hercule Poirot; Sir Horace Blatt, a braggart; Major Barry, a retired Anglo-Indian military officer with an endless series of stories to tell; Rosamund Darnley, an exclusive fashionable dressmaker, who had formerly been Kenneth's sweetheart; Carrie Gardener, a garrulous American tourist, and her husband, Odell; Reverend Stephen Lane; and Miss Emily Brewster, a quite athletic spinster.

Early on the morning of the murder of Arlena, alibis collect. Linda drops a parcel of candles when Christine asks her to Gull Cove. Arlena paddles to Pixy Cove obviously for a rendezvous; Poirot disbelieves her request for solitude. But both Kenneth and Patrick seek her. Finally Patrick asks Emily to join her daily row. He finds a body lying arms outstretched, face hidden by a hat, but red curls peeking out. Patrick stays with the body, while Emily, not good at climbing heights, rows back to get the doctor, who diagnoses strangulation by powerful hands, therefore male.

Poirot and the police question the suspects. Kenneth was heard typing letters specifically responding to figures in previous mail. Linda falsely claims she was fond of her stepmother. By her watch, she and Christine went to Gull Cove at 10:30 and returned at 11:45, giving them an alibi. The Gardeners were with Poirot the entire time. Rosamund was seen reading at Sunny Ledge (above Pixy Cove) by Emily and Patrick. Rev. Lane and Major Barry were absent whole day, and Sir Horace Blatt went sailing. Christine, Rosamund, Kenneth and Mr Gardener all went to play tennis at noon. Earlier in the day, Miss Brewster was nearly hit on the head by an empty bottle tossed from one of the bedroom windows, so Poirot asks the chambermaid if she has observed a bottle missing. The chambermaid cannot tell, but did note another odd occurrence: somebody ran a bath at noon but everyone denies having done so.

At Pixy Cove, Poirot and police find a pair of new scissors, a fragment of pipe that could belong to many smokers, and heroin hidden in a cave. Inside the cave, Poirot also sniffs a delicate exclusive perfume only used by Arlena and Rosamund. Poirot invites everyone on a picnic to test their vertigo. Christine and Emily both claimed fear of heights (acrophobia), but Christine easily traversed the bridge – thus she lied. After the picnic, Linda is found overdosed on six of Christine's sleeping pills, and almost dies. She has written a confession, but Poirot found her library book about magic, melted wax and a pin, and realised she mistook piercing a voodoo image for murder. Christine made sure her tablets were handy, provoking the guilt-ridden Linda to take them.

Poirot asks for similar recent nearby cases of strangulation. Alice Corrigan was found by a local school teacher, while her husband Edward was supposedly too far away to have committed the murder. But a photograph from Surrey police identify Patrick Redfern as Edward Corrigan and the teacher, a games mistress, as Christine Redfern, then known as Christine Deverill, Patrick's true love and accomplice. Patrick was not Arlena's victim, but vice versa. Patrick pretended to be smitten and bilked her of most of her inherited fifty thousand pounds for "fabulous opportunities".

Arlena was unsuspecting, but if Kenneth knew that she had nearly emptied the account, he would become suspicious and Patrick would find himself in a difficult predicament. So Patrick and Christine decided to get rid of her. Arlena went on that fatal day to meet Patrick, as Poirot had surmised. Patrick instructed her to remain hidden in the cave if anyone came around. Meanwhile, Christine set Linda's watch 20 minutes forward. When she asked Linda to check the time, her alibi was set. Later, she adjusted the watch back. Christine went to her room, applied suntan makeup then wore large-sleeved clothes to hide her fake tan, sneaked out of the hotel to the Cove, and pretended to be the supposedly dead Arlena. Emily, who, with Patrick, "found" her was easily fooled. Christine then returned to her hotel room and took a bath to wash off the tan; the bath that everyone denied taking. She then threw the empty makeup bottle out a window, which nearly hit Miss Brewster. Meanwhile, Patrick called an unsuspecting Arlena out of the cave and strangled her. Poirot needles Patrick into a near violent fury despite the cold-blooded Christine telling him to "be quiet".

Poirot tells Linda she is innocent, and confesses she will not hate her "next step-mother". In the final conversation, Rosamund agrees to give up her career for marriage to Kenneth, "I've wanted to live in the country with you all my life".