What do you think?
Rate this book
Murder on the Nile
Agatha ChristieFull Length, Mystery
Characters: 8 male, 5 female
Interior Set
Simon Mostyn has recently married Kay Ridgeway, a rich woman, having thrown over his former lover Jacqueline. The couple are on their honeymoon and are at present on a paddle steamer on the Nile. With them is Canon Pennefather, Kay's guardian, and Jacqueline, who has been dogging their footsteps all through the honeymoon. Also on the boat are a rich, ill tempered old woman with her niece and companion, a rather direct young man, a German who nurses a grudge against Kay's father and Kay's maid. During the voyage Jacqueline works herself into a state of hysteria and shoots at Simon, wounding him in the knee. A few moments later Kay is found shot in her bunk. By the time the boat reaches its destination, Canon Pennefather has laid bare an audacious conspiracy and has made sure the criminals shall not go free.
Characters: 8 male, 5 female
Interior Set
Simon Mostyn has recently married Kay Ridgeway, a rich woman, having thrown over his former lover Jacqueline. The couple are on their honeymoon and are at present on a paddle steamer on the Nile. With them is Canon Pennefather, Kay's guardian, and Jacqueline, who has been dogging their footsteps all through the honeymoon. Also on the boat are a rich, ill tempered old woman with her niece and companion, a rather direct young man, a German who nurses a grudge against Kay's father and Kay's maid. During the voyage Jacqueline works herself into a state of hysteria and shoots at Simon, wounding him in the knee. A few moments later Kay is found shot in her bunk. By the time the boat reaches its destination, Canon Pennefather has laid bare an audacious conspiracy and has made sure the criminals shall not go free.
104 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1944
About the author
Agatha Christie
6,354 books78.9k followersAgatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) 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 also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London 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.
This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.
Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) 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 also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London 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.
This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.
Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
August 11, 2026
Up the Nile without Poirot
A review of the Concord Theatricals/Samuel French online eBook (January 23, 2014) of the original Samuel French playscript (Written 1942 / performed 1944 as "Hidden Horizon"/1946 as "Murder on the Nile") adapted from her novel Death on the Nile (1937).
Your eyes did not deceive you. This is not Death on the Nile with Hercule Poirot. It is Christie's later theatrical adaptation which drops Hercule Poirot and substitutes Canon Ambrose Pennefather as the main investigator. The Canon is the uncle and former guardian of the doomed heiress Kay Mostyn (nee Ridgeway).
The overall plot is basically the same, but Christie either changed the names of most of the characters or substituted entirely new characters. The ending is also considerably different. Presumably Christie wanted to subvert the audience's expectations who may have thought they knew the plot and ending in advance, based on the novel.
This was yet another delightful read and example of Christie's recycling and adaptation of her own earlier plots from short stories / novels to theatrical / radio plays and vice versa.
The full length theatrical play Murder on the Nile counts against my Complete Agatha Christie binge read goal, so I now have 4 novels (including 2 remaining Westmacotts), 1 short story collections, 4 full-length theatrical plays, 1 short 1-Act play and 1 autobiography left to go.
Trivia and Links and Reckoning
Unlike Death on the Nile, there have been no film or TV adaptations of Murder on the Nile.
As best as I know, the 4 remaining full length Agatha Christie plays on my TBR list are:
The Stranger (1932).
Akhnaton (1937).
A Daughter's A Daughter (1956).
Fiddlers Three (1972).
In addition there are several full length plays that have been posthumously adapted from Agatha Christie novels by other people, but I am not counting them as part of the canon. For a complete listing see the works at Concord Theatricals listed under Agatha Christie.
The above list does not include the shorter one-act plays and/or radio plays.
A review of the Concord Theatricals/Samuel French online eBook (January 23, 2014) of the original Samuel French playscript (Written 1942 / performed 1944 as "Hidden Horizon"/1946 as "Murder on the Nile") adapted from her novel Death on the Nile (1937).
CANON. Get off this boat! Give up this journey!
JACKIE. (wearied) I almost wish I could.
CANON. But you can. There is always a moment when one can turn back - before it is too late. This is your moment.
