Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A murder takes place in a Hallowe'en party of a twelve year old girl who had insistently bragged about having seen a murder taking place two or so years ago. Hercule Poirot steps in and goes through the rural communities history, geography and politics with fine-tooth comb. It is indeed a convoluted bit of investigation which failed to retain my attention uniformly throughout.

I found three things hard to digest. First, most of those present when Joyce repeatedly bragged about being an witness to a murder claimed that they had not taken note of the claim, especially when the girl herself gets murdered during the party. Second, why should everybody claim that some psychopath let loose by the health system might have committed all the murders that had taken place in the vicinity? Finally, the allusions to Greek myth, sacrifice and all, was rather a weak link.

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