Murder in Mesopotamia is a mystery novel by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 6 July 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00.

In The New York Times Book Review (20 September 1936), Kay Irvin wrote: "Agatha Christie is a past master, as every one knows, in presenting us with a full assortment of clues which we cannot read. And there are mysteries within mysteries among this quiet yet oddly troubled group of scientific workers, one of whom must have been the murderer; it is part of the author's skill to make us feel that every human character is a little mysterious, and that when crimes are committed among a group of apparently well-bred and cultivated people every one of them may be suspect. Agatha Christie's expertness in building up her detective stories, as such, to astonishing (though sometimes very far-fetched) conclusions has more or less over-shadowed her amazing versatility, not only in background and incident, but in character-drawing and actual style. The story here is told by a trained nurse – as has been done by other eminent mystery novelists. Nurse Leatheran holds her own with them all. This latest Christie opus is a smooth, highly original and completely absorbing tale".

In The Observer 12 July 1936 issue, "Torquemada" (Edward Powys Mathers) wrote that "Agatha Christie tells a humorous, well-observed story amongst the ruins of Tell Yarimjah, and her latest method of murder, which got me guessing and guessing fruitlessly, has, as usual, more the simplicity of a miracle than the complication of a conjuring trick. Poirot as a man is quite as delightful as ever, and Poirot as a detective not only perplexes the pleasant and not too intelligent hospital nurse, whose duty it is to tell the story, but, again as usual, the intelligent reader as well. The trouble is that he also perplexes the unprejudiced in a way most unusual to him: I for one cannot understand why he has allowed Agatha Christie to make him party to a crime whose integrity stands or falls by a central situation which, though most ingenious, is next door to impossible. The point at issue, which it would be grossly unfair to specify, between Mrs Christie and the reader is one which would provide a really interesting silly season correspondence." He concluded that "usually Poirot is to be toasted in anything handy, and no heel-taps; this time I drink to him a rather sorrowful glass of Lachryma Christie."

The Daily Mirror (9 July 1936) wrote: "Don't start reading this if you've got something to do or want a book just for a quarter of an hour or so. Because you simply won't put it down til you've reached the last sentence." The review finished by saying, "Agatha Christie's grand. In this tale of peculiarly placed murder she's given us another rattling good tale."

Robert Barnard remarked that an "Archaeological dig provides unusual setting, expertly and entertainingly presented. Wife-victim surely based on Katherine Woolley, and very well done. Narrated by nurse, a temporary Hastings-substitute—soon she found she could do without such a figure altogether." Barnard was pleased with the main character and that Christie did not use Hastings in the novel, but in summary felt that the novel was "Marred by an ending which goes beyond the improbable to the inconceivable."

References or Allusions

Christie reportedly based the character of Louise Leidner on Katharine Woolley, the wife of archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley. Christie's husband Max Mallowan had worked on Woolley's excavation at Ur.

References to other works

  • Although this novel was published in 1936, the events described are stated to have taken place three years earlier. It is when he returns from Mesopotamia that Poirot travels on the Orient Express and solves the murder that takes place aboard it.
  • In Chapter XII, Dr Leidner recalls hearing a "Mr Van Aldin" speak highly of Poirot. Rufus Van Aldin was a prominent character in Christie's earlier work The Mystery of the Blue Train.
  • In one chapter Nurse Leatheran is said to have spent the afternoon reading the detective novel The Nursing Home Murder, which is the name of a well-known novel by Ngaio Marsh, but the ending of Nurse Leatheran's book differs from the ending of Marsh's.
  • In Chapter 6 and 9, similarities are drawn between Louise Leidner and La Belle Dame sans Merci, a femme fatale figure from an 1819 ballad by John Keats.

