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    Murder in Mesopotamia: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition
    Murder in Mesopotamia: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition
    Murder in Mesopotamia: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition
    Audiobook6 hours

    Murder in Mesopotamia: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition

    Written by Agatha Christie

    Narrated by Anna Massey

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    About this audiobook

    Suspicious events at a Middle Eastern archaeological excavation site intrigue the great Hercule Poirot as he investigates Murder in Mesopotamia, a classic murder mystery from Agatha Christie.

    Amy Leatheram has never felt the lure of the mysterious East, but when she travels to an ancient site deep in the Iraqi desert to nurse the wife of a celebrated archaeologist, events prove stranger than she could ever have imagined. Her patient's bizarre visions and nervous terror seem unfounded, but as the oppressive tension in the air thickens, events come to a terrible climax--in murder.

    With one spot of blood as his only clue, Hercule Poirot must embark on a journey not just across the desert, but into the darkest crevices of the human soul to unravel a mystery which taxes even his remarkable powers.

     

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJul 3, 2012
    ISBN9780062230072
    Author

    Agatha Christie

    Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her books have sold more than a billion copies in English and another billion in a hundred foreign languages. She died in 1976, after a prolific career spanning six decades.

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    Reviews for Murder in Mesopotamia

    4/5

    1,047 ratings68 reviews

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    • 2/5
      I did not like the reader, her accents were all over the place. She ruined the book for me, although the story itself was great, as usual.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This was my first Christie in a while, and I think it satisfied my desire for a solid British mystery. The Lee family is home for Christmas and visiting their curmudgeonly old father, Simeon. He's a wealthy man who likes to see his family squabble. On Christmas Eve, Simeon calls his lawyer and mentions that he's ready to change his will. That night, he is brutally murdered in his bedroom. Luckily, Hercule Poirot is in town and begins his witty investigation into the family. People's stories are turned upside down and the story takes a great turn of direction near the end - one that you can almost see coming, but not completely. Good fun, 4 stars.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      The narrator kept mixing up accents and characters and it made her voice and mistakes so distracting that often I’d forget the story line. Also an average work by AC.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      I am on a bit of an Agatha Christie run at the mo and this one also tied in with the reading challenge I am doing this year - A book set during Christmas - It wasn't bad. I did like the total lack of usual Christmas themes.
      The total lack of police work by the coppers in these stories always amuses me - were the police really that incompetent in the 1920's? Or is it just to make Hercule look like a genius?
    • 3/5
      There were well-duh moments in the revelations, but still, I'm such an idiot not to have guessed the real murderer. As usual, Agatha Christie is as entertaining as ever.
    • 3/5
      A fun, entertaining and witty story. Christie never disappoints.
      I am now a huge fan of Hercule Poirot :)
    • 3/5
      Despite its title, this is not really a Christmas story - Christmas is merely the plot device that enables the tyrannical elderly Simeon Lee to gather the members of his dysfunctional family together. When he is brutally murdered on Christmas Eve, all the family and household members and guests have, of course, some motive for wanting him bumped off. This is the usual quick page turner, though I found the final resolution unconvincing and a bit of a cheat, to be honest.
    • 4/5
      Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie - very good

      A nice quirk to this particular book is that it's written from the Nurse's perspective rather than Poirot. She is engaged to attend to the wife of an Archeaologist digging in Iraq whose nerves are 'bad'. She thinks her first husband has come back from the dead and will murder her. Of course, everyone thinks she is delusional until she is found dead in her room.....and no one could have entered and committed the crime without being seen!

      It just so happens that Poirot will be passing on his way to Baghdad and he is persuaded to call in and investigate.

      Of course, if you've seen the TV adaptation, you know what happens, but the nice thing about actually reading the book is that it isn't exactly the same and the way the nurse's attitudes to the people and to Poirot change as the book progresses is nicely played.

