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)!
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