The Hollow

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Lore & Background

The Hollow is the estate of Sir Henry Angkatell and his wife, Lucy, Lady Angkatell. The setting was inspired by the house of Francis L. Sullivan, an English film and stage actor who portrayed Hercule Poirot in the plays Black Coffee (1930) and Peril at End House (1932) and also played the lead in The Witness for the Prosecution (1953), for which he won a Tony Award in 1955. Agatha Christie, who often admitted that she did not like Poirot (a fact parodied by her recurring novelist character Ariadne Oliver), particularly disliked his appearance in this novel. His late arrival, jarring given the established atmosphere, led her to claim in her Autobiography that she ruined the novel by the introduction of Poirot. The family at The Hollow—Lucy, Henrietta, Edward, and others—deliberately misdirected Poirot, as they each knew Gerda was the murderer, and were attempting to save her from imprisonment. Gerda had taken two pistols – shooting John with one, and then planning to be discovered with the other pistol in her hand, later proven not to be the murder weapon. Immediately, Henrietta understood that John's final appeal was for her to help Gerda. Instinctively, Henrietta assumed the responsibility by dropping the gun into the pool, and later went back to retrieve the second weapon. She hid it in a clay sculpture of a horse in her workshop to avoid the police searches. Later, she got it handled by a blind match-seller and then placed it in Poirot's hedge.

In Their Own Story

Dr John Christow is a successful physician and leading researcher, although very tired and irritated by his current life. On the morning that he and his downtrodden wife, Gerda, are due to travel down to the country to weekend with friends, Christow allows his little daughter to tell his fortune with cards. When the death card is drawn, he pays no attention, but the appearance of an old flame at The Hollow seems to be the final link in a chain of fatal circumstances. The eccentric Lucy Angkatell has invited the Christows, along with other members of her extended family, to her estate for the weekend. John Christow is carrying on an affair with Henrietta Savernake, a talented sculptor. The beautiful Veronica Cray, an old flame of Christow's, suddenly appears in the house on Saturday night to borrow a box of matches. She lives at a nearby cottage. Another cottage is occupied by Hercule Poirot, who has been invited for Sunday lunch. John walks Veronica back to her cottage, and returns home at 3 am. The next day, Poirot is witness to a scene that seems strangely staged. Gerda Christow stands with a gun in her hand next to John's body, as it bleeds into the swimming pool. Lucy, Henrietta, and Edward (a cousin of Lucy's and a second cousin of Henrietta) are also present at the scene. John utters a final urgent appeal, "Henrietta", and dies.

Reader's Guide

The central mystery: who shot Dr John Christow beside the swimming pool at The Hollow? It seems obvious that Gerda is the murderer. Henrietta steps forward to take the revolver from her hand, but apparently fumbles and drops it into the swimming pool, destroying the evidence. However, the pistol that Gerda was holding was not the gun used to kill John. None of the witnesses has seen Gerda shoot John. It seems difficult to build a case against any of the other potential suspects. Lucy was the next suspect, as she was seen with a gun in her basket of eggs. However, the gun was the wrong calibre. Henrietta is the next suspect, having left an unusual doodle in the pavilion around the time John was killed. When the murder weapon turns up in Poirot's hedge, it has fingerprints that match none of the suspects. The family had deliberately misdirected Poirot, as they each knew Gerda was the murderer, and were attempting to save her from imprisonment. Gerda had taken two pistols – shooting John with one, and then planning to be discovered with the other pistol in her hand, later proven not to be the murder weapon. There is a final clue: the holster in which the murder weapon was kept. Gerda had cut this up and placed it in her workbag. Henrietta rushes to Gerda in an attempt to retrieve it and destroy the final proof of Gerda's guilt. Poirot arrives, and rearranges the tea cups before Gerda returns from the kitchen. He suspects the cornered and suspicious Gerda would murder Henrietta. Gerda returns and drinks from the cup intended for Henrietta, and dies.

Did You Know?

• The American paperback edition by Dell Books in 1954 changed the title to Murder after Hours.
• Agatha Christie claimed in her Autobiography that she ruined the novel by the introduction of Poirot.
• The setting for The Hollow was inspired by Francis L. Sullivan's house, not one of Christie's own eight houses.
• Francis L. Sullivan portrayed Hercule Poirot in the plays Black Coffee (1930) and Peril at End House (1932).
• The novel was the first of Christie's novels in four years to feature Hercule Poirot—one of the longest gaps in the entire series.