      As always, reading Agatha Christie, you are reminded why she is still the 'Queen of Crime Writers'. Beautifully done.
    • 4/5
      Another lovely Agatha Christie novel. A charming little mystery set during Christmas time with Poirot solving another crime. I didn't see the ending coming at all. I always enjoy a Hercule Poirot story.
    • 5/5
      I love Agatha Christie’s books…now I can listen them too!
    • 5/5
      I was not expecting this to end up as one of my favorites. My mind would keep flipping from one charater to another and back again thinking they had to have been the murderer. It was a good old mystery. One that I thoroughly enjoyed.
    • 5/5
      Perfect! It was half a guess but also made the most sense considering that person was least likely to have committed the murder. I had it figured out before Hercule revealed it! ?
    • 3/5
      Monsieur Poirot delivers the goods, to no one's surprise. Christie does likewise. A good time is had by all, except of course the victim and the murderer.
    • 4/5
      A cleverly written story which left me guessing until the inevitable moment when Poirot unmasked the murderer. Rather racist in places, perhaps indicative of what Brits were like in the 1930s. Fast-moving and exciting - great light reading.
    • 5/5
      Hercule Poirot's Christmas ****My second book in the Poirot series and also my second book by the author. I was a little worried about reading this one as I had seen the tv adaptation and knew the ending. Not the best introduction to a whodunit....But I needn't have worried. As expected the writing was so good that it really didn't matter, and in a way helped, making me scour the text trying to see where the trail was left to lead me to the culprit.Most people are familiar with the traditional Poirot novel and this is no exception. A number of family members descend upon a mansion at the request of multi-millionaire Simeon Lee for Christmas. Simeon is a cruel man and in the past has upset all of his children, but now, crippled and old he appears to want to make amends.When the old man is murdered, seemingly there is no way the killer could have left the room after committing the deed. The police are baffled, but luckily Poirot is in the neighbourhood and puts his little grey cells to work.Well worth a read, whether you are new to the novels or not.
    • 4/5
      A fun Christie locked room mystery. This one was particularly fun because it seemed that no one was who they claimed to be. It wasn't merely a whodunnit but a howtheydunnit mystery as well. I figured out who did it partway through, but kept second guessing myself because no way could ___ have done it!" Aside from all the blood in this one, a fun holiday read."
    • 4/5
      A humdinger of a Mystery! Keeps you guessing until the end and I really didn't guess who the murderer was at all. Highly Recommended.
    • 4/5
      I just finished re-reading this & found that even though I recalled who did it, I enjoyed it as much as I remembered. Christie did a wonderful job of placing all the necessary clues for the reader without making the solution obvious.
    • 4/5
      What says Christmas better than a bloody closed-room mystery? This book's intentional contrast between a delicious holiday and some grursome subject matter certainly appealed to my darker sense of humor, but I made sure to read it in the summer, because I really do love the Christmas season. The story is identifiably a Christie novel: big family, countryside manor, many clues and suspects, and several twists and red herrings along the way to big reveal scene. The book centers around a rich family, full of tension and conflict, who are reuniting for the holiday season at the family mansion, at the request of the father and patriarch of the family, Simeon Lee. He's not a kind, doddering old man; on the contrary, he was a hot-blooded hellion in his younger days, and now that he is hampered by old age and bad health, he finds delight in tormenting his children and extended family. He plans on using the holiday as a pretext to gather everyone together again, even his prodigal son Harry who has been the black sheep of the family, and his granddaughter Pilar who is the only living relation of the daughter who ran off to marry a Spaniard. When everyone has assembled he takes delight in stirring the pot at every opportunity, and even arranges to have the whole family come up to his room just in time to hear him phone a request to his lawyer about changing the will.That last jab seems to hit the mark even more forcefully than the old man intended, for that night he is found dead in his room. Everyone hears the awful scream and they run to help from various parts of the house, but the door is locked. By the time they force it open, Simeon Lee is dead. Blood is everywhere, splashed on the floor and walls and furniture, and the room is in disarray as if a great struggle has occurred. However, no one else is in the room with the corpse, and aside from the locked door, the only other exits are windows that are clearly locked and haven't been used in years.Coincidentally, Hercules Poirot happens to be in the neighborhood, visiting an old friend who is the Chief Constable for the area. He is asked to consult on the affair, and as soon as Hercules Poirot is on the case it's as good as solved. Not only does he determine the murderer and the motive, he unearths a great many family secrets and explains the reasons for all the lies the suspects tell during the investigation.I will never stop loving a cozy Agatha Christie mystery. This one had many elements that I appreciate: a cast of likely suspects with secrets, an isolated mansion, clues that all tie together no matter how random they seem at the outset, and the marvelous Poirot. I love this detective, who is undervalued by others but never tires of boasting about himself. Also, Christie