Evil Under the Sun is a mystery novel written by Agatha Christie in 1941.
Publisher's statement[]
"Considered by many to be one of the very best Agatha Christie mysteries, this macabre tale has lost none of its crisp intrigue since it was first published in 1940. Using a plot formula that has since become a mystery standard, Christie conveniently gathers all the characters in one hard-to-leave location, in this case, the Jolly Roger, a vacation hotel on the southern coast of England. One of the guests, a gorgeous, dramatic flirt, is strangled to death, and the famous detective Hercule Poirot, who happens to be vacationing at the Jolly Roger too, sets out to solve the case.
Each of the well-developed characters is suspect, and listeners will constantly be changing their bets as to whodunit. British stage actor Suchet, whom many know as the definitive Poirot from the Public Television Mystery! series, was an obvious choice for the reader of this production, having won an Audie award for reading Christie's Mysterious Affair at Styles in 1997. Suchet gives an outstanding and highly entertaining performance, obviously taking great zeal in the task of fleshing out Christie's colorful lot of characters."
The novel[]
The novel's key plot elements include a living body posing as a murder victim (of an entirely different person) in order to give the killer an alibi. The actual murder happened after the "dead body" was found.
In Lost[]
This is one of the novels that Sawyer reads on the Island. He is seen reading it when he is approached by Nikki in "Exposé." Nikki, taken for dead, is unwittingly buried alive, connecting the book's theme to events in the episode in which it appears. Also a member of the mercenary team, Redfern shares a name with a central character from the novel Patrick Redfern.