Agatha Christie, Death on the Nile

Agatha Christie, Death on the Nile
© 1937 Agatha Christie Mallowan
© Renewed 1965 Agatha Christie Mallowan
Originally published 1938, Dood,Mead & Company

 This is apparently the second Poirot mystery set in the Middle East (Murder in Mesopotamia, 1936, preceded it), and, for me, the strength of the book is its careful and accurate depiction of Egypt at the time.  (Michael Pearce’s Mamur Zapt series has that in common with Christie’s Middle East books:  http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/P_Authors/Pearce_Michael.html).  I read this first sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s, and (of course) saw the 1978 film version (Peter Ustinov as Poirot).  The entire cast was excellent, and the movie captured the look and feel of the novel’s setting very well.  (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077413/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm).  (I have to say, my favorite performances were Angela Lansbury as Salome Otterbourne and David Niven as Colonel Race).

As for the story…Jacqueline De Bellfort brings her fiancé Simon Doyle to meet wealthy (and very self-centered) Linnet Ridgeway, with an eye to his becoming the manager of her estate.  Instead, Simon and Linnet get married, and embark on a honeymoon trip that culminates is a cruise on the Nile.  And, at every turn, Jacqueline is there, watching, making them very uncomfortable.  The other passengers on the cruise (among whom are Hercule Poirot and Colonel Race, apparently a big shot in British Intelligence, and a remarkably odd cast of characters) all, at one point or another, behave in ways that raise questions about their actions.  It may be particularly relevant to mention the presence of Andrew Pennington, one of the trustees of Linnet’s fortune (which comes out of a trust and becomes vested in her on her 21^st birthday—or on her marriage).  In a prologue, we are given reason to believe that not all is well with the trust, and it’s clear that Pennington’s presence is most decidedly not a coincidence.

And, as the boat on which much of the action occurs is turning back north, Linnet Ridgeway Doyle is murdered.  And Simon Doyle is shot.  Poirot and Race, in the absence of any other authority, undertake to identify the killer.  Poirot proceeds as usual, carefully questioning all the people who might be involved, and working his way through a maze of unusual actions by many of them on the night of the murder.  While he his finding his way, two more people die.  Eventually, the “little grey cells” work their magic, and justice triumphs (more or less).

In some ways the book is very odd; there’s what amounts to a lengthy (24 page) prologue in which all the principals are introduced, and some things relevant to their subsequent behavior are revealed.  And somewhat characteristically for Christie, most of the characters are essentially one-dimensional. 

For me, the conclusion does not work well.  And I always find Poirot to be a little too-too (as an eccentric genius, he’s more plausible than Philo Vance, but less plausible than Nero Wolfe or the later Ellery Queen.  In the case of this particular book, I find it hard to accept the plausibility of the motives and actions of the person or people responsible for the deaths.  In my opinion, at least two others in the cast have more believable motives.  But as a whole Death on the Nile works well, helped along by the setting.