http://njkinny.blogspot.in/2014/07/bo...When Nurse Leatheran is called on to look after Loiuse, the wife of Dr. Leidner who is busy in the excavation activities going on at the Hassanieh dig in Iraq, she finds the atmosphere there to be filled with tension and one of impending doom. "...I dont know what it was exactly...Nobody seemed quite natural. There was a queer atmosphere of tension..."Loiuse or "Lovely Louise" as the Doctor's wife is called, is said to be afflicted with hallucinations. She claims to have seen a scary "yellow face" outside her window at night and strange scratching sounds outside her room etc. which though seen by her is not witnessed by anyone else in the house!No one believes Louise and amidst the back story of strange threatening letters and mysterious lights at night, Loiuse is murdered with a blow to her head. The windows are locked from inside and there are witnesses who claim that no one went in her room or came out of it. How did Louise die?Is there any truth in her hallucinations?As Hercule Poirot is called in to investigate, it is soon established that this is a crime most "fantastic"!Agatha Christie married Max Mallowan who was an archaeologist and went on many excavation trips to the middle east. Her knowledge of the archaeological sites, the behavior of people there and the local color is very expertly used in this mystery. Add this knowledge to the sheer ingenuity of her mystery building skills and we get a mystery most entertaining and so unconventional that it leaves us spellbound. The solution when it comes is so obvious and yet so extraordinary. This is the skill of the Queen of Crime who makes the reader ignore the glaring obvious. The characterization is complex and still very teaching. Christie effectively flaunts her knowledge of human nature and uses this knowledge to give us characters that are a great study. The story is character based and it is by deciphering their nature that the reader can solve this mystery! "She had been beautiful. It wasnt the kind of looks you were jealous of -you just sat back and admired. I felt that first day I met her that I'd do anything for Mrs Leidner!" “The popular view that a child forgets easily is not an accurate one. Many people go right through life in the grip of an idea which has been impressed on them in very tender years.” It was very interesting to follow Poirot as he tries various tactics with different people to get information and also amuses the readers with his tricks. While he looks and acts funny, his every action is well planned and aimed at solving the crime. The story flows fluidly and the author handles a variety of characters with ease. She throws clues at suitable junctures and increases the interest of the reader with some well chosen words whenever it looks like the story is slowing. “I joke, mademoiselle," he said, "and I laugh. But there are some things that are no joke. There are things that my profession has taught me. And one of these things, the most terrible thing, is this: murder is a habit...” While I loved the mystery, I did crave for more descriptions of the middle east at that time and a deeper look into the local people's lives. Overall, I loved the story and was shocked at the conclusion. A mystery that deserves to stand among the bestseller mysteries of all time, Murder in Mesopotamia is a great read with a solid plot, complex and insightful characters and a story that takes us back in time to Iraq where we are able to visualize the work and the hustle bustle at the excavation site, the thrill of new discovery, the feel of places and people almost a hundred years back in time and a story that will make you forget everything! I give it 4 stars out of 5 and highly recommend it to all book lovers. :)
I wish that I had liked this one more than I did (I gave it 3.5 stars but Goodreads only gives full stars so I rounded up to a 4). I think the main problem was that the story was told from Amy Leatheran's point of view. Amy Leatheran speaks in an older voice during the course of this story though she was apparently a young nurse when this story takes place. The foreword was written by Doctor Giles Reilly (another character in the story) who mentions that it was four years ago when these events take place so she had to be in her early 30s or mid to late 30s by the time the story is told. However, she spoke as a woman in her late 50s in my opinion. She just seemed quite old in her mannerisms and thinking and how she spoke. Perhaps Ms. Christie should have aged the character. She can write younger female characters and has done so quite well before. Perhaps Ms. Leatheran was a stand in for a Miss Marple type character. The flow of the novel through 1/4 of the story was quite slow. I found myself having trouble keeping everyone separate and trying to figure out how everyone was connected. I was actually relieved when the actual murder took place since that meant that Poirot was soon to be on the scene.I do always enjoy reading other character's points of view of Poirot. Ms. Leatheran talks about how short, old, and foreign Poirot is in her eyes. She even dislikes him through a good portion of the book until she realizes how smart he really is. We eventually have Ms. Leatheran stepping in for the missing Hastings and helping Poirot with his investigation of who killed Ms. Leidner. Once Poirot is on the scene the book flows much easier. I can say that for once I guessed at who the murderer was correctly. I just didn't understand how they possibly could have done it. Once the solution was laid out it seems perfectly understandable and I felt foolish for not putting it together. Also though I guessed the murderer it still made no sense to me how a woman like Mrs. Leidner could be totally in the dark about the identity of her killer. I just had so many questions there. I don't want to spoil for those who haven't read, but my first thought was one of incredulity when I realized who the murderer is and who they could possibly be. I then promptly watched David Suchet in Hercule Poirot's "Murder in Mesopotamia". This one had Hastings assisting Hercule and we once again get to the same murderer. However, the set up is different with Hercule in place before Mrs. Leidner is murdered. I do want to say a good thing for me that I did watch "Murder in Mesopotamia" this weekend. Netflix then recommended to me "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries" and I promptly watched all of series 1 and 2. I am now in love with Essie Davis. I will have to pick up these books sometime in the future since they sound right up my alley. When I am done with Poirot it will be nice to read another novel with another female protagonist since I am now done with Miss Marple.
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 themselves. Murder in Mesopotamia is written from the perspective of one of the characters, a nurse, and the voice was fine, but I generally prefer the voice of Poirot's number two, Captain Hastings (even if Hastings is a little dim sometimes). Also, I guessed the murderer from the get-go, so there was little surprise there for me, but I still enjoyed the story overall. After reading some Poirot short stories, I was pleased to have a book where the reader could figure things out along side Poirot, confirming suspicions, rather than simply pulling a murderer out of thin air and explaining once he/she has been identified.
—Alana
An enjoyable Agatha Christie I had not read before. While it's a Hercule Poirot mystery, the narrator is a one-off character, a sensible, level-headed nurse hired as a companion for a neurotic wealthy American lady who is accompanying her British professor husband on an archaeological dig in Iraq. Poirot doesn't even make an appearance until halfway through the story. Until then we get an interesting inside look at the workings of a 1930s archaeological excavation, complete with class prejudices and colonial-era racism, as well as a cast of interesting characters with suspect motives, all jumbled together in a remote spot surrounded by priceless antiques being dug out of the ground, allowing tensions to run high. This part of the book is clearly drawn from life: Christie was married to an archaeologist and accompanied him on many digs around the world, becoming a knowledgeable amateur herself, and her descriptions of the process of digging up and cataloguing finds is both interesting in itself and also feeds into the plot and characters. The book does suffer a bit from a simplistic structure and some flat secondary characters. It was written only a couple of years before one of her masterpieces, "Death on the Nile," which has a similar setting, and reading the two books side-by-side is interesting, as "Nile" has a much more well-paced plot and richer characterization. Still, this was a fun read.
—Ian
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 acesso às suas suposições e opiniões sobre as restantes personagens. Porém, como interveniente direto na estória, por vezes o seu ponto de vista não é totalmente imparcial, mas rapidamente chega o detetive Poirot, com a sua perspicácia genial, para dar uma volta de 180º ao rumo da estória.Adoro os livros de Christie simplesmente porque durante a sua leitura consigo exercer o papel de detetive, ainda que muitas vezes os meus palpites estejam redondamente errados. Neste caso, mais uma vez a resolução final conseguiu deixar-me boquiaberta!
—Mónica Silva