Your eyes did not deceive you. This is not Death on the Nile with Hercule Poirot. It is Christie's later theatrical adaptation which drops Hercule Poirot and substitutes Canon Ambrose Pennefather as the main investigator. The Canon is the uncle and former guardian of the doomed heiress Kay Mostyn (nee Ridgeway).
The overall plot is basically the same, but Christie either changed the names of most of the characters or substituted entirely new characters. The ending is also considerably different. Presumably Christie wanted to subvert the audience's expectations who may have thought they knew the plot and ending in advance, based on the novel.
This was yet another delightful read and example of Christie's recycling and adaptation of her own earlier plots from short stories / novels to theatrical / radio plays and vice versa.
The full length theatrical play Murder on the Nile counts against my Complete Agatha Christie binge read goal, so I now have 4 novels (including 2 remaining Westmacotts), 1 short story collections, 4 full-length theatrical plays, 1 short 1-Act play and 1 autobiography left to go.
Trivia and Links and Reckoning
Unlike Death on the Nile, there have been no film or TV adaptations of Murder on the Nile.
As best as I know, the 4 remaining full length Agatha Christie plays on my TBR list are:
The Stranger (1932).
Akhnaton (1937).
A Daughter's A Daughter (1956).
Fiddlers Three (1972).
In addition there are several full length plays that have been posthumously adapted from Agatha Christie novels by other people, but I am not counting them as part of the canon. For a complete listing see the works at Concord Theatricals listed under Agatha Christie.
The above list does not include the shorter one-act plays and/or radio plays.
August 28, 2016
I don't think I have ever read an Agatha Christie book that I didn't enjoy and this was no exception. Considering the amount of books she has written this is some achievement and I wish there were more books to read of hers. I suppose I could always reread them. She is the master of suspense and intrigue.
February 9, 2018
This was my first Christie novel I can recall reading, and I had no idea what a fun author she is. I guess I should have figured there was a reason she is so famous. I struggled to put down this fun page-turner. Poirot is a great character who is brilliant, clever, blunt, and a softie at his core. This was great light reading.
May 26, 2021
It’s Agatha Christie, it’s wonderful.
February 5, 2022
Classic Agatha Christie. One of my favorites!
June 23, 2023
I have just finished my last performance of this play for my high school production where I played smith. Over the process of playing this character I formed an opinion of the way he was written. This is was I shall share presently. Smith is a member of the communist party however rolling in wealth. This is the core concept of the character and I believe that it is characters such as this that have created the twisted view of communism many hold onto. A character holding left wing beliefs that is created by someone who has experienced things like red scare propaganda will inherently have certain characteristics of their beliefs that goes against the basic theory. Smith is shown as a nasty person and someone who fails to really care for the proletariat and instead chooses to elevate his ego among the bourgeoisie by clinging to the aesthetics of communism. His wealth is seen as something that simply dispels any value communist ideas hold. It is characters like this that create the idea of communism being a poverty cult. Overall fun time very cool. (This review was specifically for noah)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 22, 2024
Agatha, you've done it again! Would love to see the play.
January 24, 2013
A review from my old blog...
I'll never forget when I finally learned that Agatha Christie was a real person and not just a pen name. I don't know why I figured that Agatha Christie was a pen name... perhaps because her books are held in such high repute that she's become legend. ;)
Something that continually drives me nuts with her books... though not so much with this one... is that she crafts her mysteries in such a way that it is impossible for the reader to discern clues and figure out the answer to the mystery or simply be stumped at the end. The term "deus ex machina" comes to mind.
In this book though Christie drops many hard to discern clues in the first few chapters in which she also throws so much information at the reader that one is left picking up the pieces and trying to determine which bit of information is important. In any other genre besides a mystery this would annoy me but the beginning of this novel awakened my inner detective.
The actual murder... well, the first out of three... doesn't happen until about a hundred pages into the book. Actually, I was wondering when the murder was going to happen and thankfully Christie spared the readers an entire book of detective work and instead gave only half a book.
I'll never forget when I finally learned that Agatha Christie was a real person and not just a pen name. I don't know why I figured that Agatha Christie was a pen name... perhaps because her books are held in such high repute that she's become legend. ;)
Something that continually drives me nuts with her books... though not so much with this one... is that she crafts her mysteries in such a way that it is impossible for the reader to discern clues and figure out the answer to the mystery or simply be stumped at the end. The term "deus ex machina" comes to mind.
