It's the late 1930s and – at a small, extremely expensive resort hotel in the Adriatic – no one could care less about Hitler or an era's imminent end. They're all too busy with their internal assaults on friendship, marriage, reputation, character and – when pushed to the limits – life itself.
Boredom is the enemy in this world. Style is everything; the weapon as well as a defence. The mots are delivered with the kind of elegance that only the rich, famous or heedless can affect with confidence. Come what may, everyone dresses for dinner at 8pm, including the gentleman whose wife, Arlena Marshall (Dame Diana Rigg), a rude and narcissistic retired stage star, was found on the beach in an untimely death earlier in the day.
Evil Under the Sun, the second Agatha Christie whodunit to star Peter Ustinov as the brilliant Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, finds the detective in dazzling Majorca, searching for Arlena’s killeramong the craggy cliffs, turquoise lagoons, formal gardens and secluded beaches; perfect spots to observe other people who think they're unobserved.
