Friday Linkups: Evil Under the Sun

It's Friday linkup time!  I'm linking up with the Book Blogger Hop hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer, Book Beginnings of Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, and the Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice

This Week's Book Blogger Hop Question:
If you could meet one author, dead or alive, who would it be?

My Answer:
This was an easy one!  Hands down no question it'd be Agatha Christie.  Not only is she the author of my favorite books (and coincidentally the book I'm featuring today) but she is a fascinating woman with her wartime experience, her archaeology, and her mysterious disappearance early in her career.  Topics of conversation are endless.

This week's book is an old favorite - Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie.  I love seeing Hercule Poirot completely out of his element and I"m not sure he's more out of his element than when he is at the beach.  Shiny shoes, perfect symmetry, and beautifully waxed and maintained mustaches don't fare well among the sand and salt.  Plus, his general confusion and why the English are always so busy trying to fling themselves into freezing water or lie roasting on the sand is pretty funny too.  It doesn't hurt that this is also a very good mystery.

The Beginning:
When Captain Roger Angmering built himself a house in the 1782 on the island off Leathercombe Bay, it was thought the height of eccentricity on his part.  A man of good family such as he was should have had a decorous mansion set in wide meadows with, perhaps, a running stream and good pasture.


My Thoughts:
It always seems like particularly grand buildings or something in an especially gorgeous setting starts off with an eccentric creator.  Not the most captivating of intros but I do love the idea of Captain Angmering doing what he wants despite what convention says.

The 56:
Hercule Poirot replied to the Chief Constable's greeting in a suitable manner.  He murmured: "Ah, yes, many years have passed since that affair at St. Loo."

My Thoughts:
This is about the only mention of the fact that Poirot has appeared in other earlier books.  While it is technically a series it's only linked through Poirot himself and the publishing time line isn't even chronological.  If you've been wanting to try Poirot but haven't don't be scared to jump in anywhere!

So what do you think?  Keep reading?