home
about christie
the detectives
want to buy
find a story
extras
have your say
< Back

The Hollow

Lady Angkatell, intrigued by the criminal mind, has invited Hercule Poirot to her estate for a weekend house party. The Belgian detective's arrival at the Hollow is met with an elaborate tableau staged for his amusement: a doctor lies in a puddle of red paint, his timid wife stands over his body with a gun while the other guests look suitably shocked. But this is no charade. The paint is blood and the corpse real, turning a pleasant country weekend into one of Poirot's most baffling cases.
Year: 1946
Detective: Hercule Poirot
Location: In a country house

Cast of characters

Hercule Poirot. Also: Albert, Madame Alfredge, the Angkatells: David, Edward, Sir Henry and Lady Lucy, The Christow's: Dr. John, Gerda and Zena, Beryl Collins, Mrs. Crabtree, Veronica Cray, Inspector Grange, Mr. Gudgeon, Midge Hardcastle, Elsie Patterson, Doris Saunders, Henrietta Savernake

Publishing history

Publishing: First published in 1946 by William Collins Sons & Co. in London, and as 'Murder After Hours' by Dodd, Mead & Co. in New York. Stage: Adapted for the stage by the author, and the play opened at the Fortune Theatre in London on June 7, 1951. The character of Hercule Poirot was omitted from the cast. Adapted for ITV in 2003, starring David Suchet as Hercule Poirot.

Notes and reviews

The author describes the novel in 'An Autobiography' as the one "I had ruined by the introduction of Poirot," in this, his twenty-second appearance in a novel.

Murder methods:

One Gunshot.
One Poisoning.

User Rating

How 'deadly' did you think this book was? Contribute your opinion to the user rating by first registering and logging in.
© Agatha Christie Limited (a Chorion company)
(registered in England & Wales under company number 550864).
Registered address: 4th Floor, Aldwych House, 81 Aldwych,
London WC2B 4HN, United Kingdom.