A murder mystery that takes place on the Nile River is what we will be reviewing today. Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile is an action-packed mystery novel that includes all of the best features of a Christie novel. Keep reading for a short summary of the novel and why this mystery novel demands to be read!
Death on the Nile Summary
Hercule Poirot is on holiday and on board a steamer that is touring the Nile River. While on the steamer, Poirot is approached by Linnet Doyle nee Ridgeway, a successful socialite. She wants to hire Poirot and have him prevent her stalker from stalking her. Poirot declines being maid and tries to convince Jacqueline de Bellefort to stop hounding Ridgeway but ultimately fails.
A life-threatening situation leaves Linnet in shock and Jacquelineas the suspect. More incidents occur and Linnett is found murdered in the morning shot in the head and her string of pearls missing. As the weapon used for the murder is recovered, Poirot gathers information to find the killer.
But a few more murders make the streamer into a scene of chaos. It is up to Poirot to solve the murders and put an end to this before anyone else gets murdered, including him. Who killed Linnet and why?
Book and Author History
First published in 1937 in the United Kingdom, the novel was well received. It was a brilliant mystery novel that had more murders than your typical Christie novel. The novel has been adapted into a play, a movie, a radio show, a video game, and even a graphic novel.
Christie is regarded as the queen of mystery and this novel is one of the reasons why. She has written over 60 novels and 14 short stories in her career. Christie is listed as the best-selling mystery author of all time by Guinness World Records with over two billion copies sold.
Her writing career started got off to a slow start after getting rejected six consecutive times. Christie’s luck turned around in 1920 when her novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles featuring detective Hercule Poirot was published. Besides her writing, Christie is also famous for an incident where she disappeared for 11 days in 1926 because of her marriage.
Christie took part in both World Wars and served in hospital dispensaries where she learned about poisons which have been featured in her books often. Her second marriage to to archaeologist Max Mallowan in 1930 led to her learning a bunch of new things that made it into in her books.
Agatha Christie is the most translated individual author according to UNESCO. Her novel And Then There Were None is one of the highest selling novels of all time with over a 100 million copies sold. Christie’s stage play The Mousetrap holds the record for the longest initial run.
Conclusion
Like most Agatha Christie books, Death on the Nile is a fun adventure. This one has a few more murders and just when you think you have the mystery solved, a new event unfolds. Christie keeps the novel fresh and made an enjoyable read. Happy reading!
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