I thought I had read every Agatha Christie there is, but I came across one I hadn’t read (or don’t remember having read): The Hollow. It is a Hercule Poirot novel, but he hardly features in the story at all. He appears a few times, including the end, but the book really centers on the characters/suspects.
Lady Lucy Angkatell and her husband Lord Henry have an estate called the Hollow. At a weekend gathering (it’s always a weekend gathering, isn’t it?), an unfaithful doctor is shot by his wife. Only things are not what they seem–who is the real killer?
The suspects were all at the Hollow when the murder occurred. There is Henrietta, an artist who is the doctor’s mistress, and the man who pines after her, Edward. There is David, a sour young man home from college, and Midge, a faithful, sturdy kind of girl that Christie has a fondness for. There is a glamorous movie star, Veronica Cray, the doctor’s past fiancee, who lives near the Hollow and who came by the house the night before the murder.
Christie’s ability to sharply draw each character and some of their psychology is in full evidence. The most annoying character is Lady Angakatell, a vague, ethereal figure who speaks constantly in “One does not know what one should do in this circumstance” and who seems to thoroughly enjoy the drama of the murder. Henrietta is a smart, driven artist with a certain amount of coldness. The victim, Dr. John Christow, is a thoroughly selfish man who somehow has the full devotion of both his mistress and his wife. Edward is a sad sack who keeps asking Henrietta to marry him, and she keeps saying no. Midge is the practical overlooked type of woman who is hopelessly in love with Edward. Lord Henry is your typical bluff older aristocrat who always makes an appearance in Christie’s mysteries. Veronica Cray is a manipulative beauty who lures John away the night before the murder to “walk her home,” and whom John eventually spurns. John is so obnoxious it’s hard to understand why he has so many women who adore him.
The mystery unfolds through the eyes of all the suspects. Poirot just happens to have let a house near the Hollow and ends up getting consulted with by Inspector Grange, but in truth Poirot is pretty much absent through the proceedings. It is said that Christie eventually became sick of her character; maybe she wearily included him so it would be a “Poirot novel,” but minimized his role to avoid spending too much time with him.
The ending is a bit anticlimactic, but all in all this was a solid mystery.
