Book Name : Evil
Under the Sun
Author
: Christie, Agatha
No. of Pages
: 207
Summary :
(Taken from Wikipedia)
Arlena is a very beautiful retired actress and a flirtatious young woman with many men attracted to her. She goes to the Jolly Roger Hotel with her husband and step daughter, Kenneth and Linda Marshall. Linda Marshall, a sixteen-year-old girl, dislikes her stepmother. Arlena flirts in the hotel with handsome Patrick Redfern, to the evident fury of his wife, Christine (a teacher). Also staying at the hotel are Poirot, "Sir" Horace Blatt (a very rich man), Major Barry (a retired Anglo-Indian army man), Rosamund Darnley (a dressmaker and Kenneth Marshall's childhood friend), Odell and Carrie Gardener (American tourists), Stephen Lane (a vicar) and Emily Brewster (a spinster).
Early on the morning of the murder, Christine witnesses Linda accidentally dropping a parcel, which reveals a number of candles. Christine asks Linda to come to Gull Cove with her. On the same morning, Arlena goes out on a float (a type of boat) and asks Poirot not to tell anyone where she is going. In Poirot's mind Arlena is going to meet Patrick Redfern, but he is proved wrong when Patrick asks Poirot if he has seen Arlena. Kenneth Marshall too comes searching for his wife and go back to his room after a bath. Patrick's fury increases and he walks up and down impatiently waiting for Arlena. In the end, Patrick asks Emily Brewster to join him in a rowboat outing. They eventually reach Pixy Cove and find a body lying there, her arms outstretched and her face hidden by a hat. It was Arlena, killed, strangled by a pair of powerful hands.
When the police begin to question people's whereabouts, Kenneth Marshall says he was in his room typing letters at the time of the murder. Linda lies that she was fond of her stepmother. She claims she and Christine went to Gull Cove at about 10:30 and that she returned to the hotel at about quarter to 12, which would mean it was impossible for her to have committed the murder because the murder was committed around 11:45. The Gardeners were with Poirot all that time, completely ruling them out of committing the crime. Rosamund Darnley claims that she went to Sunny Ledge (above the Pixy Cove) to read a book. She says that she saw no one because she was concentrating on reading, but while Emily and Patrick were rowing a boat, they saw her there. As for the rest of the group, Stephen Lane and Major Barry went out and Horace Blatt sailed. Christine, Rosamund, Kenneth and Mr. Gardener all went to play tennis at noon.
Poirot asks the chambermaid if she has observed whether a bottle was missing. He asks this because earlier that day of the murder Emily Brewster told them that she had nearly been hit with a bottle tossed out of one of the hotel windows. The chambermaid did not notice that a bottle was missing, but notes something else that seemed odd: somebody ran a bath at noon. The chambermaid also heard Kenneth Marshall typing in his room.
Meanwhile, when the investigating officers and Poirot go to Pixy Cove to investigate the place, they find a pair of new scissors, a fragment of pipe, and a bottle. The pipe could be Kenneth's, as he told the investigating officers and Poirot earlier that he had mislaid his pipe. But he is not the only one who smokes a pipe. On entering Pixy's Cave the investigators find heroin. There are suspicions that Horace Blatt has something to do with smuggling of drugs or with the murder. Poirot also inquires about the murder of Alice Corrigan some years ago. She also was strangled but her murderer was never caught. Alice's husband, Edward, claimed innocence and had an alibi because he was away at that time, thus, making him impossible to commit the murder. Alice's body was found at the time by a local school teacher. Poirot has an idea to go for a picnic, perhaps to make a little test. Christine and Emily had both mentioned that they were afraid of heights (also called acrophobia). Therefore, when they are made to cross a narrow bridge with running water below nearby on the way to the picnic, they should feel giddy and uncomfortable doing so. Emily does, yet Christine crosses the bridge without any problems. Therefore it is shown that she has told at least one lie - could all she had said earlier be lies too?
When they return to the hotel after the picnic, the chambermaid advises them that Linda is not feeling well. On entering her room it transpires that Linda took six sleeping pills in an unsuccessful attempt at suicide, leaving a letter confessing that she was the one who killed Arlena. As she recovers, the true nature of her confession is revealed - the mysterious parcel of candles she had dropped earlier was part of a magic spell directed at Arlena, and she mistakenly believed the childish superstition to have killed her.
Poirot then reveals the murderer's identity. Patrick Redfern's real identity is Edward Corrigan, the husband of Alice Corrigan, whom he also murdered. The games mistress who found her body was Christine Redfern, then known as Christine Deverill, and she helped Edward kill Alice. What everybody witnessed from the day Arlena arrived was a plan of Patrick and Christine. Patrick was not Arlena's victim but it was the other way around. Patrick was not having an affair with Arlena, he was pretending to be smitten. He was persuading her to lend him money for "fabulous opportunities" and was also taking large amounts of money from her.
Arlena was unsuspecting, but if Kenneth knew that Arlena had nearly emptied the account, Patrick would find himself in a difficult predicament. So the duo decided to get rid of Arlena. Arlena went on the fatal day to meet Patrick, just as Poirot suspected. Patrick instructed her to remain hidden under the Pixy Cove should anyone else come there. Meanwhile, Christine deliberately set Linda's watch 20 minutes forward. When she asked Linda to check the time, her alibi was set. Later, she adjusted the watch back.
Christine went to her room, applied suntan, wore large sleeved clothes to effectively hide her tanned body and sneaked out of the hotel to the Cove. When Patrick and Emily came on the cove, they saw "Arlena" dead on the beach. Patrick was nearer and only he knew that it was his wife, who had carefully folded her clothes back. After sending Emily Brewster for help, Christine returned to her hotel room and went to the bathroom to remove the tan. It was this "bath" the chambermaid noticed running. Meanwhile, Patrick called an unsuspecting Arlena out of the Cove and strangled her.
After the murder, Linda thought that she had actually killed Arlena, something which made the Redferns' plan easier. Poirot needles Patrick into a fury despite the cold-blooded Christine telling her husband to "be quiet". Poirot talks to Linda and tells her that she is not a murderer and advises her not to hate her "next step-mother".Indeed, it is also hinted that Kenneth and Rosamund are paired.
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