Evil Under the Sun

This is the ultimate "summer holiday" mystery. Everyone is at a beautiful resort on Pixy Cove, the sun is shining, and then—bam—the most beautiful and hated woman on the island, Arlena Marshall, is found strangled on the beach. It’s a classic setup. As Poirot famously observes while looking at the sunbathers:

"There is evil everywhere under the sun."

Now, let's talk as critics. The biggest "bad" point of this book is that **if you’ve read Death on the Nile, you might guess the killer in the first twenty pages.** The motive and the "fake breakup" trick are very similar. It feels a bit like Christie was playing her "greatest hits" rather than writing something entirely new.

Also, some of the subplots involving drug smuggling and religious fanatics feel like they are just there to waste time. They don't really connect to the main emotional heart of the story. However, the atmosphere is so thick you can almost smell the suntan oil, and the way Poirot uses a "discarded bottle" and a "bath being run" as clues is pure genius.