Evil Under the Sun (Hercule Poirot #24), Agatha Christie. New York: Harper Collins, 2011 (originally published in 1941).

Summary: While Poirot is vacationing in Devon, Arlena Marshall, an actress who attracts men like moths to the flame, is found dead of strangulation on an isolated beach.

Poirot is vacationing at a highly rated summer resort in Devon, accessed by a causeway submerged at high tide. Some of the other guests enjoying the sun and the sea include Horace Blatt, a big talking business type, somewhat shady, Major Barry, a retired officer, Carrie Gardner, a gabby woman and Odell, her longsuffering husband, Reverend Stephen Lane, a rather severe clergyman, who we learned had suffered a breakdown in the recent past due to an obsession with evil, Emily Brewster, an athletic single woman, and the Redferns–Patrick, a trim, attractive man, and his wife Christine, somewhat owlish, pale, a former school teacher who is devoted to her husband. Then there is Arlene Marshall, a sexy actress who attracts men as moths are attracted to a flame, her reserved husband Kenneth, and Kenneth’s daughter Linda, the offspring of a deceased wife once tried and acquitted for murder. Rounding out the ensemble is Rosamund Darnley, a fashion designer and one time love of Kenneth’s

Patrick Redfern is one who is drawn to Arlene, flirting and meeting in secluded locations with her. It turns out he had met her several months before and it is no coincidence that they are at this resort together. Despite Christine’s evident discomfort and displeasure, they keep carrying on. Poirot notes this and fears evil.

One morning, Poirot finds Arlena Marshall up early, taking a boat out on her own. He helps her get off, with her asking him not to say anything about her whereabouts, and shortly after encounters Patrick, who was plainly expecting to meet someone and is frustrated. He waits about for sometime and finally persuades Emily Brewster to go rowing. They head to a secluded beach, Pixy Cove, where they spot a woman sunbathing that looks like it is Arlene. Patrick goes to investigate and, to his horror, finds her dead. He stays with the body, sending Emily to fetch the authorities.

Local Inspector Colgate asks Poirot the help in the investigation. It appears that all the island occupants have alibis, even Kenneth, the husband, and Patrick, the lover. Kenneth was both heard by a maid and seen by Rosamond typing letters during the time the murder could have occurred. Patrick was either with Poirot or Emily Brewster until the body was found. A number of others could be suspects–Christine, the jealous wife, Linda, the resentful step-daughter, Lane, the overwrought clergyman obsessed with evil, Blatt, whose suspicious dealings may be connect with drugs found in the cave at Pixy Cove, and Rosamond, Kenneth’s former love.

But amid the various accounts, there are “pieces to the puzzle,” as Poirot explains it that remain to be fitted into the picture of what happened that morning. Emily described nearly being hit by an empty bottle thrown from a hotel window. A maid heard someone running a bath before noon, that no one claims to have taken. An in a cave at Pixy Cove, Poirot smells a scent worn by only two women–the deceased and Rosamond Darnley.

As in other Poirots, these “pieces,” an enquiry about other strangling deaths in the vicinity, and a picnic outing lead Poirot, after much pondering, to expose the murderer, and nearly be strangled himself! In the denouement, we discover some who are far more evil than they appeared, and others more noble than one would have thought. And we discover every piece matters in this well-crafted mystery.