In this book though Christie drops many hard to discern clues in the first few chapters in which she also throws so much information at the reader that one is left picking up the pieces and trying to determine which bit of information is important. In any other genre besides a mystery this would annoy me but the beginning of this novel awakened my inner detective.
The actual murder... well, the first out of three... doesn't happen until about a hundred pages into the book. Actually, I was wondering when the murder was going to happen and thankfully Christie spared the readers an entire book of detective work and instead gave only half a book.
January 5, 2023
A relaxing get away gets turned into a murder. Linnet Doyle née Ridgeway is being stalked by her ex best friend Jacqueline, after she married Jacqueline's ex-fiance Simon Doyle.
They all end up on a steam boat on the Nile and this is where this get interesting.
This is an intriguing book, full of mystery, attempted murder, murder and betrayal.
This is such a good book and Agetha takes you on a journey that makes you question each suspect as the story progresses.
They all end up on a steam boat on the Nile and this is where this get interesting.
This is an intriguing book, full of mystery, attempted murder, murder and betrayal.
This is such a good book and Agetha takes you on a journey that makes you question each suspect as the story progresses.
Read
December 17, 2024It's an Agatha Christie murder mystery. There's a reason she's famous. I haven't read enough of these to say whether it's better or worse than others, but I enjoyed reading it about as much as I enjoyed Murder on the Orient Express and the Hercule Poirot Christmas.
July 20, 2024
All agatha christie books follow the same line but if you love it (and by it I mean her writing and her plot development), it never dissapoints.
I wanted a book i was sure was going to be fun and good and this was the perfect choice, especially for a summer read being set in egypt and all.
All in all she is always so clever with her plot twists I can never guess what will happen making me read 200 pages in a day. And i appreciate that.
I wanted a book i was sure was going to be fun and good and this was the perfect choice, especially for a summer read being set in egypt and all.
All in all she is always so clever with her plot twists I can never guess what will happen making me read 200 pages in a day. And i appreciate that.
March 10, 2025
A play watered down by the very river it sets sail upon. The play, though a quicker read than the original novel, comes nowhere near the brilliance of it. Instead of the ingenious Hercule Poirot, we get “the Canon,” who seems to jump to the solution of the murder only at the last second of the piece, unlike Poirot, who is always calculating not just the murder, but the other mysteries involving the passengers aboard. These, however, have been mostly removed in favor of a solution to the murder with fewer red herrings and missteps. Without the other character’s side plots from the original novel that ultimately tie into the main mystery, the supporting cast is reduced to “romantic” narratives or comic relief. In my opinion, you are much better off reading Christie’s actual masterpiece of fiction, Death on the Nile, for a shocking journey and ending that the stage version is just too timid to follow through on.
June 20, 2013
somewhat implausible and yet predictable Poirot mystery (not sure how one reconciles those 2 things but there you have it) .
September 14, 2021
This play was adapted from the novel Death on the Nile, one of Christie's more popular Poirot mysteries. In this adaption, the famous detective has been replaced by a clergyman, Canon Pennefather (which also happens to be the name of a character in At Bertram's Hotel) who combines the roles of the lawyer/guardian & Poirot. Other characters have also been eliminated, keeping only those necessary to carry on the plot. All the action takes place in the public saloon rather than all over the boat & on shore as in the novel. Names have been changed in some cases, but the murder & reason for it has remained the same. The ending, however, has been changed. In the play, the very beautiful & rich Kay Ridgeway & her new husband, Simon, are on their honeymoon in Egypt. They board a river boat for a sightseeing trip up the Nile. Unfortunately for them, Simon's ex-fiancee, who happens to be Kay's ex-best friend & whom he jilted to marry Kay, also boards the boat. Jacquie has been harassing them throughout their travels in a fit of revengeful jealousy. Matters come to a head a few days into the trip as she gets drunk one evening & begins waving a pistol about. The ensuing events lead to murder which everyone believes Jacquie has committed, but for which she has an unbreakable alibi. Who then has committed Murder on the Nile?
