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10th out of 68 books
—
345 voters
Murder in Mesopotamia (Hercule Poirot #14)
When nurse Amy Leatheran agrees to look after archaeologist Dr Leidner's wife Louise at a dig, she finds herself taking on more than just nursing duties: she also has to help solve murders. Hercule Poirot is visiting the excavation site but will the great detective be in time to prevent a multiple murderer from striking again?
Paperback, 351 pages
Published
December 2001
by Harper
(first published 1936)
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On the lonely deserts of Mesopotamia(Iraq),in the 30's ,archaeologists are digging to discover the past.But at the present time,fear is in the air.Even as precious artifacts are found, from the 4th millennium .Looking at the site,it's just a pile of mud and dirt walls,very disappointing to the untrained eye.You would have to be an expert, to get excited. But this is after all,where the first civilization began,7,000 years ago(5,300 B.C.).Between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.The Fertile Cresce...more
Agatha Christie married archaeologist Max Mallowan in 1930 (she was 40, he was only 26 -- Go Agatha!) and thereafter spent months at a time every year (with the exception of some years during WWII) in the Middle East on digs. She wrote many of her novels in a small mud closet with only a card table to hold her typewriter and a wooden chair to sit on. The locals actually considered her very extravagant for this. She also helped clean, sketch and photograph the artifacts they uncovered.
As she had...more
As she had...more
Sep 17, 2012
Sara Gonçalves
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
leituras-2012
Que hei-de dizer? Nunca na vida iria suspeitar do assassino!
Agatha Cristie é chamada a Rainha do Crime com toda a razão. É impressionante cada história que ela criou, cada crime, cada assassino... É fantástico.
Dos poucos livros que li da escritora, este não foi dos meus favoritos devido à inactividade da primeira parte - cerca de um terço da história - aquela que decorre até ao assassinato. Claro que é essencial para serem deixadas pistas, mas foi muito parada.
A narradora do livro é uma das pe...more
Agatha Cristie é chamada a Rainha do Crime com toda a razão. É impressionante cada história que ela criou, cada crime, cada assassino... É fantástico.
Dos poucos livros que li da escritora, este não foi dos meus favoritos devido à inactividade da primeira parte - cerca de um terço da história - aquela que decorre até ao assassinato. Claro que é essencial para serem deixadas pistas, mas foi muito parada.
A narradora do livro é uma das pe...more
This is a soft murder story, as a young adult I enjoyed Miss Christie immensely, today I find her style passé and somewhat even boring. I guess in time some develop a taste for more gruesome epics.
The general story is this: a nurse is hired to look after the wife of an archaeological dig leader. She isn't ill, but she is under the impression that someone is trying to kill her. So the reader won't be surprised (even if everyone else in the story is) when she winds up dead and it appears as though only a member of the dig team could have done it.
I purchased this one at an airport bookstore, and it was just what I needed for airport time as I waited for connections and the flights themselve...more
I purchased this one at an airport bookstore, and it was just what I needed for airport time as I waited for connections and the flights themselve...more
در دوره ی نوجوانی ما، خواندن آثار پلیسی و جنایی بسیار رایج بود. تمام زنگ تفریح های مدرسه به بحث در مورد آخرین آثار پلیسی چاپ شده می گذشت. "مایک هامر"، "جانی دالر"، کاریل چسمان، و...البته آگاتا کریستی. تقریبن تمامی آثار آگاتا کریستی در آن سال ها توسط مترجمین حرفه ای و غیر حرفه ای به فارسی ترجمه می شد، و در کتاب های کیلویی گوتمبرگ (کیلویی ده تومان) به فروش می رسید. در سینماها هم فیلم های هالیوودی از آثار آگاتا کریستی کم نبودند. همه ی ما مشتری داستان های شب رادیو بودیم که اغلب سری داستان های پلیسی...more
I have always had a taste for the exotic, particularly in my mysteries. This is part of the reason I have read so many crime books that mix genres - historical mysteries, science fiction mysteries, paranormal mysteries... So I have always enjoyed those stories of Christie's that take place in the more exotic locations - it is no accident that Murder on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun are two of my favorite murder mysteries of all time.
Having said that though, the backdrop for this story, exotic...more
Having said that though, the backdrop for this story, exotic...more
My first introduction to Poirot via the written word, and I can't get David Suchet out of my head. For the most part it doesn't matter: the finicky Belgian seems to have possessed the poor chap, save for his age. He's too young to be Poirot, and the moustache ought to be just a wee smidge bigger. And yes, computer, I know it's not a word, I don't care. Not a full smidgen, not even a small smidgen, but a wee smidge. But again, it was save for his age, and that did jar me a good deal. Here I was e...more
I found an edition of this book in London at the British Museum in 2002. There was an exhibit about Agatha Christie's archeological experiences with her husband, Max Mallowan, and they had all kinds of examples of their finds during many years of expeditions to the Middle East. She wrote an autobiographical book about these adventures, too, called Come, Tell Me How You Live, which is also worth reading. Of all of her mysteries, this is the one I've reread most often. I'm fascinated by the charac...more
Opinião no blog http://howtoliveathousandlives.blogsp...
