Agatha Christie and the Dandelion Poisoner.
Hallowe'en Party Audiobook By Agatha Christie cover art

Hallowe'en Party

A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition

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Hallowe'en Party

By: Agatha Christie
Narrated by: Hugh Fraser
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At a Hallowe'en 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.

©1969 Agatha Christie Limited (P)2002 HarperCollins Publishers Crime Crime Fiction Detective Fiction Historical Fiction Murder Mystery Traditional Detectives Scary
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Classic Mystery • Clever Twists • Masterful Narration • Intricate Plot • Engaging Storyline • Surprising Ending

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One of Christie's best books is performed by Frasier, who is without peer in voicing these characters. Highly recommended

the incomparable Hugh Frasier

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A classic Christie Mystery, taught with several twists and turns. Very enjoyable over the course of a few days.

classic Christie

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I love Hercule Poirot stories. However, this story just didn't live up to some of his other stories. Don't get me wrong, it's still a good mystery, and the clues are all there to solve it, but some loose ends aren't tied up. Was Mr. Drake's death an accident or murder? How did the boys know to follow the murderer at the end? (I'll admit that one might have been answered at the end, but I missed it if it was.)

Overall, it is a nice read. This is Hallowe'en Party not a novelization of the upcoming Kenneth Branagh film, so don't let the name fool you. It's set in England and not Venice like the movie (and I'm sure lots will be changed in the movie too).

Fun Poirot Outing, but Not The Best

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I am making my way through Christie's full catalog and was interested to hear this book, which I had never heard of before. It is....just okay. The first half, especially, is a grind to get through, as every single conversation drives at the same basic point that Poirot is trying to prove, but that point is not particularly interesting and the truth of it will be obvious to every reader.]

Luckily, once things get going, there is intrigue to be found.

My guess is that the upcoming film that is (loosely, it seems) based on this will be far more enjoyable than the book itself.

Definitely Not Her Best - But Worth Checking Out

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This was the very first audio book I've ever listened to, and I am not disappointed. I've wanted to read this book for ages, and it was a great listen, though I wish the Halloween theme was more prominent.

The narrator did a fantastic job, and I loved the voice he gave to Poirot. I definitely recommend this.

Amazing

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Entertaining story by Agatha Christie. Hugh Frazier does an excellent job of making the story come to life. David Suchet *IS* Hercule Poirot. Hugh made him seem to be there.

Good story. Great storyteller.

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Agatha Christie is a master story teller and has an amazing ability to weave the pieces together in the most creative ways!

I loved humor around the apples!

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Some of his stories are better left unpublished. This one is definitely for the attic.

God, it was boring

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With autumn upon us and Halloween around the corner, the timing felt right to give this Agatha Christie a seasonal listen. If there’s someone who could take the unlikely premise of a teenager’s murder at a holiday gathering after declaring to a disbelieving crowd that she’d witnessed a murder herself in front of a famed author, it would be Agatha Christie. And whom better to investigate it that Hercule Poirot, yes?

Which makes it a shame that Hallowe'en Party is something of a mixed bag.

Don’t get me wrong: all the ingredients are there. The village full of secrets that both Poirot and Ariadne Oliver come into as outsiders feels like classic Christie. So, too, does the wide-ranging cast of characters (and suspects) that occupy the village. The opening chapter or so, building up to the party and the murder, offer a blurry snapshot of it all and get the ball rolling solidly. Everything that should make this a solid offering are here.

Yet something feels off about the whole novel. Perhaps it’s seeing Poirot in the 1960s (with Ariadne Oliver even comparing him to a computer, which feels both apt and odd at the same time). Alternatively, it could be the repetitive debates the detective has with numerous characters about the changing social mores of the 1960s or mental health. Or, ultimately, that all the ingredients might be present but the eventual solution and the identity of the murderer feels under-cooked. Christie could certainly write to capture changing times (The Pale Horse at the start of the decade, a favorite of this reviewer, proves that) but Hallowe'en Party is a novel that feels out of time.

Dare I say, this might be a case where the adaptations (both featuring David Suchet on television and the ground-up reworking of it for actor/director Kenneth Branagh) are the better versions of this? In both cases, the ingredients and the recipe could be tweaked into something more cohesive. It’s still worth seeing where the inspiration for both came from, even if the source novel isn’t quite the sum of its parts.

A Mixed Bag of Hallowe'en Mystery

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An Agatha Christie favorite. The story was read very well. The actor brought Hercules to life.

Halloween Party

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