'DEATH ON THE NILE', A HERCULE POIROT'S NEW MYSTERY

Today, The Weasleys & The Grandma have talked about Agatha Christie, the English writer who created fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

Before, they have been studying some modal verbs like Should, Need to and Must, and also the Prepositions of Place.

More information: Must/Mustn't - Need/Needn't - Should/Shouldn't

 

More information: Prepositions of Place

 

Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (15 September 1890-12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. 

She wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End since 1952.

A writer during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, Christie has been called the Queen of Crime. She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott.

In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

In her youth, Christie showed little interest in antiquities. After her marriage to Mallowan in 1930, she accompanied him on annual expeditions, spending three to four months at a time in Syria and Iraq at excavation sites at Ur, Nineveh, Tell Arpachiyah, Chagar Bazar, Tell Brak, and Nimrud. Mallowans also took side trips whilst travelling to and from expedition sites, visiting Italy, Greece, Egypt, Iran, and the Soviet Union, among other places. Their experiences travelling and living abroad are reflected in novels such as Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, and Appointment with Death.

More information: Agatha Christie

Death on the Nile is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 1 November 1937 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence and the US edition at $2.00.

The book features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. The action takes place in Egypt, mostly on the River Nile. The novel is unrelated to Christie's earlier short story of the same name, which featured Parker Pyne as the detective.

Contemporary reviews of the book were primarily positive. The Times Literary Supplement's short review concluded by saying Hercule Poirot, as usual, digs out a truth so unforeseen that it would be unfair for a reviewer to hint at it.

The Scotsman review of 11 November 1937 finished by saying that, the author has again constructed the neatest of plots, wrapped it round with distracting circumstances, and presented it to what should be an appreciative public.

E R Punshon of The Guardian in his review of 10 December 1937 began by saying, To decide whether a writer of fiction possesses the true novelist's gift it is often a good plan to consider whether the minor characters in his or her book, those to whose creation the author has probably given little thought, stand out in the narrative in their own right as living personalities. This test is one Mrs Christie always passes successfully, and never more so than in her new book.

In a later review, Robert Barnard wrote that this novel is One of the top ten, in spite of an overcomplex solution. The familiar marital triangle, set on a Nile steamer. The weakness is that there is Comparatively little local colour, but some good grotesques among the passengers – of which the film took advantage. He notes a change in Christie's novels with this plot published in 1937, as Spies and agitators are beginning to invade the pure Christie detective story at this period, as the slide towards war begins.

Download Murder on the Nile by Agatha Christie

 An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have.
The older she gets the more interested he is in her.

Agatha Christie