Murder in Mesopotamia

 Series: Hercule Poirot 

Author: Agatha Christie

Original publication date: July 6, 1936

Genre: Mystery

Book description: 

When nurse Amy Leatheran agrees to look after American archaeologist Dr Leidner’s wife Louise at a dig near Hassanieh she finds herself taking on more than just nursing duties – she also has to help solve murders. Fortunately for Amy, Hercule Poirot is visiting the excavation site but will the great detective be in time to prevent a multiple murderer from striking again?

Thoughts:

Again we follow the great Belgium detective Hercule Poirot as he takes it upon himself to investigate a murder. In this case, the story is a bit different as it is told from the perspective of a nurse who was a witness to all that it happened in Mesopotamia. It picks up way before the murder takes place and before H. Poirot makes an appearance. 

The beginning is pretty solid. We follow a group of people who are working in a dig in Mesopotamia. A group of people some old friends and acquaintances and some a bit more recent additions. Ms. Leatheran, as the nurse, is invited to take care of the wife of one of the organizers arrives, you get to have an introduction of all those present. 

The woman in question is a recently remarried woman, who is of very strong character, Ms. Leatheran is immediately taken in by her. The lady is a bit scared, others would say paranoid. The nurse is taken in as a confidant pretty early on. She discovers why the lady is afraid, but she is not so convinced about the danger. No one seems to be taking the danger seriously, not the husband, the other doctor present there, or the other members of the party. Let's be honest, the members of the expedition do not really know what is going on but they love to gossip.

As in any organization, there are leaders, people have rivalries and not everyone gets along. For some reason, the issue is around this nice lady the nurse has to take care of. Not everyone in the party likes her, but no one really comes out and says it.

A murder takes place and no one can explain the who. It is very evident, in everyone's opinion that a madman entered their complex and killed the woman. The hard part is that not a single unknown person was seen entering the premises around the time the murder took place. 

As coincidence would have it, Hercule Poirot is passing through on his way back from assisting in some foreign land. He gets called to provide assistance to the local authorities in the investigation. Unlike other occasions, Poirot is at first ridiculed as he is introducing himself, he allows the witnesses to underestimate him. He overplays the foreigner part.

It has been mentioned in several books, it seems there was very clear discrimination against people of other nationalities. It is not the first time mentioned. Also, there is an integrated distrust of foreigners. 

• The criminal must be a foreigner.
• The people have brown skin, no need to pay attention to them.
• They try to remember a specific person but they are of color they get everything wrong as if they pay no attention to them simply because all "X nationality" look the same to them.
• The poor bastards don't even speak English properly that must mean they are slow or stupid.

An interesting point made here, why would this idea be so normalized? It is an old text but I wonder if people in England are still harboring these ideals?

So we have Poirot requesting the help of the Dr, the nurse, and of course the husband of the murdered woman. The little detective takes a peculiar interest in very unorthodox aspects of the victim but in the end, he alone is able to uncover the truth. 

It is a bit slow and in the last few pages everything is revealed by Poirot, it is a very satisfying ending.

I gave this:

This is once more one I enjoyed a lot but not my favorite of the series. Poirot is not present as much and I kind of miss him now.

Still highly recommend it to mystery/thriller lovers out there. Let me know if you have read this and what your opinion about it was.

Stay safe, stay healthy until next time!