Easter greetings crime readers and food lovers!  In a seasonally appropriate menu today I am cooking eggs.  Shakshuka is a Middle Eastern dish described somewhat inelegantly by Nurse Amy Leatheran in Murder in Mesopotamia as “eggs in sauce”.  

Murder in Mesopotamia – The Plot

“Bismillahi ar raham ar rahim.  That is the Arab phrase used before starting out on a journey.  Eh bien, we too are starting on a journey.  A journey into the past.  A journey into the strange places of the human soul.”

 – Hercule Poirot in Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie

Our journey into the strange places of the human soul begins when our narrator. hospital nurse Amy Leatheran, is hired by Swedish-American archaeologist Dr Eric Leidner to look after his wife Louise who is suffering from “nervous terrors”. The couple is living at an archaeological dig site very closely based on the Royal Cemetery at Ur where Christie met her second husband Sir Max Mallowan.

Friends tell Amy that a strange tense atmosphere prevails at Tell Yarrimjah, an atmosphere that most people  blame on Louise Leidner.  Louise is disliked by everyone but her husband who adores her.

Louise shows Amy a series of threatening letters which she believes may have been sent to her by either her dead / not dead first husband or his deranged younger brother.  It is these along with some other scary events that are terrifying Louise.

Louise Leidner is murdered the next day. Hit over the head by a heavy blunt object.

However, no one entered the compound during the time of the murder.  So someone in the dig party is a murderer.

But who?  And why?

Plot Points

• Poirot solo.  No Hastings or Japp in this one although Amy steps in to be Watson to his Sherlock.  The Poirot episode of Murder in Mesopotamia does have Hastings  though.
• “Dead” faces in windows and other things that go bump in the night
• Poirot jabbing people with pins
• Another member of the dig party killed horribly but not before she can gasp out a key clue to Louise’s deah
• A priest who might not be a priest
• Some side shenanigans of stolen artefacts and drug abuse

There is a truckload of casual racism in Murder in Mesopotamia, most of which is espoused by Amy. I feel though that we are meant to see this as a by-product of Amy’s parochial ways and not as an espousal of Christie’s worldview.  Does this make it more palatable? It’s  definitely a case of hate the player not the game which is not always distinguishable in Christie.

Beware Spoilers

Ok, if you intend on reading Murder in Mesopotamia, skip down to the covers.  For the rest of us, let’s talk about that ending.  When I was in high school, in either year 8 or 9 we had to read a book called The Wife of Martin Guerre.  The premise of this novel (land also the movie Sommersby which was a film adaptation of it) is that Martin Guerre returns home after being at war or somesuch for an extended period of time.  Only he’s a very different man to the one who left. Not just emotionally.  He’s actually a different man.

Even as a young teenager I found this plot ridiculous. Because why does no one else recognise that this is not Martin Guerre numero uno?  The wife has a vested interest because MG2 is a whole lot nicer.  But did no other person realise that this man was not Martin Guerre?

Similarly, in Murder in Mesopotamia, we find out that murderer of Louise Leidner is her devoted husband Eric who is also her dead / now definitely not dead first husband Fredrick Bosner.

I  mean really?  I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed but if one of my exes was to turn up on the doorstep tomorrow with a new name and haircut I am pretty damn sure I would recognise him long before I decided to rekindle any old flames.

It’s certainnly a plot twist but just not a very credible one!

Murder in Mesopotamia – The Covers

There are some AMAZING covers here including a French and a Bangla version of Murder in Mesopotamia.  My fave is the pulpy middle row second from left which shows a terrified Louise Leidner in the foreground with a threatening man – (dead / not dead first husband?  Deranged younger brother? ) in the background.

The Recipe – Shakshuka

I used the chickpea shakshuka recipe from Women’s Weekly Vegetarian for my recipe.  Chickpeas are not a standard inclusion in a shakshuka however, I like them as they bulk out a meal that I usually eat for dinner rather than the traditional breakfast.  I also like to sprinkle a little feta over my shakshuka which is not in this recipe.

Lunch was just ready and we went in, the doctor apologising for his daughter who he saiid was always late. We;d just has a very good dish of eggs in sauce when she came in an Dr Reilly said , “Nurse, this is my daughter Sheila.”.

-Agatha Christie – Murder in Mesopotamia

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in Murder in Mesopotamia

• Tea and coffee (lots of both)
• Toast and jam, rock buns, cutting cake
• Curry
• Scones
• Sandwiches

May’s book will be Cards on the Table, another Poirot but this time with Ariadne Oliver who I love!