Fresh off my double victories over Agatha (see: Five Little Pigs and Peril at End House), I dove into Evil Under the Sun with considerably more confidence than usual. After all, I’ve bested the Queen of Crime twice; surely, my little grey cells are more than up for this classic Poirot case?

Alas, I was barely halfway through the book when I realized how misplaced my confidence — okay, cockiness — was. There’s so much going on in this novel, and so many suspects (and I’m sure, red herrings) to consider, and I have no clue what the answer will turn out to be! In a further blow to my ego, Poirot lists all the clues he’s mulling over. He also literally points out to us readers what details are significant, and he asks highly specific questions that clearly draw our attention to important elements. And I still have no idea who on earth could have killed Arlena Stuart Marshall!

The set-up is classic Christie: Poirot is on holiday at a sunny beachside resort. He meets a cast of colourful characters, many of whom are entangled in each other’s lives in one way or another. At the centre of the main plot is Arlena Stuart, a beautiful woman who draws men to her with barely any effort. Her husband, Captain Kenneth Marshall, and teenage stepdaughter Linda are on holiday with her. Another guest at the resort, the super handsome Patrick Redfern, seems infatuated with her, to the dismay of his wife, the pale and plain Christine Redfern. Entangled with them all is Miss Rosamund Darnley, a smart boss lady type who runs the local boutique, was childhood friends with Captain Marshall, and seems to still hold a torch for him.

One beautiful morning, Arlena’s body is discovered on Pixy Cove, killed by strangulation. She was discovered by Patrick and another guest, Miss Emily Brewster, who is described as tough and athletic. Other characters include an American couple, Mr and Mrs Gardener; Major Barry, who is a bachelor and gambler; Rev. Stephen Lane, who is obsessed with “scarlet women”; and Horace Blatt, who seems desperate to be liked. There are also a couple of subplots that involve some of the characters, and may or may not be linked to Arlena’s death.

I have my ideas about how all the puzzle pieces fit together, and I’m very much not confident I’ve figured it out. But then again, the last time I felt this uncertain (At Bertram’s Hotel) , I ended up figuring out about 75% of the mystery, so maybe I’ll have similar (or better!) success this time around!

Did I Solve the Case? (No Spoilers)

No, no I did not. Not even close. Sigh… I had two very strong gut feel suspects, and both of them turned out to be innocent. Not only did I not guess the murderer’s identity, I also did not guess their motive or method.

Okay, Dame Agatha, you win this round. And very well-played too, I must admit. That was a mind-blowing reveal.

Onward and upward, little grey cells! We’ll solve the next one!

***SPOILERS BELOW***

Questions I Considered:

• Why are Rosamund Darnley and Kenneth Marshall lying to give each other alibis?
  • I’m pretty sure they lied. Kenneth’s alibi was that he was in his room typing the whole time. Rosamund only ‘remembered’ later that she actually returned to the hotel after all and saw him typing. When Kenneth heard that, he suddenly ‘remembered’ that he saw Rosamund peeking in on him through the mirror. So: they obviously lied to protect each other. But why? Is one or both of them the murderer?
• What is Rosamund afraid that Linda knows? What does Linda actually know or think she knows?
• What’s the significance of Linda’s dabble with witchcraft? (She has a book of spells, and Poirot found remains of a candle and bits of a calendar in her room’s grate.)
• What’s the significance of Poirot smelling the perfume Gabrielle no. 8 (worn only by Arlena and Rosamund) in the cave near where Arlena was killed?
• How does the lunchbox of heroin, discovered on a ledge near where Arlena was killed, fit into all this? Who’s the drug dealer, and is it connected to Arlena’s death?
• Is it true Arlena was being blackmailed? Christine Redfern overheard her talking to a man about it, and the police later saw that the £50,000 she inherited from a wealthy ex-lover (Sir Roger Erskine) was now down to £15,000. And even if she were, is it connected to her death?
• What’s the significance of the bath running at noon? Poirot keeps asking suspects if they were the ones taking a bath at that time, and so far, Rosamund, Kenneth, and Christine all say it wasn’t them. But as a police officer points out, Arlena was strangled, so it’s not like the killer would have blood to wash off.
• What’s the significance of a bottle (contents unknown) potentially missing from a guest’s room?
• What remark did Mrs Gardener give that Poirot says is so important?
• What’s the significance of it having rained the night before?

Suspects I Considered but Ultimately Deemed Innocent:

