Surrounded by enemies

Book Review:  Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Linnet seems to have it all -- she's smart, beautiful, and wealthy.  She cherishes her independence and scoffs at the idea of marriage -- until she meets her best friend's fiance, Simon Boyle.  Within a few months, Linnet and Simon are married -- and Linnet's former best friend Jackie is furious.

Hercule Poirot is on holiday in Egypt when he encounters Linnet and Simon on their honeymoon.  Jackie is there as well; she's been following them everywhere and it's wearing on Linnet's nerves.  Jackie even manages to book herself on the same Nile cruise, even though Simon booked passage under an assumed name, in the hopes of losing her for a short time.

Linnet attempts to employ Poirot to convince Jackie to stop following them but he declines.  He feels sorry for Jackie, however, and tries to convince her to let go of the past, to no avail.  And then, one night after Poirot has gone to bed, Jackie shoots Simon in front of witnesses.  It's only a leg wound but later that night, Linnet is shot in the head.  Jackie is under observation, so she couldn't have done it.  Who did?


Once again, stereotyping is an issue -- ugh.  That said, this was another fascinating mystery.  Christie excels at making all manner of distracting circumstances plausible; there's no shortage of crimes or suspects.  Poirot keeps at least one significant clue to himself, which is annoying, but there are enough clues to allow an attentive reader to arrive at the same conclusions he did.  Unfortunately, that reader was not me -- once again, I needed him to spell it out for me and then it made perfect sense.  One of these days, Poirot, I will figure out a mystery before you reveal the answer . . . .

Jury, judge, and executioner

Book Review:  Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

After solving a case in Syria, detective Hercule Poirot boards the Orient Express to return to London.  The train is uncharacteristically full for the time of year and the mix of passengers is surprising as well: a Princess, a governess, a Colonel, and a salesman are among the 15 passengers.

One of the passengers, a wealthy American, asks for Poirot's help -- he believes that his life is in danger.  Poirot does not like the look of the man, however, and declines.  The next morning, the man is discovered in his locked compartment, dead, having been stabbed 12 times.  And the train is stopped in its tracks, indefinitely -- a large snowdrift bars the way.  With no outside resources available, Poirot relies on his intuition and his deductive reasoning to solve the murder.

Despite some stereotyping, I thought this was a fascinating read.  There are a couple of details Poirot doesn't reveal until the end but the reader has everything needed to solve the mystery.  I was angry at myself that I didn't.  The same things bothered me that bothered Poirot -- I just didn't make the same connection.