Miss Arlena, the Victim

My favorite Agatha Christie’s novel is Evil Under the Sun. It’s definitely not her best work — Witness for the Prosecution is perfect, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is fabulous, and The Mousetrap is good enough — but it’s got something else: Arlena Stuart Marshall.

As The Observer pointed out when the book was first released (back in 1941):

Evil Under the Sun has luxury summer hotel, closed-circle setting, Poirot in white trousers. Victim: redhead actress man-mad. Smashing solution, after clouds of dust thrown in your eyes, ought to catch you right out. Light as a soufflé.

At the beginning, when she comes out of the water, slim and beautiful in a white swimsuit, and she glances at someone else’s husband, everyone believes that she is the evil implied by the title. But Hercule Poirot unveils the truth: what if the effect she caused in men, albeit strong, was almost insignificant compared to the attraction men had upon her?

But that is a completely different story.