Este livro comporta páginas e páginas repletas de mistério, um cenário atraente e personagens peculiares, bem ao estilo da Rainha do Crime, Agatha Christie.
Desta vez, o homicídio em questão é cometido numa expedição arqueológica, em Tell Yarimjah, o que proporciona um cenário exótico e distinto a este mistério. A ação é narrada por Amy Leatheran, uma enfermeira que testemunha os crimes cometidos. Esta é uma lufada de ar fresco, pois temos a...more
Este livro comporta páginas e páginas repletas de mistério, um cenário atraente e personagens peculiares, bem ao estilo da Rainha do Crime, Agatha Christie.
Desta vez, o homicídio em questão é cometido numa expedição arqueológica, em Tell Yarimjah, o que proporciona um cenário exótico e distinto a este mistério. A ação é narrada por Amy Leatheran, uma enfermeira que testemunha os crimes cometidos. Esta é uma lufada de ar fresco, pois temos a...more
"Murder in Mesopotamia" was written in 1936 and takes place just before the exellent "Murder in the Orient Express", one of Christies most classic novels. Unfortunately "Murder in Mesopotmia" appears to have given all its strenght to that particulary ingenious story.
The narrator is Amy Leatherman, a young nurse who is asked to join an archeological expedition in Irak. The reason for this is the wife of the leader of the expedition, Louise Leidner, who's distressed because of mysterious letters w...more
The narrator is Amy Leatherman, a young nurse who is asked to join an archeological expedition in Irak. The reason for this is the wife of the leader of the expedition, Louise Leidner, who's distressed because of mysterious letters w...more
Oh how I love Agatha Christie and the famous Hercule Poirot. Murder In Mesopotamia is now officially one of my favorite Agatha Christie mysteries. Why? Because I just simply didn't see the ending coming. Christie was so talented at leading you to look everywhere but at the actual perpetrator. Of course, by saying this I may give something away, but trust me, if you read this you will not be disappointed.
In typical fashion, Hercule Poirot just happens to be passing through when the latest murder...more
In typical fashion, Hercule Poirot just happens to be passing through when the latest murder...more
One of the thing that I love when I read Agatha's stories, is her timeline in that novel. Nearly all her novels depicted the real happening during that time and give us glimpses of what it was during those long gone times. This novel told us about the system of work of archaeologist team during archaeologist excavation in the Middle East around 1920- 1930. I realized that spelling for certain places were different in her books to compare with the real names in world map as of today. Maybe they s...more
Jan 13, 2011
Stephanie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
murder-mystery fans
Shelves:
books-read-in-2011
An archaeologist on location in Iraq is concerned for the health of his nervous wife and hires clever and sensible nurse Amy Leatheran to lend services both medical and companionable. After an unfortunately short amount of time, however, Nurse Leatheran is shocked to discover her charming and mysterious patient murdered in her own bedroom. The shock of the brutal crime is, of course, heightened by the possibility that the murderer is, in fact, a member of the archaeological team; a possibility t...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This wasn't my favourite Agatha Christie novel, though it was quick to read and well-plotted. At the center of the novel was the narrator, a nurse, who retells the story of the murders and the following investigation. She's supposed to be a likeable, reliable narrator, but I found that she took away from the story -and from Poirot, who played second fiddle to her. Why?I'm not quite sure why. This nurse/narrator doesn't actually figure anything out. She just "tells it like it is" and is privy to...more
My first exposure to Hercule Poirot was those films Peter Ustinov made in the seventies and eighties. And I think the aspect which stayed with me the most was the cosmopolitan glamour of it all. Look! – there’s Bette Davis, David Niven and Mia Farrow all sailing down the Nile!
Reading this book though – set in Iraq – I find that Christie was perfectly capable of making Poirot as provincial as Miss Marple. In the introduction she thanks her “many archaeological friends in Iraq and Syria”, but the...more
Reading this book though – set in Iraq – I find that Christie was perfectly capable of making Poirot as provincial as Miss Marple. In the introduction she thanks her “many archaeological friends in Iraq and Syria”, but the...more
A great novel.
A wonderful crime book.
An amazing locked-room mystery.
An average Christie.
While it stands as a remarkably "readable" novel, a totally surprising crime "shocker", this book in the eyes of "a Christie veteran" will seem an average crime-puzzle.
The narrator is a young nurse that is really a fresh take on a good-known technique. Christie tries to give a "Watson-like" narrator, that gives a rather naive narration and is rather objective. The story is riveting, especially the concept of...more
A wonderful crime book.
