Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps Poirot should have vacationed somewhere else...
Review: since his trip to the Middle East seems to keep him working. This 1935 novel is set in Mesopotamia (present day Iraq) at an archeological dig, a setting that Christie came to know quite well after her marriage to an archeologist. A nurse, Amy Leatheran, has been engaged to care for the wife of the leader of an archeological expedition. She was told that the woman was suffering from 'nerves' only and that there was no real problem. Unfortunately for the patient her concerns turned out to be not imaginary after all, she was murdered. Hercule Poirot who was traveling through the area was brought into the case and of course solved the mystery. MURDER IN MESPOTAMIA is part of a series of book that covers Poirot's Middle Eastern 'holiday' (APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH and MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS also chronicle this trip). It is unusual in that the story is narrated by Amy Leatheran who also acts as Poirot's assistant when he enters the story about 1/3 of the way through the story. Although this is fairly laid out, as all of Christie's works, and has an intriguing and clever plot I found it difficult to really get into this one. Many of the characters were rather one dimensional and not very interesting. Still one of Christie's lesser works is still better than most other writer's best efforts.
Rating: 
Summary: One of her very best books
Review: The people who decry this book as not being as good as some of her others are misplaced in their views. This is definitely another of her masterpieces. Her best Poirot books are those set in this kind of territory (I.e. Murder On the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, Appointment with Death, Murder, and this one.) because the setting really enhances the plot. The way this book is narrated is rather different from some of the other books. Told from the perspective of the nurse who looked after the victim before she died, it is very engaging and the prose brings a very human element to the book, and the feelings and emotions of being caught up in a murder, in which everyone becomes a suspect. It works very well. There are some great characters in this one. Some eccentric, some you grow to love, some you are indifferent to. None that you actively dislike. All intriguing. The way the story unfolds is materful, and the methods for murder are, when finally revealed, ingenius. You would enver think of it in a million years, even thought it really is staring you in the face. Also, this books holds the top place in the "most vile deaths in an Agatha Christie novel" category. Anne Johnson's instrument of demise is, to be blunt, quite horrible. I felt sick at the thought of it. (And the way it was depicted in a recent television adaptation in the UK was quite vile. But powerful, and packs a great punch.) An incredibly strong, yet simple, plot, is what makes this book stand out amongst her others. It has power, and is emotional and intense. The method of murder is quite brilliant. The solution, whilst not packing a great surprise as some of her more unlikely novels do, nonetheless rings true. (It would be incredibly hard to have made the identity of the killer a real surprise...all the characters seemed to be viable suspects, and wouldn't pack a great surprise if it was revealed to be them.) This stands among "Towards Zero" "Murder is Easy" "Appointment With Death" "Death on the Nile" "Death Comes as the end" "And Then there Were None" and "Murder on the Orient Express" as one of her very very best books.
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