Introduction

Agatha Christie needs no introduction to those who love to read fiction. She is the most read authoress across the world even to this day . Her novels and plays have become immensely popular all over the world.

She was born in Torquay (Devon) in the United Kingdom and lost her father at a very young age. Her mother encouraged her to develop an interest in writing and later as she developed an interest for reading classics and writing she was encouraged to write short stories by her neighbor Eden Philpotts, upon whose advice and help, she successfully published a book of short stories. This proved to be the start of her hugely successful writing career ! Agatha Christie was a controversial and a mysterious person in real life and once disappeared for a long period of time, the details and the reasons were much debated at the time, are still unknown.

Agatha Christie's first detective novel,"The Mysterious Affair At Styles" introduced Hercule Poirot the little and sometimes comical Belgian detective, who appeared in more than 40 of her books. The last novel was 'Curtain' where Hercule poirot dies. Later , the Christies bought a house and named it 'Styles' after her first novel..

I am reviewing 3 of her books which according to me were among her best namely The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd, Death Comes as the end and Murder in Mesopotamia !

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

I have always felt that this novel published in 1926, is easily one of the best books Agatha Christie has ever written. It is one of the most popular of her books and had created quite a controversy at the time it was published . The controversy rose apparently because the entire concept and plot was too original and the idea had never been tried out before.

According to Agatha Christie, there is nothing to distinguish a murderer since circumstances make him or her become one. "Every murderer is probably somebody's old friend or part of the family ... Many people agree that 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd' is a vintage Hercule Poirot mystery and probably one of her best ever, not simply because it created a controversy but because of the intriguing plot and the deft manner in which Christie has handled it.

The story

The story begins with the murder of a wealthy widow Mrs Ferrars in a small English village. The murder , leads to a great amount of suspicion, speculation and the usual dreadful gossip . Rumors fly around that she had murdered her first husband and now she had been killed and that she was being blackmailed , also that her secret lover was Roger Ackroyd, who was himself a very wealthy widower. Everybody in the village had noticed that the two of them had got on rather very well together. But the medical verdict of death being Suicide by an overdose of veronal instead of putting an end to the all the speculations, sends the gossip mills working overtime!

Roger Ackroyd was close to Mrs Ferrars and he was disturbed by what had happened because he knew that the woman he loved was being blackmailed by someone close to her. The evening post would however let him know who the blackmailer was. But, the next evening Roger Ackroyd is found murdered in his house, dead before he could read the mail completely and the two deaths definitely seemed connected given the circumstances !

We see that the story is being narrated by Doctor Sheppard , the country physician, a close friend of both Mrs Ferrars and Roger Ackroyd. As he begins to help the investigating officer with their murder enquiry many things get revealed. There are many suspects including young Mr.Ralph Paton , the adopted son of Roger Ackroyd. There is Cecil Ackroyd, Roger's widowed sister in law who lives with Roger and her daughter Flora, who is romantically involved with Ralph Paton. While the two youngsters intended to marry and also inherit Roger’s wealth, it was but natural that suspicion was turned on Ralph. So Flora consults and requests Hercule Poirot to help her ..

Hercule Poirot, having temporarily retired after having solved many successful mysteries and living in a nearby village growing marrows, immediately sets to work. Hercule Poirot begins his own brand of investigation by sorting through various clues like a chair out of place in the room where the murder was committed , a telephone call , and a ring among others. By and by he begins to put together the disjointed pieces and comes to an astounding conclusion .

In the beginning no doubt it proves a difficult case for even Hercule poirot since the murderer proves too clever for him. But not willing to give up Poirot goes on with his precise deductions that finally lead to blackmail, murder, and a surprising conclusion.

My views

There is no doubt that this book is one of the best suspense stories written by Agatha Christie . It has everything that is required to make it interesting and absorbing. There are some extremely funny comic interludes - when Poirot unexpectedly drops in at Dr Sheppards place at dinner time and the weekly 'The little Mah Jong party' at Dr Sheppards' house attended by the major and Hercule Poirot, where the conversation keeps you in splits !

Other than that the story is very taut and crisp with a stunning climax which is totally unexpected and this is what the controversy was all about. A must read story for all thriller lovers and Agtha Christie fans.

