Death on the Nile

 

"Her eyes met his, just for a swift moment. Thinking it over the next day, he came to the conclusion that there had been appeal in that glance. He was to remember it afterwards" (144).

Mystery's unmatched mistress, Agatha Christie, produced work that was uniquely set, but with casts of characters that formulated a suspenseful crime-scape with consistency. What successful blueprint did Agatha land upon, one might ask? I believe her success has to do with, number one, the inclusion of all elements that attract fans of the genre. The reader can nearly check them off of a list: stock characters with too many secrets, strange occurrences that can be written off as coincidence until the shocking crime is produced, red herrings that drive suspicion and distrust within the investigation, and the internal machinations of a mercurial detective piecing together what the audience hopes to understand before the grand reveal.

And yet, despite all of these expectations, mystery novel readers don't want the plot twist to be revealed to them too readily. They come in order to have very specific desires fulfilled within the text, but if the perpetrator is too obvious, then the satisfaction of reading is compromised. To write a classic mystery thus requires a very talented author, as one is given specific and nearly un-varying tools with which to work, but must produce something surprising enough to be thrilling. Death on the Nile does this task through subverting expectation enough that the reader begins to question his or her own logic, until the ending reveals that the secrets were within reach all along.

1. "They came out from the shade of the gardens on to a dusty stretch of road bordered by the river" (40).

The setting. Egypt is a land ripe with majestic awe. The cultural elements add an exotic and unfamiliar background, and the contrast between the ancient monuments and modern accoutrements of the characters adds to the thrill. Almost one hundred years ago, those sandy Nile shores held a fascinating escape for the European traveler. It has remained a stalwartly striking setting for the modern reader.

2. "The body of the dead woman...lay on the floor of her cabin. The two men bent over it" (258).

Bonus murders. The primary murder is obviously portrayed and advertised before one can even crack open the book. The bonus murders are a perfect addition, as they add trepidation and throw complications into whatever thought process the reader may have concerning the guilty party. Of course, many of the characters have reason to despise the life of the wealthy heiress. But what relationship would any of them have with the other corpses?

3. "But now that she is dead and that her husband, as you have just pointed out, inherits, the whole thing is different" (302).

Missing shock factor? There were many twisting turns that my mind took as I was reading, and several of them resulted in musings over climaxes that could have been quite unexpected. The resolution is one that perhaps could (and should) have been assumed from the beginning, but Christie has the habit of causing one to doubt oneself continually. Was I unsatisfied with the result? Perhaps partially. I was quite attached to some of the hypotheses that I constructed along the way. But I also feel a certain amount of gratification in the fact that my suspicions from the beginning were confirmed, albeit put under heavy scrutiny as so many other possibilities crowded my mind. On both accounts, Christie remains triumphant.