Evil Under the Sun is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1941[1] and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in October of the same year.

Hercule Poirot takes a quiet holiday at a secluded hotel in Devon, and notices attractive former actress Arlena Marshall flirting with Patrick Redfern, despite the fact both of them are married to other people.

Poirot learns that Emily Brewster was nearly hit by a bottle thrown from one of the guest rooms, while the hotel chambermaid recalls hearing someone running a bath at noon.

Afterwards, Christine returned to her room and applied fake suntan makeup, which she concealed from sight, before tossing the bottle out the window, where it inadvertently landed right next to Miss Brewster.

As further proof, Poirot reveals that the photo from the Surrey Police identifies Patrick as Edward Corrigan, who killed his wife Alice, and Christine as the teacher who evidently claimed to have found the body before the murder actually had been committed.

The verdict by Maurice Willson Disher in The Times Literary Supplement of 14 June 1941 was positive: "To maintain a place at the head of detective-writers would be difficult enough without the ever increasing rivalry.

"[3] In The New York Times Book Review of 19 October 1941, Isaac Anderson wrote, "The murder is an elaborately planned affair – a little too much so for credibility, in view of the many possibilities of a slip-up somewhere along the way – but Poirot's reasoning is flawless, as it always is.

"[4] Maurice Richardson in a short review in the 8 June 1941 issue of The Observer said, "Best Agatha Christie since Ten Little [Indians] – and one can't say much more than that – Evil Under the Sun has luxury summer hotel, closed-circle setting, Poirot in white trousers.

"[5] The Scotsman of 3 July 1941 spoke of the "surprising discoveries" in the book's solution and said, "All of these the reader may best be left to encounter for himself in the assurance that the quest will prove as piquant as any this skilful writer has offered.

"[7] Robert Barnard: "The classic Christie marital triangle plot set in West Country seaside resort, with particular play on the alikeness of sunbathing bodies, and dead ones.

This is vanity; it is a grievous ill." John Moffatt starred as Poirot in a 1998 five-part BBC Radio 4 adaptation directed by Enyd Williams with a cast that included Iain Glen as Patrick Redfern, Fiona Fullerton as Arlena Marshall, Robin Ellis as Captain Marshall, Wendy Craig as Mrs Gardener, George Baker as Colonel Weston, and Joan Littlewood as Miss Brewster.