They Came to Baghdad (Agatha Christie Collection S.) [Hardcover]

Agatha Christie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 2001 | Series: Agatha Christie Collection S.

Baghdad is the chosen location for a secret superpower summit. Unfortunately the word is out, and an underground organisation in the Middle East is plotting to sabotage the talks.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'A very human heroine, whose powers of invention, like those of her creator, never fail her' Times Literary Supplement 'All in all, the most satisfactory novel in some years from one of the most satisfying of novelists.' New York Times 'The action is rapid and profuse, the characters are astonishingly real, and the author's style remains far more lucid and persuasive than that employed by the vast majority of her colleagues. Altogether one of the year's most agreeable contributions to the spy-and-counterspy diversion' New Yorker

About the Author

Agatha Christie is the best-selling author of all time. She wrote eighty crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and several other books. Her books have sold roughly four billion copies and have been translated into 45 languages. She is the creator of the two most enduring figures in crime literature—Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple—and author of The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theatre. Christie was born in Torquay, Devon in 1890. She died in 1976 in Wallingford, Oxfordshire.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Collins Crime (February 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0002318539
• ISBN-13: 978-0002318532
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,971,074 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Agatha Christie was born in 1890 and created the detective Hercule Poirot in her debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920). She achieved wide popularity with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) and produced a total of eighty novels and short-story collections over six decades.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Christie Writes a Thriller, September 23, 2008

By 

avid reader (fl United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: They Came to Baghdad (Mass Market Paperback)

"They Came to Baghdad" is not a Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple mystery. It is really more of a thriller. Victoria Jones, an indifferent London typist loses her job in a typing pool for impersonating her boss's wife and meets a charming young man in a park. Only, he is about to leave for Baghdad. Parting is such sweet sorrow! Not so, thinks Victoria. Undeterred by this obstacle to romance, the resourceful Londoner secures a job paying her passage out East. There she becomes embroiled in international espionage, is forced to flee people who are out to kill her, and finds herself working on an archeological dig. Christie writes in a mature and witty style. The descriptions of post WWII Baghdad and Basrah are fascinating, as are the fully-fleshed (for Christie) cast of characters. Does Victoria ultimately find love? Yes, but not where she expects it. A thoroughly absorbing read for any Christie fan. For another exotic A.C., check out Murder On the Orient Express (The Agatha Christie Mystery Collection)

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Christie's Atmospheric Masterpiece, January 16, 2003

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C. Wys (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: They Came to Baghdad (Mass Market Paperback)

In this 1951 novel -- which is perhaps more relevant today than in its own time -- Christie shows her remarkable talent for spinning a web of characters that, ultimately, entangles and engulfs the reader like none other of her 80 odd titles. This book offers a relatively flawless plot and an intriguing set of characters that are really just side dishes to the staggering atmosphere the reader takes from this book's pages. By the story's end you smell, see, feel, and hear every molecule that the characters experience -- and it's more than you might wish! The story is deep and complicated, and the characters are numerous, but the outcome is really nothing short of intoxicating. This is a dark horse that is very much a must-read for its eerily prophetic 1950s look into the Middle-East, which seems rather more potent in the early twenty-first century given what our world has faced as recent. The vast aroma of the Middle East never seemed so invigorating as when you are on the loose with one of the many elite members of the slow-to-start but increasingly fast-paced plot. Breathtaking description, enough to guide the reader but little enough to let you imagine on your own, sets you down running into a maze of panic and frenzy. I believe this is Christie at her best! Which is not something one should say lightly.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Improbable Plot, Incredible Situations, But Entertaining, May 22, 2001

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Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: They Came to Baghdad (Paperback)

Agatha Christie appears to be harkening back to her earlier "young girl as adventuress" theme in this novel which centers around Victoria Jones, a protagonist who specializes in mimicry and lies. The combination gets her in endless trouble.

The story begins when she meets an attractive young man named Edward in FitzJames Gardens one afternoon. They have an immediate bonding, but Edward is scheduled to leave very soon for Baghdad in connection with his job with a cultural arts group called The Olive Branch. Not one to be easily discouraged, Victoria sets about finding a position that will allow her to follow Edward to Baghdad. Her search for him in this colorful city involves her with many suspicious characters, a badly wounded man who dies in her hotel room, and a great look at an archaeological dig, a particular specialty of Mrs. Christie's.

It is all wildly incredible, definitely improbable, but still an entertaining work with many likeable and well-drawn characters.