Death on the Nile is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 1 November 1937 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00. The full length novel was preceded in 1937 by a short story with the same title, but with Parker Pyne as the detective. The details of the short story plot are substantially different, though the settings and some of the characters are similar.
The book features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. The action takes place in Egypt, mostly on the River Nile. The plot reflects the situation of British-ruled Egypt at the time of writing: the book's wide cast of characters consists entirely of Britons and other Europeans, living and (violently) interacting in …
Death on the Nile is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 1 November 1937 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00. The full length novel was preceded in 1937 by a short story with the same title, but with Parker Pyne as the detective. The details of the short story plot are substantially different, though the settings and some of the characters are similar.
The book features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. The action takes place in Egypt, mostly on the River Nile. The plot reflects the situation of British-ruled Egypt at the time of writing: the book's wide cast of characters consists entirely of Britons and other Europeans, living and (violently) interacting in their own floating enclave, with not a single Arab Egyptian character having any part in the plot..
Ich bin einfach kein Hercule Poirot Fan; Miss Marple finde ich da um einiges sympathischer. Auch ihre Fälle fand ich (bisher) immer besser, weil sie nicht ganz so verrückt sind und weniger seltsame Verflechtungen beinhalten. Auch die Art, wie Hercule Poirot immer im großen Kreis seine Auflösung präsentiert.. Ich finde, er ist eine durchweg unsympathische Figur...
Dazu kam noch, dass ich selbst erraten hatte, wer der/die Täter*in/nen war/en. Und so was sollte bei einem Roman von Agatha Christie doch eigentlich gar nicht möglich sein.
Insgesamt war der Krimi dann doch unterhaltsam und hat mir eine gute Zeit bereitet. Das war jetzt aber trotzdem das letzte Mal, dass ich zu einem Roman mit Hercule Poirot greife.
Review of 'Agatha Christie - Death on the Nile ( Latest Edition )' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This was my first foray into both Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot, and I must say, it did not disappoint. The story aged much better than I anticipated; I kind of went in assuming the book would be terribly racist based on the publication year and setting, but it wasn't. Instead, it was a fantastic romp through one of my favorite worlds, that of Rich People Being Messy. The obscenely wealthy Linnet Ridgeway marries the former fiancé of her best friend, Jacqueline de Bellefort, and the two of them plus the man in question wind up all together on a boat on the Nile, alongside a motley crew of other travelers. Linnet Ridgeway, of course, ends up dead, but evidence shows that Jacqueline could not have done it. So who did?
I will admit, I was surprised how long it took for Linnet to die. It's something like halfway through …
This was my first foray into both Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot, and I must say, it did not disappoint. The story aged much better than I anticipated; I kind of went in assuming the book would be terribly racist based on the publication year and setting, but it wasn't. Instead, it was a fantastic romp through one of my favorite worlds, that of Rich People Being Messy. The obscenely wealthy Linnet Ridgeway marries the former fiancé of her best friend, Jacqueline de Bellefort, and the two of them plus the man in question wind up all together on a boat on the Nile, alongside a motley crew of other travelers. Linnet Ridgeway, of course, ends up dead, but evidence shows that Jacqueline could not have done it. So who did?
I will admit, I was surprised how long it took for Linnet to die. It's something like halfway through the book that she's finally killed, which felt very different from contemporary mysteries I've read where there's a death practically if not literally on the first page. This made the first half of the book a little less interesting, as it was all setup and no crime solving, although I enjoyed the gossip-y feel of reading about all the Drama(TM) between the characters. The second half of the book really had me in its clutches; the stakes continue to get higher as Poirot works, and it definitely kept me flipping the pages. The ending genuinely surprised me, although to be fair, I am pretty terrible at solving mysteries. I also think Poirot himself is hilarious and very fun, and I am definitely interested in reading more about him and more Christie in general. I hear And Then There Were None is pretty excellent; perhaps I'll read that one next.
