“You and I have a principle in common. We do not approve of murder.”
Originally published in 1969 and the 32nd book in Agatha Christie‘s Hercule Poirot series, Halloween Party sees a teenage murder witness drowned in a tub of apples at a Halloween party. Joyce — a hostile thirteen-year-old — boasts that she once witnessed a murder. When no one believes her, she storms off home. But within hours her body is found, still in the house, drowned in an apple-bobbing tub. That night, Hercule Poirot is called in to find the ‘evil presence’. But first, he must establish whether he is looking for a murderer or a double-murderer…
Rating: 
I have loved the Poirot books that I’ve read so far so I was excited to find one set over Halloween. The seasonal setting is brilliant for a murder, and it’s definitely a book that will you get you in the Halloween mood…. for a while, at least.
The first half of the story is really intriguing and the mystery certainly kept me guessing. However, I didn’t find it as gripping as the other Agatha Christie books I’ve read and I did lose interest slightly in the middle.
I didn’t mind so much that the Halloween setting wasn’t carried through the whole story, as I didn’t expect this to be a spooky or dark read anyway, so I enjoyed that it was merely the backdrop for the murder and that it only played a big part at the beginning.
And as always, I didn’t know how the story was going to conclude. Unfortunately, I didn’t find most of the characters very interesting so I wasn’t as invested in the whodunnit side of things as I usually am. But this was my first meeting with Mrs Oliver, and I look forward to bumping into her a few more times throughout the series.
For me, this instalment didn’t quite have the desired effect, but there’s never any denying Agatha Christie’s talent and Poirot is still one of my favourite detectives!
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