Murder in Mesopotamia, Agatha Christie

The Book 

    When Nurse Amy Leatheran is offered a job on an archeological dig in Iraq, she goes to be of use to the head archeologist's wife.  Dr. Leidner seems devoted to his wife, Louise. He wants someone to care for her, because he fears she is going crazy in the remote place. 

    Miss Leatheran arrives and finds Louise on edge. We find out Louise was married once before, to a man who was a German spy in World War I. She turned in her husband. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. On the train ride to his final prision, the train derailed, and he was killed in the ensuing fire. 

Louise believes she will never marry again, but she does fall in love a couple of times. When she does, and it gets close to being serious, she reeieves threatening letters from her supposedly dead husband, which scare away these men who proclaim to love her. Now, fifteen years later, she has finally married a man, and mircale upon miracles, no letters arrived. Until she and Dr. Leidner came out to Iraq and this dig. Now she is being hounded. Nurse Leatheran is not alone in believe that the letters are a hoax and tries to calm her. 

Several strange things happen. Louise is frightened by a spooky man a couple of times, there seems to be a break-in in the antiques room, and in general many people are catty about Louise. Nurse Leatheran believes she can help calm Louise. But after about a week on the job, Louise is murdered. 

    When the local police determine it is most likely a member of the expedition, Hercule Poirot is brought in to investigate. He tries to figure out the character of Louise Leidner. Did she write the letters herself? Was she cruel? Did someone on the dig hate her? Was it a new jealousy, or an old one? Was her first husband actually dead? 

    Once Poirot solves the murder, it falls to Nurse Leatheran to set the record straight. She falls into the role of documenter of Poirot's case and we see the book through her eyes. 

My Thoughts

    I was about halfway through the book when I remembered how this one ended. So it took me a couple of extra days to figure it out. I don't think this books is as well written as Murder on the Orient Express, a story I know inside and out. Many of the characters are flat, only Nurse Leatheran and Louise Leidner jump off of the page. The plot mechanics, as the All About Agatha podcast would say, are great. But the solution falls flat when the reader finds out who the killer actually is. Not her worst outing, at least the plot was followable, but not her best either. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

    This book was sent to my library by the RAILS system from the Evanston Public Library. This book is in remarkably good condition, pristine I might say. I would think it was perhaps purchased in the last year. Unlike other districts, Evanston's system does not mark the date which the book was put in circulation. It is a Harper Paperback collection, the copyright of which is 2011. The receipt and the cover both say my library card saved me $15.99.

This Book                                                 $15.99

Books Reviewed This Year                    $866.48

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