An amazing locked-room mystery.
An average Christie.
While it stands as a remarkably "readable" novel, a totally surprising crime "shocker", this book in the eyes of "a Christie veteran" will seem an average crime-puzzle.
The narrator is a young nurse that is really a fresh take on a good-known technique. Christie tries to give a "Watson-like" narrator, that gives a rather naive narration and is rather objective. The story is riveting, especially the concept of...more
Agatha Christie is an old love and, I believe that I continue to love her because of the impressionable age I started reading her.
I have since grown up in what holds my attention, but time and again, I sub-consciously reach for her book (sometimes ones I've read before) and enjoy it grudgingly, coz it's an old love. One indulges an old flame even if it has diminished in its glory.
These are times when I grit and sigh through the laborious descriptions of scenes, the characters, the dialog style...more
I have since grown up in what holds my attention, but time and again, I sub-consciously reach for her book (sometimes ones I've read before) and enjoy it grudgingly, coz it's an old love. One indulges an old flame even if it has diminished in its glory.
These are times when I grit and sigh through the laborious descriptions of scenes, the characters, the dialog style...more
1 like · like · see review
This is one of the few stories from Agatha Christie's that takes place in the Middle East and has a touch on archaeology. The plot is told from nurse Leatheran's point of view (nurse Leatheran is one of the major characters that is also a murder suspect, oh well, Poirot suspects everyone and everything all the time.
As it stated in the beginning of the story, the nurse admitted that the story may not run perfectly in order and indicated her inconsistency in mentioning titles of the characters (y...more
As it stated in the beginning of the story, the nurse admitted that the story may not run perfectly in order and indicated her inconsistency in mentioning titles of the characters (y...more
Aug 01, 2012
sabisteb
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
hörspiele-einzelne,
krimi-thriller
01 Angst and archaeology as Nurse Amy arrives to care for the nervy Mrs Leidner.
02 The Belgian sleuth is on hand when a death occurs in the heat of the desert.
03 The sleuth digs for more clues. Is there a killer in a team of desert archaeologists?
04 As the Belgian sleuth continues quizzing the suspects, a second tragedy strikes the dig.
05 The Belgian sleuth battles to reveal the identity of the desert murderer.
Die Krankenschwester Amy Leatheran hat gerade ihren neuesten Auftrag als Begleitperson...more
02 The Belgian sleuth is on hand when a death occurs in the heat of the desert.
03 The sleuth digs for more clues. Is there a killer in a team of desert archaeologists?
04 As the Belgian sleuth continues quizzing the suspects, a second tragedy strikes the dig.
05 The Belgian sleuth battles to reveal the identity of the desert murderer.
Die Krankenschwester Amy Leatheran hat gerade ihren neuesten Auftrag als Begleitperson...more
Sometimes I just love racist classist proper Agatha Christie. This book involves a murder in the Middle East, but all of the major characters are from Europe or the United States. There are brief references to one local henchman-type, and some menial laborers who are mostly around to irritate the Europeans with their incompetence, but mostly Agatha Christie doesn't like writing about people with dark skin, so she doesn't. The murder in this case is a nice little locked room mystery - a woman who...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Based on my observation, my tips for Agatha Christie’s works are:
First and foremost, suspect the husband. Or if the one who is murdered is the husband then suspect the wife. But usually it is the husband.
Second, if there are no husband and wife in view, suspect the one that Agatha made most unlikable. Like some rakish man with no manner who popped up from nowhere to intrude the relationship of two happy protagonists. The ‘bad guy’ kind, to use the urban slang. Even if he is not the culprit he is...more
First and foremost, suspect the husband. Or if the one who is murdered is the husband then suspect the wife. But usually it is the husband.
Second, if there are no husband and wife in view, suspect the one that Agatha made most unlikable. Like some rakish man with no manner who popped up from nowhere to intrude the relationship of two happy protagonists. The ‘bad guy’ kind, to use the urban slang. Even if he is not the culprit he is...more
Do excellent memories impede repeated enjoyment of Christie mysteries? I never remember everything, and from her vivid specifics, can visualize places and people, all exotic from my time and place, here a 1930s desert dig. The predictable format deflates excitement like a whistling-out balloon. The final roundup of closed-circle suspects is subtracted from by deductive elimination, resolved by confession, slow expository tedium after tense buildup to violent double murder. "When M Poirot had fin...more
Еще один прекрасный детектив от Агаты Кристи.
Практически с первых страниц выбрала для себя убийцу и мотив убийства.
И с каждой прочитаной страницей все ждала, когда же пойму что в очередной раз ошиблась и выбрала не ту кандидатуру.
Самый большой сюрприз поджидал меня тогда, когда выяснилось, что на этот раз я угадала! ))
Мотив для убийства есть практически у всех, но вот возможности казалось не было ни у кого.
