Cita con la muerte (urspr publ 1938; utgåvan 2006)

En un viaje por Oriente Medio, Hércules Poirot coincide con la señora Boynton y sus hijos adoptivos, un ejemplo de figura materna despótica e implacable que sigue condicionando la vida de sus vástagos a pesar de ser estos mayores de edad. Cuando aparezca asesinada, todos serán sospechosos, pues la difunta solo despertaba odio y rechazo en todos los que la conocieron.

A very nice little mystery. As the cover says: twice as brilliant as the [b:Murder on the Nile|658292|Murder on the Nile (stage play)|Agatha Christie|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328014190s/658292.jpg|25260045], which was absolutely brilliant. :-)

Again, I believe it is very hard to find out who the murderer is for yourself, but the explanation Poirot gives at the end is quite plausible.

I very much liked the first part of the book, where a nice psychological description is given of a most horrible person. The murder only happens halway through the book, so it's really only half detective, half a story of a distorted family. ( )

Sadistic matriarch dies of what appears to be a heart attack at Petra. Unfortunately there is the mark of a hypodermic needle in her wrist and some medicine missing from a doctor's chest. Poirot happens to be in the vicinity when the death is reported to the authorities.

Was Dame Agatha running out of steam when she wrote this? Lots of remarks about "if this was a detective novel" and all of the characters seem quite oblivious to the ruins at Petra, which is surely what tourists go there for. ( )

In which a tyrannical stepmother dies in Petra.

Dame Agatha’s love for the Middle East makes "Appointment with Death" come alive. As with "Murder in Mesopotamia", Christie’s portrait of a tour through Jerusalem and Jordan, full of bitter characters and eager explorers, makes for a lively read. The sadistic Mrs. Boynton hovers over the proceedings from beginning to end, energising the psychological study of all the book’s characters. There’s a stylistic letdown, in that the denouement feels like a clever author revealing how each piece was pushed around, rather than a natural discussion arising from the story. (I know this seems like arguing that just one episode of "Two and a Half Men" is inane, lazy comedy, but many of the better Poirot denouements – "Murder on the Orient Express", for instance – at least simmer with tension and surprise. This one feels boastful.) But it doesn’t hamper the novel, nor do the relatively contrived circumstances surrounding the murder.

"Appointment with Death" was the last of the Peter Ustinov adaptations (although, I confess, I didn’t know he’d filmed it until today!) coming just a year before David Suchet took over the role. Suchet himself recently starred in a lavish adaptation of this, which was far from perfect, but featured beautiful design and some wonderful performances.

Three-and-a-half stars.

Poirot ranking: 19th out of 38. ( )

2nd time read ( )