Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot Mysteries) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Linnet Ridgeway!" "That's her!" said Mr. Burnaby, the landlord of the Three Crowns..." (more)
Key Phrases: observation saloon, ten minutes past one, Miss Van Schuyler, Linnet Doyle, Monsieur Poirot (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Hercule Poirot is perhaps Agatha Christie's most interesting and endearing character; short, round, and slightly comical, Poirot has a razor-sharp mind and puts unlimited trust in his "little grey cells." Those little cells come through for him every time, enabling Poirot to solve some of the most baffling mysteries ever conceived. In Death on the Nile, Poirot, on vacation in Africa, meets the rich, beautiful Linnet Doyle and her new husband, Simon. As usual, all is not as it seems between the newlyweds, and when Linnet is found murdered, Poirot must sort through a boatload of suspects to find the killer before he (or she) strikes again. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Linnett Ridgeway has almost everything: youth, beauty, brains, and money. Then her best friend Jackie brings her handsome fianc?, Simon Doyle, to visit and asks Linnett to give him a job. Now Linnett and Simon are on their honeymoon, a cruise up the Nile. When Linnett is killed, Jackie is the obvious suspect, but she couldn't have done it. It seems like an insolvable crime, until the famous detective Hercule Poirot starts to investigate. Death on the Nile deserves its reputation as one of Christie's best travel mysteries. This recording is capably read by another familiar name, David Suchet, who is well known among both mystery and public TV buffs as the actor who played the role of Poirot in a series of television adaptations of the author's stories. Expect the trio of Christie, Poirot, and Suchet to be a popular patron selection. St. Mary's Mead was always a quiet English village, at least until the body of Colonel Protheroe was found in the vicarage library. No one liked the murdered man. His first wife had abandoned him, and their teenage daughter kept out of his way. His much younger, second wife had recently fallen in love with a charming portrait painter. The list of possible suspects seems endless. Two different people confess to the murder. Did either do it? Enter Miss Marple, an elderly maiden lady whose gentle manners conceal an extensive knowledge of human depravity and exceptional deductive abilities. She flutters around, asks questions, and solves the crime. But it is the writing, not the plots, that keeps Christie fans coming back. James Saxon gives a clear, competent reading in Murder at the Vicarage, although initially his voice strikes one as brighter and sharper than one would expect from the gentle, scholarly rector. Eighty-odd years after her first book was published, Christie and her mysteries are more popular than ever. Both programs are recommended for all collections. I. Pour-El, Des Moines Area Community Coll., Boone, IA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (July 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425173739
• ISBN-13: 978-0425173732
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #761,788 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 16 in The Hercule Poirot Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Christie's Most Memorable Mysteries, April 27, 2002

By	Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Like MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS and DEATH IN THE CLOUDS, Christie's DEATH ON THE NILE finds Poriot en route--this time on vacation in Egypt, where he encounters a romantic triangle that seems destined for lethal results. Linnet Ridgeway has everything: beauty, brains, unspeakable wealth... and Jacquline de Bellefort's boyfriend, a handsome but simple man that Linnet stole away from her friend and married. And now Jacquiline is in hot pursuit, unexpectedly appearing to embarrass the newlyweds at various points along their journey. Linnet and her husband attempt to escape by secretly booking passage on a tourist ship traveling the Nile--but Jacquiline is one step ahead... and murder is not far behind.

This is Christie writing near the peak of her skills, offering us a complex tale of emotional fury, considerable atmosphere, and endless intrigue played out by a truly eccentric cast of characters that include society snobs, underhanded servants, neurotic writers, unsavory businessmen, a communist, and just possibly one or two jewel thieves for good measure. Unlike the more famous ORIENT EXPRESS, which offers us a meticulous and extremely cool crime, DEATH ON THE NILE veers into considerable emotional melodrama--and although Christie walks a very fine line here, she succeeds in bringing it off with tremendous flair. And when it comes, the solution to the crime is one of her most memorable and successful, combining the logic and startle-factor that have made Christie legendary in the genre. A brilliant piece of work from start to finish.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sinister Shipboard Slaying, March 4, 2001

By	George R Dekle "Bob Dekle" (Lake City, FL United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Death on the Nile (BBC Radio Presents) (Audio Cassette)

Agatha Christie wrote "Death on the Nile" in 1937, one year after "Murder in Mesopotamia", and to all appearances "Death on the Nile" was intended as a prequel to "Murder in Mesopotamia", which itself was a prequel to the 1934 classic "Murder in the Orient Express". The three stories make up a satisfying trilogy of mysteries as Poirot tours the Near East finding murder everywhere he goes.

All three of the stories follow Christie's tried-and-true formula: She introduces the cast of suspects, gives each of them a dark secret and a motive to lie, and piles up the circumstances in such a way that the flying fickle finger of suspicion points to every one of them at some time or another. She compounds the confusion by supplying false leads and deliberatly glossing over hot clues. In each case Poirot holds his cards close to his vest, tantalizes the reader/listener with cryptic comments, and finds the most inconsequential-appearing facts to be highly significant. Eventually Poirot airs everyone's dirty laundry, explains his chain of deductive reasoning, reconstructs the crime in all its improbable complexity, and gets a confession.

Of the three stories, however, "Death on the Nile" presents the most feasible modus operandi for the murder, as well as the most likely motivation for murder. This is a roudabout way of saying that "Death on the Nile" is the most realistic of the three.

I listened to the BBC production of "Death on the Nile" and found it the easiest of the three stories for the listener to follow. For "Orient Express" and "Mesopotamia" you need a flow chart to keep up with all the twists, turns, and complexities of the plot. All in all, "Death on the Nile" provides the listener with an entertaining, satisfying story of murder and mayhem.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mystery surrounding a great Romance, July 15, 2007

By	Gaurav Jain (New Delhi, INDIA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot) (Paperback)

I'd read this book once in primary school, and re-read it again last night (in a single sitting, that is!). I enjoyed it much more thoroughly than I remember enjoying it earlier, and I must say as an Agatha Christie fan that this is her BEST novel.

The plot around the death in this novel is flawless and there's no question left in the minds of the reader once the mystery is unfolded. The author, as usual, kept me waiting till the very end to find out the solution to the mystery - and I experienced extreme pleasure and the 'aha' effect on reading the end. Wow, this is definitely a masterpiece, and one of Christie's best works. Highly recommended.