Book Review: Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Death on the Nile

Author:  Agatha Christie

Publisher:  Harper Collins (2001, first published 1937)

373 pages

"The book has a lot of characters and a very elaborately worked out plot.  I think the central situation is intriguing and has dramatic possibilities, and the three characters, Simon, Linnet, and Jacqueline, seem to me to be real and alive."  (Agatha Christie, from the Author's Forward)

I think this quote sums up Death on the Nile nicely.  The central story line is a love triangle involving Simon, Linnet, and Jacqueline.  Simon and Jacqueline were engaged to be married when Jacqueline asks her best friend, Linnet, who happens to be the one of the richest girls in England, to give Simon a job as a Land Agent.  He is out of a job and has no money and Jacqueline loves him so.  Somewhere along the way Linnet steals Simon from Jacqueline.  The next we meet them, they are on a honeymoon trip to Egypt, cruising down the Nile.  

Hercule Poirot is on holiday in Egypt and definitely not working.  Only, he can't stop his brain from noticing things.  Simon and Linnet are on their honeymoon and Jacqueline has followed them.  She has been hurt and wants to cause trouble for Simon and Linnet and her presence seems to agitate them.  Hercule Poirot notices her and has a conversation with her where he says this, 

"It is deeper than that.  Do not open your heart to evil."

"Poirot went on gravely;  'Because - if you do - evil will come... Yes, very surely evil will come... It will enter in and make its home within you, and after a little while it will no longer be possible to drive it out.'"

Before long a murder has occurred.  There are plenty of other characters on the cruise who have their own secrets, but the obvious murderer seems to be Jacqueline.  But that seems too simple...  And so begins the investigation.  

This was my first time reading Death on the Nile and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I love the meticulous way Hercule Poirot works through the case and then finally explains it to the other investigator (and the reader) who can't quite figure it out.