Rating: 
Summary: A Disappointment From Agatha Christie
Review: The plot of this book is the most outrageous and prepsoterious thing Chrisite ever thought of. It is meant to be a thriller of some sort rather than a straight forward mystery. The characters' actions are not justified and the plot is very vague. The reader just dosen't get captivated or intrested in the story and you could care less what happens to Victoria Jones, the airhead lead character. A few events that are a bit intriguing dosen't help much and by the end, the book is just a big mess. Skip this one, Pick Up "And Then There Were None" If you want a suspence/thriller book by Agatha Christie.
Rating: 
Summary: Great story, but plot is weak.
Review: This book has nmore pros than cons. The setting and atmosphere are great from the beginning to the end. Victoria is great, but how can a blonde regular woman, beat spies and escape a prison? And the plot is little weak, but Christie gives an excellent description of the Middle East, and satisfies at the end.
Rating:
Summary: PRETTY GOOD
Review: This is a pretty good book all the way around. The first part features Victoria, who, on chance meeting the man of her dreams, designs to follow him half-way around the world. Getting completely mixed up in danger, she determines to find out the truth. This, of course, means that everything she once thought was the truth turns completely around in a tangle of lies and deception. See if you can guess the antagonist...it's a classic Christie ending. It's really not too bad a book.
Rating: 
Summary: SUSPENSEFUL & DRAMATIC
Review: This was one of those books that keeps you up, constantly drags you on. I would not say it was the very best of her books, merely because of the improbability of most of the events. Such as, who would exchange polite conversation with someone and then decide you've fallen in love? And even more improbable, who would chase that near stranger halfway around the world?This is precisely what happens in They Came to Baghdad. They only other thing I should mention is that once arriving in Baghdad, the heroine sets her foot in a whole lot of danger...and starts to wonder who is on her side and who is her enemy. The best part is when she finds a dying man in her hotel room bed...don't worry, I'm not giving anything away. Do try it, though.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful Middle Eastern adventure
Review: Victoria Jones is a recently fired shorthand typist with an elastic approach to telling the truth and a hankering for adventure. "To Victoria an agreeable world would be one where tigers lurked in the Strand and dangerous bandits infested Tooting". She gets her chance at adventure when she meets Edward, a handsome young man on his way to Baghdad to work at an organisation called the Olive Branch, the purpose of which is to foster understanding between nations by getting young people of all countries together to read Shakespeare and Milton in translation. Victoria wishes she could go to Baghdad too, and by an amazing conicidence (or is it?) she is offered a job the very next day, to accompany a lady with a broken arm on the journey out. Victoria enterprisingly fakes herself some references, and claims to be the niece of Dr Pauncefoot Jones an archaeologist excavating at Basra. Victoria is enchanted by Baghdad, but before she has a chance to find Edward, a wounded man stumbles into her hotel room and dies there. Who is he? And who is the mysterious Mr Dakin? And what are the people at the Olive Branch really up to? And who on earth is Anna Scheele? Thi is an amusing and exciting story. Victoria is a delightful heroine, adventurous and imaginative and quite outrageously untruthful. There is an exciting plot and plenty of vivivd descriptions of Baghdad and other places, and lots of humour. Tremendous fun.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful Middle Eastern adventure
Review: Victoria Jones is a recently fired shorthand typist with an elastic approach to telling the truth and a hankering for adventure. "To Victoria an agreeable world would be one where tigers lurked in the Strand and dangerous bandits infested Tooting". She gets her chance at adventure when she meets Edward, a handsome young man on his way to Baghdad to work at an organisation called the Olive Branch, the purpose of which is to foster understanding between nations by getting young people of all countries together to read Shakespeare and Milton in translation. Victoria wishes she could go to Baghdad too, and by an amazing conicidence (or is it?) she is offered a job the very next day, to accompany a lady with a broken arm on the journey out. Victoria enterprisingly fakes herself some references, and claims to be the niece of Dr Pauncefoot Jones an archaeologist excavating at Basra. Victoria is enchanted by Baghdad, but before she has a chance to find Edward, a wounded man stumbles into her hotel room and dies there. Who is he? And who is the mysterious Mr Dakin? And what are the people at the Olive Branch really up to? And who on earth is Anna Scheele? Thi is an amusing and exciting story. Victoria is a delightful heroine, adventurous and imaginative and quite outrageously untruthful. There is an exciting plot and plenty of vivivd descriptions of Baghdad and other places, and lots of humour. Tremendous fun.
Rating:
Summary: Enthralling tale of intrigue and death
Review: When i read this book first, i thought "well, that was an average to good Christie, nothing extra special..." but now i've re-read it, i am forced to change my opinion! This is an excellent book. Its exciting and tense, there are twists aplenty, which keep the material fresh and interesting. It's packed full of interesting and enigmatic characters. Sir Rupert Crofton Lee, Carmichael, Dakin, etc, all of whom we dont see a great deal of, but we are left wanting to know a lot more about them. A sure sign of good characters and characterisation. The plot is intriguing, and you are never entirely sure of what is going on, who is who, what is what, etc, up until the final pages, then it all becomes clear. The setting is great...the sweltering heat and dustiness of Baghdad is an excellent setting for this type of story (indeed, any type of story) and really adds to the atmosphere. Victoria Jones is a likeable lead character, human and quirky. (Sometimes annoying?) But in the end, you care for what happens to her. The backing cast of characters is large, but great. And overall, the freshness of this story, the excitement and intrigue contained within its pages, all adds up to make this a very different, but very high class Christie read.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and a Delight!
Review: While many Agatha Christie stalwarts would prefer Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot better, I found "They Came to Baghdad" to be entertaining and a delight! Combining murder mystery with all the unexpected twists of a spy novel, the story is remains grounded in the every-day character of Victoria Jones. Also, don't miss out on the mid-20th century depiction of the Arab lands. I highly recommend this novel to fans of Agatha Christie, or even fans of the TV show Alias (correlations between Victoria and Sydney abound)!
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and a Delight!
Review: While many Agatha Christie stalwarts would prefer Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot better, I found "They Came to Baghdad" to be entertaining and a delight! Combining murder mystery with all the unexpected twists of a spy novel, the story is remains grounded in the every-day character of Victoria Jones. Also, don't miss out on the mid-20th century depiction of the Arab lands. I highly recommend this novel to fans of Agatha Christie, or even fans of the TV show Alias (correlations between Victoria and Sydney abound)!
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