Death Comes As the End by Agatha Christie

Book Details
Death Comes As the End by Agatha Christie
Paperback, 288 pages
2002, Minotaur Books
ISBN: 0312981619

Synopsis

In Ancient Egypt, newly-widowed Renisenb returns to her family home after several years away. Complications arise almost immediately as her father brings home a new concubine, Nofret, who begins to turn family members against each other. Just as Renisenb and her brothers realize what a danger Nofret is, she is found dead. Only Renisenb, the family scribe, and the wise family matriach realize the death was no accident, and together they set out to solve the mystery, as more family members are killed.

Review

Death Comes As the End is not your average Agatha Christie novel. It isn't really a detective or investigative novel and there isn't more than the slightest bit of sleuthing. It's more the type of mystery were you sit back and watch the story unfold with all the pieces of the puzzle readily available for you alone to discover and decipher. Each person was suspected at least once and I still found myself hugely surprised by the outcome. I was concerned that a Christie novel void of familiar characters set in ancient Egypt would be dry. I found that the characters, despite their somewhat hard to remember names, were very interesting. The Egyptian aspect of this book was lightly done, but for some minor customs it could have been set anywhere at any time. Death Comes As the End was an excellent mystery.

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