• Rosamund Darnley and Kenneth Marshall
  • They are likely suspects. Rosamund was one of my two gut feel suspects from the start (I reveal the other in My Verdict), and she and Kenneth both had motives to kill Arlena.
  • Kenneth’s first wife was almost convicted of murder, so he seems to have a thing for wealthy women who may not be around long. He doesn’t seem super in love with Arlena, so I can believe he married her for her money, and later killed her for the inheritance. And despite Rosamund’s assertion that she and Kenneth hadn’t seen each other in 12 years, I think it’s likely she lied, and they schemed together to get Arlena’s wealth for themselves.
  • However, I don’t think they did it. Their attempts to cover for each other are too clumsy to be pre-planned. And I can very well imagine Agatha Christie setting it up this way so it’s obvious they both care for each other very much. (Dame Agatha loves star-crossed lovers getting their happily ever afters.)
  • I can also imagine that when Rosamund told Linda to keep quiet about what she knows or thinks she knows, Rosamund was referring to her secret affair with Kenneth, rather than a murder plot.
• Linda Marshall
  • I also think she’s innocent. I think she tried to do some weird voodoo thing to her stepmother, and that’s why she’s now acting all weird and guilty, but I don’t think she actually has enough motive to kill Arlena herself, nor with an accomplice.
• The drug dealers
  • Ehh… Maybe in real life, but I feel like this reveal would be a bit of a letdown in a Christie novel, especially after the author spent so much time building up Arlena’s character and backstory. Plus, strangling is such an intimate way to murder someone, I feel like the murderer must have had a very personal reason for wanting Arlena dead.
  • The police seem certain Horace Blatt is the drug dealer; my gut feel is that Mr and Mrs Gardener are also involved. They’re too stereotypically American to be real; I feel like they’re putting on a front to cover up their drug operation.
• Christine Redfern
  • I seriously considered her. Not because she was jealous of her husband’s interest in Arlena; by all accounts, she’s a really smart woman, so I think she’s savvy enough to see through the superficiality of the attraction. But she was the only one who overheard Arlena with the blackmailer, so I thought perhaps she had some other reason for wanting Arlena dead and came up with the blackmailer story to throw Poirot off the scent.
  • I also considered that she was in cahoots with her husband Patrick, and they were both perhaps after Arlena’s money. But that felt thin, so I’m dropping it.
• Rev. Stephen Lane
  • I can imagine he was the killer behind the deaths a year ago. He was also out of sight for much of the morning that Arlena was killed, so he definitely had opportunity. But I don’t know…my gut doesn’t think it’s him.
• Major Barry
  • He has gambling debts and could conceivably be the blackmailer. And/or possibly, his ego was bruised because he’s a bachelor but Arlena never showed interest in him. But gut feel, I don’t think he killed Arlena. I don’t think he cares one way or the other about Arlena, and I don’t think his gambling is relevant.

My Verdict:

Admittedly, this is very much a gut feel accusation. My gut suspected Miss Emily Brewster from the start, and while she’s mostly been on the sidelines, my gut still thinks she’s the most likely killer.

• She fits the profile:
  • The coroner says Arlena must have been killed by a man because of the force needed to strangle her. Emily is described as tough and athletic; I think she’s strong enough to do it.
  • If the blackmail plot is a factor, Christine says the blackmailer sounded like a man. Emily’s voice is gruff and could conceivably be mistaken for a man.
• She may have motive:
  • Emily says several times that Arlena is evil: “that woman is a personification of evil! I happen to know a good deal about her.” (page 24)
  • According to Rosamund, before marrying Kenneth, Arlena was the cause of the divorce between Lady and Lord Codrington, and when Lord Codrington didn’t marry her even after the divorce, Arlena sued him for breach of promise. She was also involved in a scandal where Old Sir Roger Erskine left her every penny of his money (£50,000).
  • Emily says several times that the key to Arlena’s murder lies in her past. My guess is that Emily knows Lord and/or Lady Codrington, or more likely Sir Roger Erskine. I’d guess that Arlena ruined their life somehow, and Emily is out for revenge.
• She is careful not to implicate others:
  • Poirot notes that in a similar murder case a year ago, the husband also had an iron-clad alibi. I can imagine that with Emily’s sense of right and wrong, she’d make certain the innocent prime suspects would be protected from hanging.
  • In the case of Arlena’s death, Christine Redfern is a top suspect, and Emily made a big deal about how Christine was afraid of heights and therefore unable to go down the ladder to Pixy’s Cove.
• Opportunity is tough, because Emily was with Poirot on the beach right before Arlena’s body was found. But maybe that’s where the bad weather the night before comes in; maybe she actually killed Arlena before she met up with Poirot on the beach.

I’m not at all confident in this. I just re-read the scene where Emily and Patrick discover Arlena’s body and Emily seems genuinely shocked and apprehensive about a murderer hiding in the area. Which she wouldn’t be if she were the murderer. But whatever, my gut isn’t pointing me towards any of the other suspects, so I’m going to lock this one in!

The Actual Reveal

Okay, I did not see this coming at all. Patrick Redfern, with the assistance of his wife Christine, killed Arlena. When Patrick and Emily discovered Arlena’s body, it wasn’t actually Arlena at all, but rather Christine, covered in suntan lotion (the mysterious bottle that beaned Emily on the head that morning) and disguised as Arlena. Arlena was actually hiding in the cave the whole time (hence the scent of her perfume), waiting for a rendezvous with Patrick and keeping out of sight so no one sees her. The bath was Christine washing off the suntan lotion before going to tennis. Bits of the green calendar in Linda’s fireplace grate were actually the remains of the green cardboard hat Christine wore to impersonate Arlena’s body.

The motive? Patrick and Christine were after Arlena’s money. I was right that Christine made up the blackmail angle, but the reason was to cover up all the money leaving Arlena’s account. Patrick wasn’t blackmailing Arlena, but rather charming her out of her money. Patrick and Christine did this previously with another woman who was killed by strangulation a year ago; at the time, Patrick was actually the victim’s husband and using a different name, and Christine was the witness who helped him cover up the actual time of death.

Christine’s alibi — that she was by the seashore with Linda — was false. She manipulated Linda’s wristwatch to disguise the actual time they were together, and then fixed it back to the correct time before Linda noticed.

Despite everyone commenting that Arlena is evil, Poirot actually saw her as an eternal victim, vulnerable to rakish men like Patrick who’d take advantage of her and her money.

And finally, not related to the murder, but as for the drug dealing: there’s no indication that Mr and Mrs Gardener were involved at all. So my gut was wrong on that one as well.