Book Club

Poirot Stories

Poirot is Agatha Christie's most famous and popular detective.  No doubt he would agree that he deserves that accolade!

Here is the place to discuss all of his stories in detail with other fans.  The most insightful comments will be added to the Stories pages.  But remember to beware spoilers!

If you can't find your favourite Poirot story here, don't worry - we'll be adding them all soon.

Warning: These discussions may contain spoilers!

Hallowe'en Party

Moderator1 09 Nov 09 at 3:49 p.m. GMT

Unusual things happen at Hallowe'en but Ariadne Oliver could certainly not have imagined it would be the murder of a 13 year-old girl.  She was a liar and not very well liked so when she said she'd witnessed a murder some years before no-one believed her - or did they?  Ariadne calls for Poirot's help and he, together with retired Superintendent Spence, start to investigate past murders.

Should Ariadne Oliver have been given more of her own stories?  She only appeared in one without Poirot, The Pale Horse, but did she have sufficient detective powers to function as a sleuth without Poirot's input?

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34 replies

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Pilar 14 Nov 11 at 4:56 p.m. GMT

When I read this book for the first time I didn't like it very much, I thought it gloomy. Now that I'm older and wiser I have come to appreciate the later Poirots and this in particular. Now I love it! The atmosphere is superb, the mystery first-rate, the characters acutely depicted.

Mrs Oliver isn't really a detective, nor is she a Watson-figure to Poirot. I see her as a kind of prism through which we observe the events with a privileged and intelligent perspective.

MaliniBose 11 Nov 11 at 5:41 p.m. GMT

I love Hallowe'en Party. It's one of my favourites. And something about the eerie atmosphere and the garden and the comparisons with Greek mythology reminds me of one of my favourite Marples- Nemesis. 

I don't think Mrs. Oliver should have been made a protagonist. Don't get me wrong, I love her as the eccentric cameo detective but I feel that with more book time, some of what I personally love about her would be lost. And I don't always like her either. She was great in Hallowe'en Party but I didn't like Pale Horse, and I found her a tad tiresome in Third Girl.

Quin90 15 Jul 11 at 6:15 a.m. GMT

Hallowe'en Party was a really good book!?And again,Agatha Christie beats me in figuring out who the murderer is!!?

Frankly, I think it's good that AC didn't give Ariadne Oliver her own stories because in my mind she comes to life more when she's with Poirot though she does get to him abit!I haven't read The Pale Horse yet but I definitely think she wouldn't be as interesting inspite of her sufficient detective powers!!?

knottyceltic 29 Oct 10 at 6:24 p.m. GMT

Thank you for that info on the quote and on the availability of pumpkins in England at the time.  How interesting.  I absolutely LOVE pumpkins.  Orange is one of my favourite colours, so much so that I do an "orange wash" on my clothes washing days.  For me it isn't autumn without at least one pumpkin PER member of the household, so yes, I too would overlook the anachronism on film for the pleasure of seeing my beloved pumpkins.

Tommy_A_Jones 29 Oct 10 at 4:17 p.m. GMT

I didsn't mind too much that I didn't like The Adaptation Knotty Celtic, I was dissappointed Spence and Elspeth weren't in it and I didn't like The way The Policeman Treated Poirot but I would rather they messed up with a Book I ambivolent about rather than Destroy one of My Favourites, What was the Incest referred to? I must have missed that.

MissQuin 29 Oct 10 at 2:31 p.m. GMT

knottyceltic

Did someone quote "proliferation of pumpkins" in one of the posts?  How can any movie with "proliferations of pumpkins" be bad  hehehehe!

That was McGinty. He's correct, because in the 1930's in England, pumpkins weren't imported until a long time afterwards. Alot of people didn't bother with Halloween here til the 70's when the Halloween horror films came out and inspired people. BUT I'm willing to overlook this fact  

go_leafs_nation 28 Oct 10 at 11:22 p.m. GMT

I have my ways. ;)

I really thought the adaptation did the book perfect justice, and was highly entertaining. After a few series in a row where the episode quality was highly inconsistent, most of the newest ones are excellent.

englishriviera 28 Oct 10 at 11:01 p.m. GMT

I am looking forward to seeing the adptation. Halloween Party happens to be one of my favorites aswell. Hope to find it on dvd soon.

knottyceltic 28 Oct 10 at 9:35 p.m. GMT

Thank you for the links Miss Quin!  As you know Halloween is my FAVOURITE holiday of the year so for one of my hobbies and one of my holidays to overlap I would be terribly sad if the adaptation was a flop.  I'm grateful to hear that there are more positive posts than negative ones.  No matter though.  I am one who likes to judge for myself and I was one of the minority who LOVED the new MotOE.  Next year seems so far away to see "The Halloween Party" but maybe I can find a DVD copy on Ebay that will be compatible with North American DVD players.

Say, how did GoLeafsNation get to see it?  I'm making the assumption that he/she is Canadian also by their moniker (maybe I'm wrong). 

Did someone quote "proliferation of pumpkins" in one of the posts?  How can any movie with "proliferations of pumpkins" be bad  hehehehe!

