I've become fond of detective stories, but this is the first Agatha Christie novel I have read. Unusually I was familiar with the story and already knew whodunnit. The 1978 film version of the novel, with Peter Ustinov's gently probing performance as Hercule Poirot, was a great favourite of mine as a child. I watched it whenever I could, following its every twist and turn.
This wasn't because I was any more bloodthirsty or ingenious about crime than the average ten-year-old; on the contrary, the scenery drew me to it. I had always been fascinated by Ancient Egypt, and this was the next best thing to a film set there. During the scenes at Abu Simbel, I was so busy staring at the giant statues of Rameses II that, like Linnet Doyle, I almost failed to notice the falling boulder. Here are those statues now, as portrayed on the front cover of the first edition of 1937, where they have been drawn to dwarf the passing Nile cruiser. I've been lucky enough to get hold of a facsimile of that 1937 edition.
This wasn't because I was any more bloodthirsty or ingenious about crime than the average ten-year-old; on the contrary, the scenery drew me to it. I had always been fascinated by Ancient Egypt, and this was the next best thing to a film set there. During the scenes at Abu Simbel, I was so busy staring at the giant statues of Rameses II that, like Linnet Doyle, I almost failed to notice the falling boulder. Here are those statues now, as portrayed on the front cover of the first edition of 1937, where they have been drawn to dwarf the passing Nile cruiser. I've been lucky enough to get hold of a facsimile of that 1937 edition.
I can now appreciate how neatly the plot has been drawn. That small boat on the cover is a microcosm of all kinds of human emotions, from the meanest to the most honourable. At first, the setting seems remote from modern life. But wealthy celebrities in our times still have to be as careful about their money and valuables as Linnet Doyle was - and find, eventually, that these possessions do not guarantee happiness. Their presence among us sparks as many different emotions in us all as Linnet provoked in her fellow-passengers.
However much or little money we have, most of us are also called upon to face the kind of heartbreak Jacqueline de Bellefort expresses so bitterly to Poirot. Reading the novel in a week of icy weather, when Ireland gave up what was left of its economic sovereignty, I relished the brief escape into the heat of Egypt and the illusory peace of the Nile.
This time, though, it was not Abu Simbel that captivated me, but the compassionate rigour of Hercule Poirot. As Government Buildings echoed to the impotent ranting of politicians and demonstrators alike, and we all asked ourselves where the sudden boulder had come from, I felt it was a shame we could not all yield to Poirot's appeal to "bury your dead".
However much or little money we have, most of us are also called upon to face the kind of heartbreak Jacqueline de Bellefort expresses so bitterly to Poirot. Reading the novel in a week of icy weather, when Ireland gave up what was left of its economic sovereignty, I relished the brief escape into the heat of Egypt and the illusory peace of the Nile.
This time, though, it was not Abu Simbel that captivated me, but the compassionate rigour of Hercule Poirot. As Government Buildings echoed to the impotent ranting of politicians and demonstrators alike, and we all asked ourselves where the sudden boulder had come from, I felt it was a shame we could not all yield to Poirot's appeal to "bury your dead".
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