Hallowe’en Party By: Agatha Christie

Summary This story takes place in a small British village Joyce Reynolds is a young girl that had mentioned the night of a Halloween party, that she had once witnessed a murder. People thought nothing of it until she was found drowned in an apple bobbing tub. But Joyce was a young girl who liked to make up stories for attention, and now Hurcule Poirot ( the main detective on the case) has to decide if Joyce was lying or not. And if she wasn’t, which murder did she witness?

Conflict and Resolution There are many conflicts in this story one of them involving a young girl Miranda Butler who was a friend of Joyce Reynolds. She didn’t witness the murder but she knows the truth that can lead the police strait to the murderer. But she is afraid to come forward. Then a new light shines on the case and soon Hercule Poirot finds out that it was not Joyce who witnessed the murder but it was her friend Miranda, and all Joyce was doing was telling her friend’s story as her own to get attention. And when Joyce told this story as her own the murderer was nearby listening and killed her thinking she witnessed the murder he had committed. And decided he must get rid of her. The murderer was a local who had committed a murder and Miranda, who enjoys climbing trees was in a nearby tree witnessed the whole thing.

Characters Hurcule Poirot: a detective who comes in from England to find the murderer of Joyce Reynolds. Joyce Reynolds: A young girl who got murdered. Miranda Butler: One of Joyce's few friends who was the person to actually witness the murder Joyce claimed to have witnessed. Judith Butler: Miranda Butler’s mother she also hosted the Halloween party. Ariadne Oliver: A writer that was staying with Judith Butler at the time of the murder.

Setting The story takes place in a small British village called Woodleigh Common. The year was never discussed in the book so it is unknown. All of the book except for a part or two took place in the same town. The story goes all over the town to different houses and the woods.

Theme In this story one of the main characters (Miranda) witnessed a murder and her so called “best friend” took her experience and made it her own. Now sometimes the outcome of doing this can not have any effects but as the author proves in this story is that it sometimes can cause someone their life.

Devices Used In This Story Well in this story there are a lot of foreshadowing. There are a lot of pieces of information in this story that are vital to understanding the book.

Genre The genre of this story is Murder/Mystery.

About the Author Agatha Christie was born in 1890 in Torquay which is in the country of Devon. Her father died at a young age and she was educated at home. From a very young age her mother encouraged her to write. At the age of 16 she went to school to study singing a piano in Paris. In 1914 she married Archibald Christie and they had a daughter in 1919. Her first detective novel she introduced a character by the name of Hercule Poirot in the book The Mysterious Affair at Styles. There would be over 40 books with this character. She wrote 66 detective novels over a span of 56 years. She became the president of the British Detection Club 1967. On the January 12, 1976 she died and had written over 100 novels.

My Opinion In my opinion this was one of the best books I have ever read. I liked it because it is very suspenseful and it just makes you want to keep reading.