mysteries are filled with great dialogue and intriguing characters, that carry these fast-paced stories and make me want to read without stopping from beginning to end. Descriptive passages are typically used for setting and character details; her books are not high literature, but they are great mysteries. I was surprised to discover that I had predicted the murderer in this book well before the ending; somewhere between halfway and three quarters through the book I was certain I knew who-did-it, and I was right. This doesn't usually happen for me, as I am often jumping between two or three choices until the big reveal. Was it easier than the others, or have I just read too many Christie novels? It doesn't matter, really, as I was still gripped by the story and read it as quickly as I could to discover if I was right. This is another fun Agatha Christie diversion that reminds me how engrossing reading a good book can be.
    • 5/5
      This was sooooo good. I finished a bit after Christmas, though I bought it two days before and started the 25th! I loved it. Agatha Christie is, in my mind, nothing less than a genius. Her creativity knew/knows no bounds. I can't even fathom how's she written SO many books, yet each of them is original and just as clever as the last. Highly recommended, especially if you're looking for a cosy, English Christmas mystery. And if you're looking for another Christie to sink your teeth into, this is a fantastic one
    • 3/5
      Rich, old Mr Lee has invited all his family back for Christmas, some of whom have not been home for decades. They weren’t a particularly harmonious, indeed, many of them hated each other, but nevertheless they all went home for Christmas. It seemed to go all right for a while, but then Mr Lee was brutally murdered in his own bedchamber. Everyone has a motive, but who killed him? The clues point first one way, then another, and then yet another, until almost all of them are suspects. Hercule Poirot was staying with a police chief constable friend of his, when the murder happens, and both of them go to the aid of the struggling detective inspector who was investigating…As with all Agatha Christie books, this is a baffling mystery with very tightly written prose and very interesting characters. You suspect everyone, but can you guess who was the killer before Hercule Poirot? I think I wasn’t as keen on this as I was on Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express, but then the murder went beyond clever into the realm of the extremely improbable. Still, the book was an enjoyable and intriguing read.
    • 4/5
      A really good mystery for Hercule Poirot with a Christmas background rather than a Christmas theme. I have come to expect with Agatha Christie that I am never going to be right when it comes to figuring out who the murderer is. Even when I am on the right track she always has one more twist up her sleeve. I think this is the reason for her books enduring appeal.
    • 3/5
      The book was fine. It's not Christie's best, but it's not terrible. The narrator was not suited for this book, though. Her male voices were all nasally and weirdly inflected. Her female voices seemed design to grate at you. There aren't many likable characters here, but that would've come across without the odd voicing. If you're a Christie mega fan, this will be fine. If you aren't, it may be a struggle. If this is your first Christie, I advise selecting another of her novels before tackling this audiobook.
    • 2/5
      Not all of Christie's books can be great, and this is one of those. Also, the narrator kept mixing up the accents which made it difficult to follow.
    • 2/5
      Ooh... the suspense!! Who killed old Simeon Lee? He died in his room which was locked from the inside. There were signs of terrific struggles, furnitures overturned, broken vases on the floor, and most horrific of all 'blood was splashed all round'.Was it the boring but loyal son? the prodigal son? the newfound foreigner grand-daughter? As always, Hercule Poirot with his little grey cells astounded all! Agatha Christie led me on a merry chase (on a tangent) which thew me completely off the scent.I love the description of the sceneries & characters. I was completely captured in the story
    • 5/5
      This mystery is one of Agatha Christie's best. There's a seductive temptress, an archaeological dig, a mysterious mask at the window and an imposter. What more can you ask for?
    • 4/5
      Simeon Lee's family comes in for Christmas, but it's not long before his body is discovered. It's definitely murder, and it definitely had to be someone who was in the house. The case belongs to Supt. Sugden, but Poirot just happens to be staying at Sugden's superior's home at the time of the murder so he takes a look at the evidence as well. The oldest son Alfred also urges Poirot to investigate as he is not certain of Sugden's ability. Poirot is convinced that the character of the deceased man is the key to this investigation. This mystery kept me guessing until the very end. I really did not see this ending coming. Great mystery, especially for a Christmas one. Although this is set around Christmas, it can be enjoyed anytime.
    • 5/5
      Another excellent Christie mystery, and just in time for Christmas!
    • 1/5
      Don’t listen to this audiobook. The narrator is terrible. Read the book!
    • 4/5
      I tend to read Agatha's books a bit more carefully than I read most mysteries. The smallest clues are the most revealing, and every detail is important.When I reached the end of [Hercule Poirot's Christmas], once again I was surprised (this is as close to a spoiler as you will get from me). And yet, it made perfect sense. As I thought back, I could see there had been plenty of clues and telling details.While murder and holidays do not ideally go together, this is a "must read" for all mystery lovers.