References in other works

  • In Death on the Nile, Poirot credits his experience on the expedition with developing his methods in detection. He muses: "Once I went professionally to an archaeological expedition—and I learnt something there. In the course of an excavation, when something comes up out of the ground, everything is cleared away very carefully all around it. You take away the loose earth, and you scrape here and there with a knife until finally your object is there, all alone, ready to be drawn and photographed with no extraneous matter confusing it. This is what I have been seeking to do—clear away the extraneous matter so that we can see the truth..."

Adaptations

Television

Murder in Mesopotamia was adapted as an episode for the series Agatha Christie's Poirot on 2 June 2002. It starred David Suchet as Hercule Poirot, and was filmed on location at the Hotel Casino in Hammam Lif and on the Uthina Archaeological site, both in Tunisia. While it remained faithful to the main plot elements of the novel, including the murder, the motive, and the denouement, the adaptation made a number of changes:

  • The characters of Dr Giles Reilly, Mr Reiter and David Emmott, are omitted.
  • Sheila Reilly becomes Captain Maitland's daughter – her surname is changed as a result, while her character is more pleasant.
  • The character of Captain Hastings is added – apart from being Poirot's assistant in the case, relegating Amy Leatheran to being another suspect in the case, he is also the uncle of William Coleman, whom he is visiting.
  • Poirot is in Iraq mainly to meet with Countess Vera Rossakoff, after receiving a telegram from her asking for his help; she has already left by the time he arrives, and he is only made aware of this via a telephone message he receives when the case is solved.
  • Poirot visits the archaeological dig when he arrives, and so meets with Louise when she is alive – as a result, he learns about her first marriage and the letters she received from her directly, and not through Amy.
  • Joseph Mercado's drug addiction is much stronger in tone – he murders his supplier before Poirot arrives to see the dig site, and later commits suicide out of guilt.
  • Raoul Menier and Ali Yusuf are not identified when the theft of artefacts is exposed. Both men are also not arrested; Poirot mainly informs Captain Maitland to have the border posts keep a look out for them.

Radio

Michael Bakewell adapted Murder in Mesopotamia for BBC Radio 4, featuring John Moffatt as Poirot.

Graphic novel

Murder in Mesopotamia was released by HarperCollins as a graphic novel adaptation on 1 July 2008, adapted by François Rivière and illustrated by "Chandre" (). This was translated from the edition first published in France by Emmanuel Proust éditions in 2005 under the title of Meurtre en Mésopotamie.

Publication history

  • 1936, Collins Crime Club (London), 6 July 1936, Hardcover, 288 pp
  • 1936, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), Hardcover, 298 pp
  • 1944, Dell Books (New York), Paperback, (Dell number 145 [mapback]), 223 pp
  • 1952, Pan Books, Paperback, (Pan number 200)
  • 1955, Penguin Books, Paperback, (Penguin number 1099), 219 pp
  • 1962, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins), Paperback, 190 pp
  • 1969, Ulverscroft Large-print Edition, Hardcover, 367 pp;
  • 2007, Poirot Facsimile Edition (Facsimile of 1936 UK First Edition), HarperCollins, 5 February 2007, Hardcover;

The book was first serialised in the US in The Saturday Evening Post in six instalments from 9 November (Volume 208, Number 19) to 14 December 1935 (Volume 208, Number 24) with illustrations by F. R. Gruger.

In the UK, the novel was serialised as an abridged version in the weekly Women's Pictorial magazine in eight instalments from 8 February (Volume 31, Number 787) to 28 March 1936 (Volume 31, Number 794) under the title No Other Love. There were no chapter divisions and all of the instalments carried illustrations by Clive Uptton. Several character names were different from the eventual published novel: Amy Leatheran became Amy Seymour while Mr and Mrs Leidner were surnamed Trevor.

References

Bibliography

  • Murder in Mesopotamia at the official Agatha Christie website
  • Murder in Mesopotamia at The Home of Agatha Christie website
  • G W Thomas Autobiographical aspects of Murder in Mesopotamia retrieved 21 April 2012