Review of "Evil Under the Sun," graphic novel of the Agatha Christie book, adapted by Didier Quella-Guyot

Review of

Evil Under the Sun, graphic novel of the Agatha Christie book, adapted by Didier Quella-Guyot 

ISBN 9780007451340

Five out of five stars

 This book maintains the style of the Hercule Poirot stories and is likely better suited for the graphic novel format in that it is based on the sequential presentation of clues and the orderly mind of Poirot. It is August and Poirot is taking a holiday on what is known as the “English Riviera.” There is plenty of sun, quality food and drink and a wide variety of people staying at the hotel.

 After setting the stage with many different paths of intrigue and potential conflict, a woman is strangled. Due to the force needed to commit the murder, a female perpetrator is ruled out, even though there are several women that disliked the victim.

 The story has Poirot and a police detective conducting a set of interviews of the people that may have been involved, the goal is to both unravel their tales and then knit them together to make a coherent one that will identify the culprit(s). Several distractors are put forward to shift the reader’s focus from what is otherwise a sequential set of steps towards the solution.

 Since it is all of the mind with no fighting action, the events are easily and effectively transferred to the graphic novel format. At the end, Poirot reveals the events in sequence and the murderer(s), causing all of the actions to come together in the form of a complete jigsaw puzzle.

 The artwork is bright, befitting a holiday setting in a sunny location and the artist includes the images are of the real setting where Christie located the story. This is a nice additional feature to a murder mystery that is well adapted to the graphic novel format.