September 3, 2021
This book was a fantastic read and really engaged me to guess who the murderer would be however we all know that is impossible in any Agatha Christie book. Moreover this book had wonderful description of all the characters and also of all the details and made this book so much more interesting. However I must admit the first 50 pages of the book were fairly dull however from page 50 it really started engaging me and it became exponentially more interesting.
April 3, 2022
I listened to this book, narrated by Kenneth Branagh. That, in itself, made it a captivating book!
As usual Agatha Christie weaves a web of clues and mysteries throughout the book. Who will be killed? Who will be the murdered? What are the motives? How are the characters connected? And, in what ways will Hercule Poirot solve the mystery(ies)?
As usual Agatha Christie weaves a web of clues and mysteries throughout the book. Who will be killed? Who will be the murdered? What are the motives? How are the characters connected? And, in what ways will Hercule Poirot solve the mystery(ies)?
January 21, 2023
I did not read the play (this story that I am marking "as read" says it is a "stage play"). I did read the book with Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. Super story. Definitely recommend for youth, young adult, adult, etc...It has a fantastic & exciting plot, crazy characters, and twists and turns. Ending is even trickery!
February 12, 2025
When Linnet Ridgeway is shot while on honeymoon, Poirot becomes involved in solving the murder. I could have sworn I've watched this acted out on TV, but for the life of me I still couldn't work out who the murderer was right until the big reveal at the end. Easy reading and I enjoyed the fact this hasn't aged despite being published yonks ago.
April 22, 2025
Den nest beste boken jeg har lest av Christie. Ca. alle karakterene er interresante, den har en stilig oppbygning som gjør verdenen mer levende. Løsningen på morder kommer ikke som ett sjokk når en finner det ut men det spiller ingen rolle, ferden dit har gjort at slutten blir sentiment og viktig uansett.
July 14, 2025
Christie's mysteries are always a pleasure to read, and a master of red herrings, with extraneous characters and parallel story arcs to quite marvelously obfuscate the story and force one to wait for Poirot or Marple to untangle it all! Especially with the Poirot mysteries, I simply cannot read them without hearing David Suchet's portrayal and voice of Poirot in my head.
August 2, 2025
A must to read. Brilliant story, including unexpected plot twists in a fascinating surroundings, Egypt. Recommended to readers who enjoy reading mystery books. Crimes are solved using analytical thinking and intuition. Suspense until the last page. All Hercules Poirot's stories will surprise you somehow.
September 30, 2021
I read this as a novel, not a script for a play. But I can't find the novel in goodreads, so this will do. Agatha Christie sure likes to weave a tale! So many red herrings. I went back and reread the beginning just to see all the details she included from the get go. A fun ride!
March 23, 2024
I just don't understand why this play has got so many good reviews.
Having read the play i found the script to be rather dry, as well as lacking surprising elements, some not so interesting characters and predictable.
Having read the play i found the script to be rather dry, as well as lacking surprising elements, some not so interesting characters and predictable.
May 2, 2025
SHE?????
All through this book the copywriter clearly missed that Linette and other characters had their sex changed from he to she and the reverse so it was very difficult to work out who they were actually referring to and very annoying too.
All through this book the copywriter clearly missed that Linette and other characters had their sex changed from he to she and the reverse so it was very difficult to work out who they were actually referring to and very annoying too.
April 19, 2026
My first Agatha Christie mystery. I think I'm a pretty big fan. I like the way how it's many mysteries rolled into one, so even if you figure something out it isn't all of it. I will definitely read more from her.
April 26, 2026
Throughly enjoyed reading my first Agatha Christie Poirot book. Made even better reading it while travelling up the Nile and visiting some of the Ancient Egyptian sites mentioned. Not 5 star as the ending and murderer was predictable from the start.
February 22, 2021
Great book! Easy to follow, awesome rap up of the mystery. I love the characters and their characteristic, thay really felt realistic. another great Agatha Christie book!
April 13, 2021
amazing.
May 25, 2021
One such book where you might be able to predict the killer quite early but the "How?" will make you finish the book in one sitting. 🙂
December 31, 2021
It was famous as a stage play, rather a detective story. Lovers concerto was more focused than the investigative matters.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews