Evil Under The Sun - Plot

Plot

Arlena is a very beautiful retired actress and a flirtatious young woman with many men attracted to her. She goes to the Jolly Roger Hotel with her husband and step daughter, Kenneth and Linda Marshall. Linda Marshall, 16, hates her step-mother. Arlena flirts with handsome Patrick Redfern, to the evident fury of his wife, Christine, a former schoolteacher. Also staying at the hotel are Poirot, Horace Blatt, a large and loud braggart, Major Barry, a retired Anglo-Indian army officer with endless stories, Rosamund Darnley an exclusive fashionable dressmaker who is Kenneth's former sweetheart, Carrie Gardener, a garrulous American tourist, her husband and echo Odell, Reverend Stephen Lane, and athletic Miss Emily Brewster.

Early on the morning of the murder, alibis collect. Linda drops a parcel of candles when Christine asks her to Gull Cove. Arlena paddles to Pixy Cove obviously for a rendezvous; Poirot disbelieves her request for solitude. But both Kenneth and Patrick seek her. Finally Patrick asks Emily to join her daily row. He finds a body lying arms outstretched, face hidden by a hat, but red curls peeking out. Good at managing heights, he stays, while Emily gets the doctor, who diagnoses strangulation by powerful hands, therefore male.

Poirot and the police question the suspects. Kenneth was heard typing letters specifically responding to figures in previous mail. Linda lies that she was fond of her stepmother. By her watch, she and Christine went to Gull Cove 10:30 and returned at a quarter to twelve, which gives them an alibi. The Gardeners were with Poirot the entire time. Rosamund was seen reading at Sunny Ledge (above Pixy Cove) by Emily and Patrick. Stephen Lane and Major Barry went out and Horace Blatt sailed. Christine, Rosamund, Kenneth and Mr. Gardener all went to play tennis at noon.

Earlier in the day, Emily Brewster was nearly hit on the head by an empty bottle tossed from one of the bedroom windows, so Poirot asks the chambermaid if she has observed a bottle missing. The chambermaid cannot tell, but did note another odd occurrence others heard but also all deny. Somebody ran a bath at noon.

At Pixy Cove, Poirot and police find a pair of new scissors, a fragment of pipe that could belong to many smokers, and heroin. Inside the cave, Poirot also sniffs a delicate exclusive perfume only used by Arlena and Rosamund. Poirot invites everyone on a picnic to test their vertigo. Christine and Emily both claimed fear of heights (acrophobia), but Christine traverses the bridge easily -- she lied.

After the picnic, Linda is found overdosed on six of Christine's sleeping pills, almost dies. She has written a confession, but Poirot found her library book about magic, melted wax and a pin, and realized she mistook piercing a voodoo image for murder. Christine made sure her tablets were handy, provoking the guilt-ridden Linda to take them.

Poirot asks for similar recent nearby cases of strangulation. Alice Corrigan was found by a local school teacher, while her husband Edward was supposedly too far away to commit the murder. But a photograph from Surrey police identify Patrick Redfern as Edward Corrigan and the games mistress as Christine Redfern, then known as Christine Deverill. She was Patrick's accomplice. Patrick was not Arlena's victim but vice versa. Patrick pretended to be smitten and bilked her of most of her inherited fifty thousand pounds for "fabulous opportunities".

Arlena was unsuspecting, but if Kenneth knew that Arlena had nearly emptied the account, he would become suspicious and Patrick would find himself in a difficult predicament. So Patrick decided to get rid of Arlena with the help of his wife. Arlena went on the fatal day to meet Patrick, just as Poirot suspected. Patrick instructed her to remain hidden in the cave if others came. Meanwhile, Christine deliberately set Linda's watch 20 minutes forward. When she asked Linda to check the time, her alibi was set. Later, she adjusted the watch back.

Christine went to her room, applied suntan makeup, tossed the empty bottle out the window, wore large sleeved clothes to hide her fake tan, sneaked out of the hotel to the Cove, and pretended to be the supposedly dead Arlena. Emily, who, with Patrick, "found" her was easily fooled. Christine returned to her hotel room and bathed off the tan, the bath nobody took. Meanwhile, Patrick called an unsuspecting Arlena out of the cave and strangled her.

Poirot needles Patrick into a fury despite cold-blooded Christine saying "be quiet"; the guilty pair cannot deny the photograph. Poirot tells Linda she is innocent, and not to hate her "next step-mother". In the final conversation, Rosamund agrees to give up her career for marriage to Kenneth "I've wanted to live in the country with you all my life".