As many of you may or my not know, I am a BIG Agatha Christie fan but I still haven’t read all her books. Yes, it’s true I have seen pretty much every episode of Poirot and Marple that has been made for TV but I am still making my way through her vast catalogue of books and stories. And I am so happy about that because there is nothing quite like reading a book for the first time. With that in mind I have decided to take part in the #ReadChristie2025 challenge. And I am very excited about it too!

The theme this year is ‘Characters and Careers’ and the suggested books for January are: Five Little Pigs, The Hollow, Third Girl and Unfinished Portrait. Now as I have read Five Little Pigs and listened to the audiobook of Unfinished Portrait I have decided to go with The Hollow which I may follow up with Third Girl if time allows this month.

According to Mark Aldridge in his book Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World, Agatha Christie completed writing The Hollow in September 1944. The story was serialised in the magazine The Collier’s Weekly, in May 1946 and then was published later that year as a novel. The novel features Poirot (or the ‘Crime man’ as he is described by Lady Angatell, whose holiday cottage is neighbour to Lord and Lady Angatell’s country estate, The Hollow. Arriving for an invitation to lunch, Poirot is greeted by a dying man and the gun that shot him sinking to the bottom of the swimming pool. Add into the mix a houseful of guests who ‘loathe each other’ and you have a mystery that isn’t quite as clear-cut as it initially appears. I am four chapters in and am already enthralled by Agatha’s writing and the tension she is slowly building. I am in for an absolute treat I am sure.

When socialite Lady Angkatell organises a weekend’s entertainment at her English country house, The Hollow, it seems she has thought of everything; the capable butler, the requisite number of kitchen maids – in fact, the only thing she seems to have overlooked is the fact that most of her guests loathe each other.

A far-from-warm welcome greets Hercule Poirot as he arrives for lunch – instead, a man lies dying by the swimming pool, as a gun sinks slowly to the bottom…