Reviews for Agatha Christie--murderers abroad

The average rating for Agatha Christie--murderers abroad based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-09-15 00:00:00 Christi Siebenthal I love Agatha Christie. I do. I won't pretend that what she wrote is the highest level of fiction, but I love her mysteries unashamedly and unfailingly. That being said, if anyone who has not read any other Agatha Christie books before this picked up this particular collection, I'm not certain if they'd ever read anything by her ever again. It's a very mixed bag with novels that range from ordinary to excellent, from bizarre to nearly incomprehensible. This collection has Christie's characters traveling out of England and abroad. As with her characters, I advise you to travel through these books with caution. The Mystery of the Blue Train - 3 out of 5 stars - A murder mystery with some marital discord, jewel theft, and espionage thrown in for good measure, "Mystery on the Blue Train" is a fairly early Christie novel and features an oddly active Poirot, who normally sits about in a chair and hates running about. Not sure if that's because Poirot wasn't as far into his retirement years as other books or if Christie was still working out his character. It was enjoyable but not entirely engaging. The Christie "psychology" of the murderer was sadly absent here. Murder in Mesopotamia - 4 out of 5 stars - Best book of the set, Christie at her height of popularity and skill. The narrator is the no-nonsense nurse Amy Leatheran who is sent to care for the wife of an archaeologist on a dig. The wife is suffering from a "nervous" condition...which seems like a dreamed-up fancy until she's murdered. What was she afraid of? Who had the motive to kill her (hint: a lot of people) and how was it done? Hercule Poirot, with the help of nurse Amy, is on the case. An excellent whodunit that even fooled a veteran reader like me. They Came to Baghdad - 2.5 out of 5 stars - Christie kills people. It's what she does best. Whodunnits and mysteries. So, when she strays to different genres, such as a spy novel, the results aren't always…good. Set in a McCarthy-shadowed, Cold War-inspired 1950, protagonist Victoria is an indifferent typist with a great capacity for optimism and creative lies. Taking a fancy to a young man, she follows him to Baghdad and gets caught up in a convoluted conspiracy involving a "new world order," stolen identities, and an archeological dig. But the big problem is with Victoria. The inconceivable plot hinges on a character you neither like nor believe (right, a young woman will not only let a complete stranger into her hotel room in a foreign country but also lie when the police come to her door looking for him?). Brief moments of entertainment cannot sustain the novel. So Many Steps to Death (or Destination Unknown) - 3 out of 5 stars - Depressed Hilary Craven plans to end her life. With nothing to lose, Hilary is instead recruited to impersonate a dead woman and solve the mystery of the disappearance of brilliant scientists and thinkers worldwide (I was tempted to ask "Where is John Galt?" while I was reading it). While the previous spy novel's great weakness was the main character, the strength here is Hilary. Her motivations are clear and pretty believable. Most importantly, we like her, leading us to forgive some of the more incredulous plot elements. Hang on for that last plot twist, though! Passenger to Frankfurt - 2 out of 5 stars - Oh boy. The last book of the series was one of her latest ones'her 80th book in fact, written in 1970. It had such a promising start. Sir Stafford Nye is a public servant whose odd sense of humor and over-the-top fashion sense has seemingly stalled his dull career as a public servant. So, when a mysterious woman tells him that her life is at stake and demands his assistance during a layover in Frankfurt, Sir Stafford is game for an adventure. What follows is a dangerous, globe-hopping mission to find out who the mastermind is behind the organized uprising of youth in countries worldwide. Sound interesting? It is…for the first third of the book. Sir Stafford is a delightful protagonist, even if he is upstaged by his devious great-aunt Matilda. And then they start talking about some super-secret scientific experiment, a traitor in their midst, and a Hitler who faked his death. Confused? So was I. After a strong start, the novel becomes increasingly more incomprehensible, to the point where I don't even think I can explain what happened at the end of the book. Sir Stafford and great-aunt Matilda deserved a better novel than this.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-08-20 00:00:00 Mark Thayer Three of these novels are spy stories rather than mysteries. I thought They Came to Baghdad was effective, So Many Steps to Death a little less so, and Passenger to Frankfurt so illogical, meandering, implausible and incoherent that I couldn't get beyond the first 40 pages. The two Poirot mysteries (Murder in Mesopotamia and especially, The Mystery of the Blue Train were enjoyable).