Resumo de Death On The Nile

´Death on the Nile´ takes us onto a boat cruising from Aswan in Upper Egypt through the cataracts up the river, a voyage which can´t be made any more after the building of the High Dam in Aswan (1960-1971), the part the protagonists were on has disappeared in the 500 km long Lake Nasser, nowadays cruises can be made only up to Aswan and then on a different ship on the Lake Nasser up to Abu Simbel.

Five protagonists have a close relationship with one another: Linnet Ridgeway, a 20-year-old heiress to an immense fortune, her husband Simon, who she´s snatched from her best friend Jacqueline, and Jacqueline following the newly-weds around on their honeymoon as a revenge act. The other two are Linnet´s American trustee who´s in panic as her marriage entitles her to her money even before her 21st birthday and he and his partner have gambled with it and lost lots. The other man is a representative of Linnet´s English law firm suspecting foul play from the American counterparts. The remaining passengers are an assortment of mostly American and British upper class people and three foreigners - nearly all of them have something to hide, a corpse in the cellar, so-to-speak.

Does a crime occur? One can´t complain in this respect, three murders are committed in rapid succession, a pearl necklace is stolen and substituted by a fake one which is also stolen, hush money is demanded and paid, in the end when the reader thinks it´s all over there´s a killing and a suicide.

Are the crimes solved? Of course, they are, Hercule Poirot is also on board!

After recovering from the surprise ending I must concede that I could have come to the same conclusion myself, all the clues are there all the time- if I were as intelligent as Poirot which, alas, I am not! I don´t know how it is with you, I follow all red herrings, fall into each trap and read the final pages of an Agatha Christie murder mystery in utter bewilderment: indeed, it could have happened only like this, why didn´t I see it from the start?

Poirot follows his own rules, he doesn´t break any laws, but occasionally looks the other way and turns a blind eye, this happens invariably when he notices romantic feelings develop among the people he has to deal with, then he does everything to make them blossom. ´Death on the Nile´is a fine example of this attitude, three proposals are made (two accepted), one can only come about because Monsieur helps a crook get straight.

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