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Abandoned by Booklikes

Government drone by day and book lover and geek girl by night!

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Death on the Nile

Death on the Nile - Agatha Christie Well finally! I was starting to worry that I was on a total downswing with the Poirot books.
Dumb Witness was really awful. If it hadn't been on my list of Poirot's to read I would have skipped it. Death on the Nile reminds me most of Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. We have a very smart Poirot with an able assist by Colonel Race (Christie fans will remember him from Cards on the Table) with Poirot also figuring out several other mysteries along the way.

We begin with hearing about an American millionaire socialite named Linnet Ridgeway. Used to getting her own way, Linnet it seems has inspired some jealously by some of the local villagers and even among her friends. We get a sense of foreboding with regards to comments others make to and about Linnet. We fast forward three months and we have Linnet in Egypt.

I don't want to say more than that because if I say anything else, I feel like I would be spoiling this book for other readers out there. Suffice it say there is a robust cast of characters that have enough detail provided that you find out a great deal about them. We get to read all about these characters and exactly how all of them happened to get to Egypt. Since the title is Death on the Nile, you know that someone is going to be murdered.

I actually liked Poirot quite a lot in this book. One of my other favorite Poirot books is Triangle at Rhodes. I liked it because Poirot at times seems almost prophetic when he warns someone from a planned action they are contemplating. He doles out advice quite a bit in this one. However, it does not sound pompous, just sounds like a man who wants people to be better than what they are in the moment.

The writing was really good, though there were a couple of mention of women and how they act that made me roll my eyes for a good long while. Since it was some of the characters spouting this nonsense it just caused me to ignore them. The flow worked really well and towards the end it felt like you are galloping towards a great finish. Along the way you have Poirot and Race working out other mysteries surrounding these characters.

I have to say I am super proud of myself. I have never been great at figuring out who dun it (though I did in Dumb Witness since it was so obvious) and this time I figured out who committed the big murder and how, and several of the other side mysteries except for one. So hey, at least my record is improving.

The setting of Egypt and the Nile honestly doesn't feel very real while I was reading this book. Probably because I have been to Egypt and on the Nile and Christie does not manage to evoke the wonder you have when standing in front of the pyramids, and looking upon the Sphinx. The heat is not a really oppressive heat, I call it a dry heat. It's worse when humidity is mixed in. This book also doesn't mention the people or the food. Of course it is a very short book so Christie I can see was more focused on setting up the mystery then adding in colorful details about Egypt and it's people.

The ending I was pleased with, though I did hate how once again Poirot just happens to know what a person is thinking to do and just doesn't say a word about it to anyone. Once again I am going to say I prefer Miss Marple's brand of justice. Poirot's brand is definitely dancing in a morally gray area for me.