Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie

If you haven’t read the book yet, don’t worry, I promise not to tell you whodunit!Ĭhristie dedicated the book to “my many archaeological friends in Iraq and Syria”. There’s a motley crew of archaeologists and assistants working there – and one of them must have done it! As you would expect, Hercule Poirot gets to the bottom of this case fairly quickly.

You can get hold of Murder in Mesopotamia via the following links.In which Hercule Poirot encounters an archaeological dig in Iraq, only to discover that the wife of the leader of the dig has been murdered in a seemingly impossible manner. etc.Īs often happens in an Agatha Christie novel, there are a couple of sub-plots which the unwary may fail to distinguish as red herrings and there are not too many actual clues (or at least I didn’t find them) but there is one big clue which I failed completely to recognise as such. Agatha does perhaps stretch our credulity a long way, but who cares? There are some good character studies with the various expedition members displaying the whole gamut of emotions – love, hate, jealousy, resentment etc.

Hercule Poirot happens to be on a visit to Baghdad when all this is happening, so naturally the authorities ask him to assist with bringing the culprit to justice, which of course he does. Louise Leidner had been married once before and it transpires that a figure from her past may well be responsible for the shocking events that occur had Louise’s fears been all-too-real after all? She is undoubtedly the catalyst that gives rise to subsequent happenings. Notwithstanding this, there is an undeniable atmosphere of tension and unrest amongst the residents of the expedition house and then tragedy strikes. Nurse Amy has been employed by the expedition’s leader, Dr Eric Leidner, to take care of his wife Louise who has been having unexplained fears and nervous ‘fancies.’ It is generally accepted by the other members of the dig that these terrors are without foundation and by the uncharitable that they are nothing more than ‘attention seeking.’ Murder in Mesopotamia is written in the first person by Nurse Amy Leatheran, and concerns the members of an archaeological expedition in Iraq.

Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie