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Summary: Well-written murder mystery
Review: "The Hollow" is certainly one of Agatha Christie's finest books. While not quite on the level with masterpieces like "And Then there were None" and the like, this book has some remarkably good character development which keep the plot moving at a fast pace. Rather than bland caricatures, Christie has created several extremely fascinating characters in this novel. Although Christie has stated that Poirot did not fit well into the story (as with "Sad Cypress"), he actually solves the mystery with remarkable finesse. The solution is not entirely anticipated, which makes for a good read.
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Summary: The Hollow
Review: A group of friends meet at the Hollow for a weekend vacation. The expected victim is killed and Poirot is on the scene as a neighbor of the Angatells. It's not a bad mystery, but I found the characters to be the most compelling part of this story. I found Lady Angetell especially to be a very funny and fascinating character.
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Summary: Murder At A Cozy English Houseparty Is Excellent Christie
Review: Agatha Christie again does what she does best: gathers a group of diverse characters at a country estate, provides motive and opportunity for each of them to commit a murder, and then allows a murder to occur.The setting for "The Hollow" (also published as "Murder After Hours") is the home of Sir Henry Angkatell and his fascinating wife Lady Lucy Angkatell. A weekend houseparty launches the mystery to which Hercule Poirot, a neighbor who has a weekend cottage nearby, has been invited. Also present are: Henrietta Savage, talented young sculptress; Midge Hardcastle, poor relation who works in a dress shop; Edward Angkatell, shy bookworm in love with Henrietta; David Angkatell, a university student; Dr. John Christow, long-time friend of the Angkatells and lover of Henrietta, and Gerda Christow, John's wife. When Poirot arrives for the weekend, he first enters the swimming pool area where a body lays. Nearby is a person holding a revolver. Sounds simple, but appearances are often deceiving. Christie once again gives us another variation on the most likely person being guilty in the brilliant fashion that only she can. She never runs out of surprise endings, and this is one of her finest.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good, but....
Review: arrives in time to solve a murder. Hercule Poirot has taken a weekend cottage in the country. Naturally his new neighbors, the Angkatells, Lucy and Henry, invite him to join their houseparty for luncheon. The other guests include Dr. John Christow, his adoring and boring wife Gerda, his mistress Henrietta Savernake, the renowned sculptor as well as Midge Hardcastle, a distant cousin, David Angkatell another distant cousin currently at Cambridge and Edward Angkatell, the current occupant of the family estate, Ainswick. We are given background information on these characters and their relationships to one another in the opening chapters of the novel. By the time Poirot arrives on the scene the tension is so thick that it is almost a relief when the murder is committed! The story progresses in typical Christie fashion, all the clues are fairly laid out leaving the reader to sort through the red herrings to solve the crime. This 1946 novel has worn well, it could be filmed today as either a period piece or updated and be enjoyed either way. Christie herself has questioned the appearance of Poirot in this story, Hercule is not pivotal to this one, although he does not detract from the book either. This is one of those books that could be enjoyed by non Christie detective fans as well as her devotees. In fact this one could even be enjoyed by those who are not particularly murder mystery fans.
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Summary: Poirot accepts a lunch invitation from a neighbor and.....
Review: arrives in time to solve a murder. Hercule Poirot has taken a weekend cottage in the country. Naturally his new neighbors, the Angkatells, Lucy and Henry, invite him to join their houseparty for luncheon. The other guests include Dr. John Christow, his adoring and boring wife Gerda, his mistress Henrietta Savernake, the renowned sculptor as well as Midge Hardcastle, a distant cousin, David Angkatell another distant cousin currently at Cambridge and Edward Angkatell, the current occupant of the family estate, Ainswick. We are given background information on these characters and their relationships to one another in the opening chapters of the novel. By the time Poirot arrives on the scene the tension is so thick that it is almost a relief when the murder is committed! The story progresses in typical Christie fashion, all the clues are fairly laid out leaving the reader to sort through the red herrings to solve the crime. This 1946 novel has worn well, it could be filmed today as either a period piece or updated and be enjoyed either way. Christie herself has questioned the appearance of Poirot in this story, Hercule is not pivotal to this one, although he does not detract from the book either. This is one of those books that could be enjoyed by non Christie detective fans as well as her devotees. In fact this one could even be enjoyed by those who are not particularly murder mystery fans.
Rating:
Summary: Murder at The Hollow
Review: As in most Agatha Christie mysteries, there is a gathering at The Hollow, the home of a wealthy English couple. Most of the people there are related in one way or another to the host couple, the Angkatells. One of the guests, Dr. Christow, is married to Gerda but is carrying on an affair with another guest named Henrietta. The Angkatells' neighbor turns out to be a woman who was engaged to marry Dr. Christow, but who broke up with him before the wedding was performed. Dr. Christow is interested in women, but his main focus seems to be on his work, in which he is researching a rare disease. Not surprisingly, Christow is the victim of murder, and his wife Gerda is found standing over him with a gun. Hercule Poirot is a guest at the home and comes upon the scene shortly after the murder. Upon further investigation, it is discovered that the gun in Gerda's hand was not used in the murder. Which of the remaining guests had a motive? The police investigator goes chasing after red herrings while Poirot uses his little grey cells and succeeds in finding the murderer. This is typical Agatha Christie, with the usual fascinating twist at the end.
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Summary: Review for Murder After Hours
Review: I enjoyed it much more on the second reading. Poirot does fit into the story, as a perceptive and benevolent presence on the sidelines. I like the way the various characters find excuses to visit his cottage (a white, modern concrete box, of course). Another reviewer called the houseparty "cosy" - the whole point is that it was never going to be cosy. All the characters are anguished and have ambiguous relationships with each other, their lives and the past. You want to know what happens to them all after the book ends, especially the victim's son. Two flaws: Henrietta's sculptures sound awful, and it's a shame Christie's casual anti-Semitism wasn't edited out.
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Summary: typical agatha christie's book
Review: it seems that this mystery got a necessary flavour to become a good movie ever...full of melodramatic elements entangles with murder and the characters are all believable....a necessary ingredients to become a good movie..but the mystery is just so and so only....
Rating:
Summary: Review
Review: Mrs. Christie set out to write a novel-and she succeeded. The characters who populate the typical country-house 'The Hollow' are vivid and believable, motivated by love, jealousy, hatred or despair-but handled in a unique manner. The most important character is the victim, Dr. John Christow, whose death is the centre point of the romantic triangles amongst the eccentric Angkatell family, and who is linked with three women, all in love with him, but in very different ways: his wife, Gerda; his mistress, Henrietta Savernake; and his former fiancée, Veronica Cray. Naturally, the motive is jealousy, but the themes of love and jealousy are superbly handled. The detective story elements are not, however, Christie's best. The murder is quite simple-the murderer is obvious, but the circumstances, involving several guns and a painting of Ygdrasil, are inexplicable-and the entire thing is a reworking of LORD EDGWARE DIES. Poirot is very much in the background, acting only as a deus ex machina at the end-it was a mistake, Christie later felt, to have him in the book. The result: a beautiful yet somewhat flawed masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: really fine writing
Review: One of the best books of Christie's long and varied career has perhaps as well one of her most heartbreaking resolutions. You almost can't wait for the victim to be done away with at the same time, you feel for their murderer. Not easy to pull off ( making the killer sympathetic) but AC does it flawlessly. This ranks right up there in her top twenty.
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