All in all this is an ingenious murder mystery where when you look back you get the feeling that the facts were all there but who would have guessed?? This is also one of those books where you couldn't help but feel sad at the outcome. Murderer or not, you begin to like the character very much and feel pretty low when the person gets exposed right at the end, I guess that’s how Christie wanted it and she did a fine job too !

Death Comes As The End

This was another unusual storyline that got its fair share of criticism at the time it was published simply because the story is supposed to have taken place in the West bank of the River Nile at Thebes in Egypt a few hundred years ago.

Agatha Christie ‘s second Husband was the renowned archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan working in the Middle East excavations . Christie accompanied her husband to all the digs .The experience she got there gave her the inside knowledge about the Arab culture and their way of life. She was inspired to write several novels set in the Middle East. The most famous ones based in the middle east particularly when she lived in Iraq and Syria are ' They came to Baghdad, Death on the Nile , Death comes as the End and ' Murder in Mesopotamia'...all interesting novels with an Eastern touch.

Christie apparently loved Middle East and developed a close and affectionate link with the Middle East. The inspiration for this particular story in depicting the characters and plot was derived from two or three Egyptian letters of XI dynasty found by Egyptian expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

The story

The story set some four thousand years ago begins with Renisenb, young and recently widowed daughter of Imhotep, a rich and prosperous Ka priest ( a respected priest taking care of the dead and their tombs), returning to her father's household with her little daughter Teti. She finds things changed , even her own family members seem different. There are changes which disturb and scare her .She realises that beneath the calm surface of the prosperous household lurks greed, lust and hate.

The large and prosperous household consists of Renisenb's two older brothers and their families and an unmarried brother, her wise old Grand mother Esa , the cringing and slippery old faithful maid Henet - seem as if there is evil brewing within . Esa , in spite of her failing eye sight and health is able to perceive lot more than others and keeps warning her son to understand things around him rather than take them for granted.

It seems to Renisenb that the only sane person around was Hori, the scribe who had come to imhotep as a lad and was now part of the household ,who remained unchanged , calm and steady , and Renisenb trusted him completely and felt at peace while she was in his company. She shared all her doubts and fears with him.

With the coming of Imhotep from one of his work related voyages bringing a young , beautiful and arrogant concubine called Nofret into this household which was already bubbling over , all the under currants and passions that have been dormant explode in murder. Renisenb and Esa try to unravel the mystery , feeling sure that no one can be trusted , as each one seemed different and took on a different personality with the changing situation and murders . It also becomes apparent that there was a pattern to these murders and Renisenb too was one of the intended victims..

My views about this spectacular suspense thriller

The least one can say about this story is that it is very unusual and a fantastic story set in Ancient Egypt . It is difficult to imagine how Christie could have imagined life and gathered material for a detective story set in 2000BC, and the very idea itself is exciting and interesting. It takes you back to those olden times when life was so amazingly different, slow paced , with minimal preferences but with all that the human emotions , the greed , the hatred were as raw and the feelings same as they are now.

Probably that’s what Agatha Christie wanted to show, that human emotions are the same at any stage or period in life . Christie's goes into beautiful descriptions about the everyday details of life in the rich household of Ka priest filled with wry humor and wit. Some of them make you laugh – for example :- When Imhotep grumbles to his mother Esa about the mounting expenses incurred for the many funeral ceremonies within his family, Esa tells him with grim humour " It would seem that the embalmers men are with us permanently, a blessing in disguise for Ipi and Montu the embalming firm, must be doing exceptionally well. They should give us a cut rate price for quantity ".

I like the way Christie has managed to weave in humor into a grim situation without diluting it..

Egyptian life and beliefs

Egyptian beliefs that existed during the old civilisation have been dealt in detail - people firmly believed in life after death and made preparations for life after death and spoke about it in a matter-of - fact manner- about how they need a good deal of equipments to amuse themselves in the other world and spared no expense to make it as comfortable as they can. A very practical approach to death I must say.

It is highly amusing to read about the many letters that are written to Imhotep's dead wife invoking her to use her influence in the departed world to help her brother (husband as is referred in ancient Egypt) who is facing difficulties in this world ! Letters get more and more desperate as the killings continue and the household is unable to cope with it nor track the killer.

Some words of wisdom that Christie comes up with are thought provoking ! Esa observing that there is a life within her as well that is her own, as a life without. And happiness is made up of small things strung together like beads on a string '.These words somehow make you think seriously about life and its progression. We cannot take anything in life for granted.

