Death on the Nile - Agatha Christie

A book gains so much when it´s read where it´s set, doesn´t it? So when someone gave me ´Death on the Nile´ I booked a trip to Egypt to get the right atmosphere for the perusal.

Sounds good, eh? Very posh, not quite correct, though. I did go to Egypt, it was when I was looking for adequate reading matter to take with me that I remembered this book. I had read it yonks ago and forgotten the plot completely, so I took it with me for ...
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´Death on the Nile´ takes us onto a boat cruising from Aswan in Upper Egypt through the cataracts up the river, a voyage which can´t be made any more after the building of the High Dam in Aswan (1960-1971), the part the protagonists were on has disappeared in the 500 km long Lake Nasser, nowadays cruises can be made only up to Aswan and then on a different ship on the Lake Nasser up to Abu Simbel.

When she saw me reading the ... more

A book gains so much when it´s read where it´s set, doesn´t it? So when someone gave me ´Death on the Nile´ I booked a trip to Egypt to get the right atmosphere for the perusal.

Sounds good, eh? Very posh, not quite correct, though. I did go to Egypt, it was when I was looking for adequate reading matter to take with me that I remembered this book. I had read it yonks ago and forgotten the plot completely, so I took it with me for the days we would be cruising up the Nile.

´Death on the Nile´ takes us onto a boat cruising from Aswan in Upper Egypt through the cataracts up the river, a voyage which can´t be made any more after the building of the High Dam in Aswan (1960-1971), the part the protagonists were on has disappeared in the 500 km long Lake Nasser, nowadays cruises can be made only up to Aswan and then on a different ship on the Lake Nasser up to Abu Simbel.

When she saw me reading the book, one of my fellow travellers asked me jokingly, ´´Aren´t you afraid now that something may happen to you on this trip?´´ No, there´s nothing to be afraid of, there are no killers lurking on Egyptian cruisers. As always with Agatha Christie the setting doesn´t really matter - it can be the Orient Express, an English country mansion or, say, a Nile cruiser - the protagonists bring their problems with them and the crimes which are committed are the consequences thereof. This said it becomes clear that a thriller by Dame Aggie is worthless as background material for a trip, you don´t have to go anywhere to enjoy it, you can stay at home. From the Author´s Foreword: ´. . . if detective stories are ´escape literature´ (and why shouldn´t they be!) the reader can escape to sunny skies and blue water as well as to crime in the confines of an armchair.´

Five protagonists have a close relationship with one another: Linnet Ridgeway, a 20-year-old heiress to an immense fortune, her husband Simon, who she´s snatched from her best friend Jacqueline, and Jacqueline following the newly-weds around on their honeymoon as a revenge act. The other two are Linnet´s American trustee who´s in panic as her marriage entitles her to her money even before her 21st birthday and he and his partner have gambled with it and lost lots. The other man is a representative of Linnet´s English law firm suspecting foul play from the American counterparts. The remaining passengers are an assortment of mostly American and British upper class people and three foreigners - nearly all of them have something to hide, a corpse in the cellar, so-to-speak.

Does a crime occur? One can´t complain in this respect, three murders are committed in rapid succession, a pearl necklace is stolen and substituted by a fake one which is also stolen, hush money is demanded and paid, in the end when the reader thinks it´s all over there´s a killing and a suicide.

Are the crimes solved? Of course, they are, Hercule Poirot is also on board! (from the net) ´During WWI, he emigrated from Belgium to London, and set up office as a private detective. His biggest complaint is being forced to correct people when they mistake him for a Frenchman, saying, "I am a Belgian!" With his humorous appearance, twisting his waxed-up mustache as he introduces himself as "Hercule Poirot, the world famous detective", it's hard to dislike him. Like his words, "Searching around a crime is the same as playing tag as a child..." he often sits in a chair as he listens intently to his clients speak, his grey brain cells searching to see the truth of the case.´

He solves his cases by observing and deducing, how does Agatha Christie let us participate in his intellectual activities? He has long conversations with a police inspector who´s also on board looking for a terrorist and multiple killer who´s said to be among the passengers. He and Poirot have known and respected each other for years and they exchange their views, Poirot sums up, speculates, theorises, revokes and starts all over again, so we get to know his thoughts.

After recovering from the surprise ending I must concede that I could have come to the same conclusion myself, all the clues are there all the time- if I were as intelligent as Poirot which, alas, I am not! I don´t know how it is with you, I follow all red herrings, fall into each trap and read the final pages of an Agatha Christie murder mystery in utter bewilderment: indeed, it could have happened only like this, why didn´t I see it from the start?

Poirot follows his own rules, he doesn´t break any laws, but occasionally looks the other way and turns a blind eye, this happens invariably when he notices romantic feelings develop among the people he has to deal with, then he does everything to make them blossom. ´Death on the Nile´is a fine example of this attitude, three proposals are made (two accepted), one can only come about because Monsieur helps a crook get straight.

Agatha Christie in her own words, ´I think, myself, that the book is one of the best of my ´foreign travel´ones.´

I have nothing to add.
 

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