Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #58606 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Synopsis
An archaeologist's wife is murdered on the shores of the River Tigris in Iraq...It was clear to Amy Leatheran that something sinister was going on at the Hassanieh dig in Iraq; something associated with the presence of 'Lovely Louise', wife of celebrated archaeologist Dr Leidner. In a few days' time Hercule Poirot was due to drop in at the excavation site. But with Louise suffering from terrifying hallucinations, and tension within the group becoming almost unbearable, Poirot might just be too late!

Customer Reviews

"I always look at 'the impossible' very carefully."
Married to an archaeologist working in the Iraqi desert, author Agatha Christie knew the Baghdad area well and was familiar with the procedures which archaeologists follow in doing excavations. An aura of reality therefore surrounds this mystery which she sets in Tel Yarimyah on a desert dig, not in the usual closed room of a country house. Amy Leatheren, a nurse, has been hired by Dr. Eric Leidner, the director, to be a temporary companion to his wife Louise. Louise, alternately described as a "female Iago" and as "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," has received written death threats from her first husband, long thought to be dead, and she fears for her life.

The murder of Louise coincides with a trip through the east being taken by Hercule Poirot, and he is soon called in. Here the mystery becomes typical Christie. The body has been found in a closed room of Louise's living quarters, the door locked. All the suspects have alibis, and the servants on guard swear that no one has come into the area from outside. Poirot engages the help of Amy Leatheren in sorting out who likes and who hates Louise Leidner and who might not have a legitimate alibi. Red herrings galore keep the reader occupied--love affairs, flirtations, suggestions the treasures in storage room may have been tampered with, and jealousy.

When the murder is solved, Poirot gathers all the people from the dig into one room, where he goes through the evidence on a point by point basis, then announces a new twist for which there had been no prior evidence in the story. The characters, though wooden, have some interesting traits which keep the reader occupied, and the story is intriguing. Ultimately, however, Christie so manipulates her conclusions regarding the murderer that even Poirot admits there is no firm evidence to prove that X is really the killer, a weakness which undercuts the novel. Luckily for Poirot, the killer obligingly confesses, leaving no loose threads. Fun to read, this novel is interesting for its setting, though not one of Christie's best plots. Mary Whipple

Poirot digs around
This review is about the audio version.

Poirot doesn't appear for a very long time in this story most of the text is setting the sence.

Murder In Mesopotamia is less like a Poirot story than most if you like it when Poirot is involed for page one this isn't for you.

Poirot little grey cells are tested again but none of his cases seem to be able to beat him and Holmes seems to take the same tsck a think his way to the soultion.

my first Christie and I was hooked
This is the first Agatha Christie I ever read and it was enough - I have since read every book and am a big fan. This is the story of a murder at an archeological dig - it's the classic Christie plot where it can only be one of a certain group who committed the murder and you get to know the whole group well through the book. There are the usual red herrings and when you reach the end you wonder how you could have missed the clues showing you who the murdered was - although as she often does there are a few held back until the very end. She misdirects you cleverly so,as usual, you miss what at the end seems obvious. I highly recommend this to all fans or those thinking of trying a Christie for the first time.