Death by Physics: Murder in Mesopotamia 2.0 | 1936

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“Nurse Leatheran has been giving me valuable information about the various members of the expedition. Incidentally I have learnt a good deal - about the victim. And the victim, mademoiselle, is very often the clue to the mystery.” - Murder in Mesopotamia

The Sum of It:

Matter-of-fact nurse Amy Leatheran is spending some time in the Middle East, and just as she's planning to go home, she's offered a position tending to the wife of an archaeologist out on a dig and she's basically like "well, nothing better to do, sure" so off she goes to live among the various characters on the camp out in the desert. She quickly learns that Louise, the woman she's been assigned to care for, who's got a bit of a "nervous" condition, also has an interesting reputation among those in their small community. Though she seems to have a bit of a hold over the men, none seem to like her very much, with the exception of her husband who seems to worship her. The women nearly all despise her as a massive flirt and a bit of a biddy. Turns out Louise needs care because she's super paranoid that someone, namely her former husband who's supposed to be dead but has been sending her threatening letters every time she gets into a relationship, is trying to kill her. Yikes. Amy isn't really sure what to think, but when Louise quite quickly turns up dead of a mysterious head injury during rest time shortly after Amy's arrival, Amy is willing to help the big shot detective who comes in to solve the mystery (none other than Poirot) get to the bottom of things.

The YOA Treatment:

Though the murder method in this book borders on the physically impossible, the characters involved truly do make this one a who-dunnit, even for someone who's seen the television adaptation before (Audrey can never figure out how I can completely forget the key information about some of these stories, another mystery!) The character of Louise is so vividly written as someone nearly anybody would love to hate that each motive seems quite likely, and I changed my mind several times throughout reading about who the murderer was. The setting, given Agatha's fondness for the Middle East, and archaeological sites in particular thanks to #Max, was beautifully painted and provided a unique sense of place for the story. Amy was the narrator for this book, and she wasn't my favorite as Poirot narrators go, spent a good deal of time discussing details I found unnecessary to the story as a way to establish that she was a methodical person, which I could have done without. I found this to be a solid mystery, if slightly less charming than many of Agatha's books. Not my favorite, but certainly not my least favorite (looking at you, Harley Quin)! 

- E.