You can't expect a prolific author like Agatha Christie to hit a home run every time. And indeed, with Murder in Mesopotamia, she doesn't come up with a very believable denouement.
Poirot and Hastings go to a dig in Iraq (filmed in Tunisia). A woman there, a Mrs. Leidner, tells them an odd story. After the death of her first husband in a train accident, she continued to receive threatening letters from him whenever she began to see someone. She has always suspected his younger brother. However, she has now remarried.
Mrs. Leidner winds up dead, and other murders follow. Poirot tries to find a motive -- the woman wasn't very well liked, so there are a few suspects. And what about these letters? Agatha Christie knew something about archaeological digs thanks to her husband, Max Mallowan. And she knew how to write a good story. But she asks a little too much of the reader in this one.
As Poirot, David Suchet is marvelous, as is Hugh Fraser as Hastings, who constantly is giving Poirot woman advice since he's a married man.
We can forgive Christie's occasional slip-up -- the story is still intriguing and entertaining.
Poirot and Hastings go to a dig in Iraq (filmed in Tunisia). A woman there, a Mrs. Leidner, tells them an odd story. After the death of her first husband in a train accident, she continued to receive threatening letters from him whenever she began to see someone. She has always suspected his younger brother. However, she has now remarried.
Mrs. Leidner winds up dead, and other murders follow. Poirot tries to find a motive -- the woman wasn't very well liked, so there are a few suspects. And what about these letters? Agatha Christie knew something about archaeological digs thanks to her husband, Max Mallowan. And she knew how to write a good story. But she asks a little too much of the reader in this one.
As Poirot, David Suchet is marvelous, as is Hugh Fraser as Hastings, who constantly is giving Poirot woman advice since he's a married man.
We can forgive Christie's occasional slip-up -- the story is still intriguing and entertaining.