In another book Christie dwells on human feelings specifically about familiarity between people, where she warns saying that loving too much and expecting too much from the person you love is the heaviest burden you are placing on that person, which can easily turn into hate, it is always better to let go ....very wise words and so true of human nature !

To conclude ,this is a very well written, imaginative and highly interesting thriller. The story is magnificent, involving many characters of importance which in turn keeps you guessing, right until the last page and has a fantastic ending , doesn't let you down one bit. Another must read for Agatha Christie fans.

 Murder in Mesopotamia

The entire story in this novel takes place at an arceological dig and the readers are treated to an account of life at Tel Yarimjah in Iraq where the excavation is taking place. Apparently Agatha Christie was a the same place with her husband for a few months and was inspired to write a murder mystery story based there.

Story

The story is told in the first person by Nurse Amy Letheren , travelling in Iraq where her old employer Dr.Riley asks her to write an account of an incident of murder that takes place at a archeological dig where she was present. He jokingly tells her to treat it as case sheets and give an unvarnished plain account of the Tell Yarimjah business, as he called it ! " If one of the interested party writes it, it won't carry conviction The nurse was in it as it happened but was an outsider since she was not involved , so she was able to give an unbiased account .

The story begins with Nurse Amy meeting Dr.Riley her previous employer who requests her to assist Mr Leidner an American Swede and the head of a Large American archeological dig was excavating an ancient Assyrian city at Tel Yarimjah , close to the city of Hassanieh in Iraq. Like most other digs this too was a lonely spot , with just the expedition house situated 2 kms away from the dig.

Mysterious Louise

 Nurse Amy was to look after Louise , wife of Dr Leidner , suffering from 'nervous terrors' and needed a companion who could be with her when she was alone when the other members of the party left to the dig. Nurse Amy gets to meet the various members living there - Miss Johnson, an archeologist herself and who is extremely devoted to Dr Leidner and has been a part of the team for several years, The Mysterious Father Lavigny supposedly a Cryptologist and handsome looking Richard Carey a very distinguished architect himself, who Louise seemed to ignore, but other members had different things to say about the two.

Nurse Amy gets to hear different versions about Louise and her nervous terrors from the members as well as Louise's own account of her fears, and a little about her past life as well which was filled with tragic happenings. According to Louise, her first husband , who was a German spy and dead a few years ago had returned to haunt Louise. She had been receiving threatening letters and had seen a face at her window. There was also a mysterious side to Louise ,when she seemed to avoid Nurse Amy's company while going for a walk towards the Tigris river where she was seen meeting Carey. Nurse Amy is not sure what to believe and what not to believe .

However , poor Louise is found murdered one afternoon inside her room with the door locked from the inside . Hercule Poirot visits the ancient site of Tel Yarimjah that his good friend Captain Hastings is helping to excavate and comes face to face with the murder that has taken place.He decides to unravel the Mystery of Louise's Death and asks Nurse Amy to help him out . After hearing all the facts from the various members he comes to the conclusion that there is every reason to believe that the threatening letters that she had received were somehow connected to her death.

Even as Poirot is investigating the case, there is one more Murder, and the Mystery deepens..

My views

Quite a compelling and absorbing novel that is unputdownable . Nurse Amy’s accounts of the different members and about beautiful and mysterious Louise Leidner are very interesting. She has a way of coming straight to the point . The Archaeological dig provides an unusual setting for this story ,and it has been expertly and entertainingly presented by Christie.

Nurse Amy's observations of different personalities at the dig and her analysis of the different personalities and Poirot are filled with humor and sincerity where she does not spare even herself regarding her own prejudices against certain members .

I like the way Agatha Christie sketches Louise's personality through Nurse Amy's observations. Louise is different to different people. Some see her as a meddling middle aged woman trying draw attention to herself, whereas others think of her as someone who has lots of sex appeal but was also manipulative. Either way, Nurse Amy’s account shows us that she herself liked Louise, considered her a beautiful , classy lady and the others were jealous of her looks and personality !

The verbal sparring between Poirot and nurse Amy is humorous and goes to show how intelligent Poirot is at analysing the situation without once letting Amy know that she is giving out much more than she realises . Agatha Christie is an expert at building up her detective stories to astonishing conclusions..Another must read suspense thriller !

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