И только Эркюль Пуаро, как всегда блестяще, во всем разберется...
Практически с первых страниц выбрала для себя убийцу и мотив убийства.
И с каждой прочитаной страницей все ждала, когда же пойму что в очередной раз ошиблась и выбрала не ту кандидатуру.
Самый большой сюрприз поджидал меня тогда, когда выяснилось, что на этот раз я угадала! ))
Мотив для убийства есть практически у всех, но вот возможности казалось не было ни у кого.
И только Эркюль Пуаро, как всегда блестяще, во всем разберется...
تقوم الممرضة مس ليذبيران بكتابة ماحدث في ذلك اليوم بأسلوبها الخاص ..
الجريمة حدثت في العراق حيث يجتمع اعضاء بعثة التنيب والبحث عن الآثار
بطل التحقيق المبدع في هذه الرواية هيركيول بوارو
استطعت في هذه الرواية تخمين القاتل وسبب قتله لها
لكن لم اتبين كيف قتل الضحية
لم اعتد ان اكتشف القاتل لكنه كان واضحا في الحقيقة
اعجبني تسلسل الاحداث وافضل ما في الرواية الاجزاء الاخيرة منها
لفت نظري ان مستر بوارو استخدم " بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم " في بداية التحقيق
مما جعل التحقيق ممتعا و شيقا
انصح بقراءتها
الجريمة حدثت في العراق حيث يجتمع اعضاء بعثة التنيب والبحث عن الآثار
بطل التحقيق المبدع في هذه الرواية هيركيول بوارو
استطعت في هذه الرواية تخمين القاتل وسبب قتله لها
لكن لم اتبين كيف قتل الضحية
لم اعتد ان اكتشف القاتل لكنه كان واضحا في الحقيقة
اعجبني تسلسل الاحداث وافضل ما في الرواية الاجزاء الاخيرة منها
لفت نظري ان مستر بوارو استخدم " بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم " في بداية التحقيق
مما جعل التحقيق ممتعا و شيقا
انصح بقراءتها
It was neat to read another Christie novel besides Murder on the Orient Express. Her stories are a bit like harlequin romance novels -'formulaic and comforting. But still stimulating because you're trying to figure out 'whodunit' along with Poirot. Unfortunately the parts (first few chapters and the very end) without him are somewhat ho hum, which is sad considering that the narrator was/could have been a more interesting character - also, i didnt care much for the denouement, where Poirot tells...more
Oct 16, 2012
☯Emily
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to ☯Emily by:
Goodreads, Agatha Christie group
Shelves:
mystery
Another engrossing story by Agatha Christie. This time the narrator is a nurse in Iraq who is asked to look after a woman at an archaeological dig. This woman is supposedly getting anonymous letters, threatening her life. Her fears are disrupting everyone at the dig and so the nurse is hired to find ways to calm her. Alas, the woman is murdered instead.
Hercule Poirot just happens to be passing through and comes to investigate the death. We see him work through the critical eyes of the nurse. Of...more
Hercule Poirot just happens to be passing through and comes to investigate the death. We see him work through the critical eyes of the nurse. Of...more
Quite atmospheric mid-30s Christie/Poirot novel set at an archelogical dig. Lots of amusing details by the practical narrartor Amy Leatherin, an unimaginative nurse.
Amy is hired as a companion to a charming, beautiful but nervy archeologist's wife who has been receiving threatening letters from her presumed long dead first husband. When "Lovely Louise" is found dead, Amy assists Poirot in unravelling whether the first husband is dead, he has an avenging relative, or one of the many suspicious st...more
Amy is hired as a companion to a charming, beautiful but nervy archeologist's wife who has been receiving threatening letters from her presumed long dead first husband. When "Lovely Louise" is found dead, Amy assists Poirot in unravelling whether the first husband is dead, he has an avenging relative, or one of the many suspicious st...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agatha Christie L...: October 2012 - Murder in Mesopotamia | 27 | 50 | Nov 03, 2012 01:31pm |
Agatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.
Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born in Torquay, Devon, England, U.K., as the youngest of three. The Millers had two other children: Margaret Frary Miller (1879–1950), called Madge, who was eleven years Agatha's senior, and Louis Montant Miller (1880...more
More about Agatha Christie...
Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born in Torquay, Devon, England, U.K., as the youngest of three. The Millers had two other children: Margaret Frary Miller (1879–1950), called Madge, who was eleven years Agatha's senior, and Louis Montant Miller (1880...more
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“Women can accept the fact that a man is a rotter, a swindler, a drug taker, a confirmed liar, and a general swine, without batting an eyelash, and without its impairing their affection for the brute in the least. Women are wonderful realists. ”
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“A woman who doesn't lie is a woman without imagination and without sympathy.”
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