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Evil Under the Sun is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1941^[1] and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in October of the same year^[2]. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6)^[1] and the US edition at $2.00^[2].

Contents 1 Specifications 2 Plot introduction 3 Plot summary 4 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations 5 Publication history 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Specifications

• Author = Agatha Christie
• Illustrator/Cover Artist =
• Series =
• Genre = Crime novel
• Publisher = Collins Crime Club
• Publication Date = June 1941
• Nature of Rarity =
• Number in Existence =
• Estimated Value =

[edit] Plot introduction

A quiet holiday at a secluded hotel in Cornwall is all that Hercule Poirot wants, but amongst his fellow guests is a beautiful and vain woman who, seemingly oblivious to her own husband’s feelings, revels in the attention of another woman’s husband. The scene is set for murder, but can the field of suspects really be as narrow as it first appears?

[edit] Plot summary

(Although this novel is not counted amongst the novels featuring him, Hastings makes a cameo appearance in about ten lines of chapter 2, discussing the case with Poirot at a later date.)

The beautiful Arlena Stuart Marshall is magnetically attractive to men, and her husband Kenneth reacts with apparent stoicism to the presence at the hotel of Patrick Redfern, her new beau. His wife, Christine, seems less acquiescent, and Arlena is also detested by Rosamund Darnley, an old friend of Kenneth’s who seems to want him for herself.

On the morning of the murder, Arlena goes off on her own for what appears to be a tryst on the side of the island that is comparatively unvisited. Poirot assumes that her assignation is with Patrick, but this seems not to be the case when Patrick arrives shortly afterwards and seems to be looking for her.

Patrick starts to push out a boat to go meet Arlena when another guest, Emily Brewster, asks if she may join him. When they reach the secluded beach, they see Arlena on the sand. Patrick clambers ashore, revealing that Arlena is dead. Emily goes to fetch help while he waits with the dead Arlena.

Found at the crime scene are a pair of scissors and a bottle.

Much attention is paid to the alibi of Kenneth Marshall, who claims to have been typing letters at the time of the murder. He has been heard, but the main corroboration comes from Rosamund Darnley, who claims to have entered the hotel and seen him, although not interrupted his work. When Kenneth confirms that he did see Rosamund enter the room, there is a suspicion that the two may have contrived the alibi. Perhaps the two were working together.

The discovery of a jewel in a cave adjoining the beach draws into the list of suspects a keen yachtsman, Horace Blatt. Meanwhile, Christine Redfern admits to overhearing Arlena talking to a man who was blackmailing her. When it is discovered that much Arlena's enormous fortune has been eaten up in untraceable payments, another potential motive becomes clear. Moreover, Poirot starts to inquire regarding recent cases of strangulation, throwing up suspicions of a serial killer. Is the religiously zealous Reverend Lane secretly a homicidal maniac?

Kenneth’s daughter, Linda, has behaved oddly on the morning of the murder, returning early with a package of candles. Poirot finds remains of wax, hair, and coloured paper in her fireplace. When she attempts to commit suicide, leaving a note that claims responsibility for the murder, it seems that the case is solved.

Linda’s guilt is attached, however, to a little experiment with sympathetic magic and a wax doll. The real nature of the murder is far more complex. For Arlena was not the seductress that she first appeared: she was just a woman of strong superficial attractiveness of whom men quickly tired. She was an obvious victim for a manipulative swindler such as Patrick Redfern.

Christine's body was found, not Arlena's.

Arlena, scared by the approach of Patrick’s wife down the ladder and, following her previous instructions from Patrick, hid in the cave. Christine took her place lying on the beach, wearing the hat, and was “discovered” by Patrick.

Now, Patrick could kill Arlena at his leisure. It was at least the second such murder that he had committed; the pair had been responsible for an earlier murder using a similar trick to establish his alibi. His motive was to kill Arlena before it could be revealed that he had swindled her out of much of her fortune.

The only happy ending is for Kenneth and Rosamund, who plan their eventual wedding while reflecting on the fact that each had provided a fake alibi for the other, believing the other to be the actual murderer.

[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

• Evil Under the Sun was the second film to be made with Peter Ustinov in the role of Poirot after his debut in the part in the 1978 film Death on the Nile. The setting was moved to a secluded resort frequented by the rich and famous in the Adriatic Sea whilst the action was, in fact, filmed in Mallorca, Spain.

• The novel was adapated as an episode in the series Agatha Christie's Poirot in 2001 starring David Suchet.

• On October 17, 2007, The Adventure Company released a PC adaptation of the book. The game starred Kevin Delaney as the voice of Hercule Poirot. This version includes the character of Captain Hastings who does not appear in the book.

[edit] Publication history

• 1939, Collins Crime Club (London), June 1941, Hardback, 256 pp
• 1941, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), October 1941, Hardback, 260 pp
• 1945, Pocket Books (New York), Paperback, 183 pp (Pocket number 285)
• 1957, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins), Paperback, 189 pp
• 1963, Pan Books, Paperback, 217 pp
• 1971, Ulverscroft Large-print Edition, Hardcover, 362 pp
• 2008, Poirot Facsimile Edition (Facsimile of 1941 UK First Edition), HarperCollins, April 1, 2008, Hardback, ISBN 0-00-727455-6

The book was first serialised in the US in Collier's Weekly in eleven parts from December 14, 1940 (Volume 106, Number 24) to February 22, 1941 (Volume 107, Number 8) with illustrations by Mario Cooper.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Evil Under the Sun at the official Agatha Christie website
• Evil Under the Sun (1982) at the Internet Movie Database
• Evil Under the Sun (2002) at the Internet Movie Database
• Web page for Burgh Island, the setting of which is used in Evil Under The Sun and And Then There Were None.