Tag: halloween

Hide in the Dark (1929) by Frances Noyes Hart

October 31, 2019

Hide in the Dark by Frances Noyes Hart

3 Stars (3/10 stars)

“But it was more than a ghost story that you promised us, surely? It was a murder story, and I’m rather a connoisseur in murder.”

On Halloween night, thirteen guests descend upon the Maryland estate of Lady’s Court. Eleven are members of the March Hares, a group of the maddest young people in pre-World War I Washington DC. There were originally twelve March Hares: ten years ago, just after their last gathering, nineteen-year-old Sunny Leighton died mysteriously.

The weekend quickly reignites old loves and old hatreds, between games of bobbing for apples and “hide in the dark.” It’s all fun and games until the lights come back on. Even March Hares can’t outrun death. Continue reading “Hide in the Dark (1929) by Frances Noyes Hart”

Hallowe’en Party (1969) by Agatha Christie

October 31, 2018

Book Cover of Halloween Party by Agatha Christie (1969)

6 stars (6/10 stars)

“Nothing could be more agreeable than a juicy English apple—And yet here were apples mixed up with broomsticks, and witches, and old-fashioned folklore, and a murdered child.”

Everyone in Woodleigh Common agrees that Joyce Reynolds is not a nice little girl. So when she brags of having witnessed a murder, fellow guests at the Halloween party dismiss it as another of her tall tales. All except one—the murderer. By the end of the evening, young Joyce is dead, drowned while bobbing for apples.

Unfortunately for the killer, detective novelist Ariadne Oliver is also at the party. Soon her friend Hercule Poirot is on the case. What he finds is a perfect-looking community that is seething with dark secrets, a shiny red apple full of worms.

Continue reading “Hallowe’en Party (1969) by Agatha Christie”

Trick or Treat (1955) by Doris Miles Disney

October 30, 2018

Book cover of Trick or Treat by Doris Miles Disney (1955)

5 Stars (5/10 stars)

“Everybody’s been ruled out. There’s nobody left to kill her.”

Edna Monroe is having a blast on the last Halloween of her life. With her husband out of town on business, she throws a costume party for her girlfriends, and it’s all fun and games until a ghost rings the doorbell.

It isn’t candy that makes this trick-or-treater’s bag so heavy. It’s a gun. Edna is shot dead on her doorstep by a costumed killer who vanishes silently into the Halloween night. Insurance investigator Jefferson DiMarco is faced with a scary situation: a heavily insured murder victim with no enemies and perfect alibis all around. Maybe a little too perfect…

Continue reading “Trick or Treat (1955) by Doris Miles Disney”