MissQuin 28 Oct 10 at 8:17 p.m. GMT

To knotty, Ive written a little piece on another thread.

http://www.agathachristie.com/forum/have-your-say/television-and-film/more-poirot/?page=3

Go leafs wrote an excellent review of it on here somewhere, I'll go find it.

http://www.agathachristie.com/forum/have-your-say/television-and-film/review-halloween-party/

McGinty, Go leafs and Mrs Hastings and myself really loved the adapt of Halloween Party. I hope you do to when you see it.

knottyceltic 28 Oct 10 at 5:54 p.m. GMT

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy the "Hallowe'en Party" adaptation as much as you had hoped.  We won't get to see it until another YEAR here in North America.  :o(

Tommy_A_Jones 28 Oct 10 at 4:59 p.m. GMT

I saw this last night, I don't think the changes added anything to it, Why The Police have to resent Poirot's help I don't know, In the books the Police welcome his assistance, I thought George was Unnecessary unfeeling at the beginning, I think it was a bit of a cop-out having Ariadne in bed alot to speed things up a bit, I thought |The Solicitor was entertaining but the Adaptations seem to me to be too Predictable these days and Cliche'd, I liked the Performance from the Male Murderer but I won't be sorry if I don't see this again.

Tommy_A_Jones 14 Sep 10 at 4:26 p.m. GMT

Yes in each case Ariadne was asked to create something for an Event, It is years since I read Dead Man's Folly, but it is one I will re-read, I re-read Halloween Party not long ago

MissQuin 14 Sep 10 at 4:20 p.m. GMT

I was thinking how there some small simularites with Dead Man's Folly.

DEAD MAN'S FOLLY SPOILERS!!! Like a girl of around 14 being the victim. The parents weren't unduly upset in either book (which I think was AC's own view of modern parents, than actual reflection on how things were). Mrs Oliver being present and both times girls' were killed during "games" a murder mystery one and a set up apple dunking game. Simularity in whodunnit, and both times victims killed and there's lots of possible supsects. But the dynamics of the stories are different. I actually prefer Halloween Party's characters more.

Mr_Graves 14 Sep 10 at 8:10 a.m. GMT

Well! What can you say about "Hallowe'en Party?" I found it a very original and intriguing Christie novel, but I did express exasperation at Poirot's strange ramblings and observations. Seriously? There were like two pages describing the Quarry Garden. ???. But anyway, I felt that the presence of Mrs. Oliver and the added humour was much appreciated.

Also, I found the setting of this book interesting. All of the other AC books I've read have been pre- 1950s, so to hear her describing all sorts of 60s things like how people were dressed and also her bold mention of lesbianism, was something rather extraordinary for me.

Overall, not a very neat and tidy book, but good ideas and originalities and everything that makes it a Christie in there as well.

DMBENOLIEL 06 Sep 10 at 2:41 p.m. GMT

Dear Friends, This is not an answer, but I do not know where to ask a question. There is in "Halloween party" a quotation by Poirot of what could be an old French song : Regarde Narcisse, regarde dans l'eau, regarde Narcisse comme tu es beau, Il n'y a au monde que la beauté Et la jeunesse. Hélas ! Et la jeunesse. In spite of all I tried I was not abel to find the origin of these verses, and I should like to use "Hélas ! Et la jeunesse" as a title for a novel I am writing. Does anybody know its origin and communicate it to me in these columns or through my Email "dmben.livre@free.fr" Kindest thanks to all and any, D.M. BENOLIEL

GKCfan 06 Sep 10 at 5:28 a.m. GMT

SPOILERS FOLLOW!

Pongo, I am not 100% sure on this point, but since the fake will that was intended to be disproven at probate was a total forgery, Harriet Leaman didn't sign it.  Ms. Leaman signed the REAL codicil to the will, which was later found by the killers and destroyed.   I don't know for sure if the killers forged Ms. Leaman's name to the fake will, or if they just guessed who the probably witnesses would be.

Pongo 06 Sep 10 at 4:59 a.m. GMT

SPOILERS

GKCfan, Thank you very much for your thoughtful and easy-to-follow explanation.  So, just to be clear, Harriet Leaman was a witness for the fake will (the one that the murderers INTENDED to be disproven at probate).  is that correct?

GKCfan 04 Sep 10 at 10:44 p.m. GMT

Here are my thoughts on your Hallowe'en Party questions, Pongo.

The four words Poirot writes were probably the names of the two killers: Rowena Drake/Michael Garfield.  Miss Emylin suspected the first person (the one who drowned Joyce) because she was clever enough to suspect that person due to the water clue.  However, she never dreamed of linking the murderer to the murderess, so the third and fourth words, which was the name of the murderer, caught her by surprise at first, but on second thought she believed it was a possibility.

Here's what happened with the codicil.  The rich aunt realized that Rowena and Michael were having an affair, so she cut Rowena out of the will and left all her money to Olga Seminoff.  This was unacceptable to Rowena and Michael, so they hired a young forger to draw up a fake will, but they cleverly had him draw up a forged will in Olga's favor, since they weren't sure if the witnesses had actually read the will they signed.  They replaced the real will with the forged one.  Then around the time the aunt died (she may have been poisoned- it's not clear) they stabbed the forger and made it look like an anonymous bar fight, and stabbed Olga and threw her down the well and made it look like she ran off.  They contested the will, which was proven to be a forgery, so it was thrown out and the biological next of kin inherited.

Puffinjill 04 Sep 10 at 7:24 a.m. GMT

Blimey!! I wouldn't go that far, Pongo, but thank you for the compliment! The pleasure is all mine, I assure you. I love all things Christie so discussing the great lady and all her wonderful books with like-minded people is a complete joy to me.

SPOILERS!!!!

In answer to your question about Harriet Leaman and the codicil - I think (and I may well be wrong!) that she signed a genuine codicil written by Mrs Llewelyn-Smythe but this was possibly found and destroyed by Mrs Drake or Michael after her death so the original will would stand. Leslie Ferrier and Olga, knowing that this codicil DID exist, may have then forged another in order that Mrs Llewelyn-Smythe's last wishes might be known. Any of that make sense? I must read it again soon and clarify these points in my own mind!