Death on the Nile: Poirot, a Honeymoon Cruise and the Murder of Linnet Ridgeway
The peace of a cruise on the Nile is shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway has been shot through the head. She was young, elegant and beautiful, a girl who had everything, until she lost her life. On this Egyptian cruise, Poirot once again has to solve a terrible case, and on this exotic journey nothing is what it seems.
Author: Agatha Christie (1890–1976)
Title: Death on the Nile (1937)
Format: English paperback (HarperCollins), 384 pages
Series: Hercule Poirot
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/0007527551 (ASIN 0007527551)
A Girl Who Had Everything
Linnet is a wealthy heiress on her honeymoon, and she is not a popular woman: among the passengers on the steamer Karnak are several people with good reason to resent her. Poirot, who is on holiday, has already sensed that trouble is coming before the first shot is fired.
Murder and a Missing Necklace
Poirot puts all his ingenuity and shrewdness into finding the evidence that will expose the culprit. At the same time he must untangle another case: the theft of a string of pearls that belonged to the murdered woman. In the effort to cover up the crime, a series of terrible events is set off that ends up costing as many as three lives.
Linnet, Simon and Jacqueline
The triangle at the centre of the book is set up before the cruise begins. Jacqueline de Bellefort, impulsive and poor, brings her fiancé Simon Doyle to her rich friend Linnet Ridgeway, hoping Linnet will give him a job. Within weeks Simon has married Linnet instead. On the honeymoon in Egypt, Jacqueline follows them everywhere, appearing at every hotel and temple, and Poirot, who has met all three, warns her gently not to open her heart to evil. The scenes between Poirot and Jacqueline are among the most humane in Christie.
A Boat Full of Motives
Christie fills the steamer with a superb cast: a romantic novelist with a drink problem and her embarrassed daughter, an elderly American snob with a kleptomaniac streak and her downtrodden cousin, a young radical who despises the rich, a lawyer with too much interest in Linnet’s affairs, a nervous maid, a German doctor and a mother and son with a secret of their own. Poirot’s friend Colonel Race, on the trail of an agitator, joins the investigation. Every passenger has a reason to be on board, and most have something to hide.
From Christie’s Own Journey
Christie travelled on the Nile herself in the early 1930s, and the descriptions of Aswan, the Cataract Hotel, Abu Simbel and the slow progress of the paddle steamer come from that experience. The novel was published in 1937, at the height of the great age of Poirot novels.
Screen and Stage
Christie adapted it for the stage as Murder on the Nile (1946), removing Poirot altogether. The 1978 film with Peter Ustinov, Bette Davis and Maggie Smith is a classic of its kind; Kenneth Branagh’s 2022 version takes more liberties. Neither quite matches the book, whose solution depends on details only print can hide.
The Reviewer’s View
The original review ranked it among the best Poirot novels, and most Christie readers agree; it is an ideal place to start.
Tip
Pay attention to the first chapters in England; they matter more than they seem.
Note
The steamer Christie travelled on still sails the Nile.
Why Read It
The claustrophobic setting of a boat sailing past the temples of the Nile, a gallery of memorable suspects and one of Christie’s most ingenious solutions make this one of the best Poirot novels. It has been adapted for film several times, but the book is still better.
As an Amazon Associate, this site earns from qualifying purchases.
Part of the reading recommendations featured on books.sapiensverbum.com.
