Murder In Mesopotamia

Murder in Mesopotamia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Title: Murder In Mesopotamia

Author: Agatha Chistie

Main Characters: Amy Leatheran, Mr.Mercado, Mrs.Mercado, Hercule Poirot, Dr.Leidner, Miss Johnson, Mr.Reiter, Mr.Emmot, Father Lavigny, Richard Carey, Federick Bonser, William, Mrs.Leidner.

Description of one of the main characters: Father Lavigny is actually Raoul Menier, one of the cleverest thieves known to the French police. He specializes in thefts from museums of objects, art and such like. He steals Dr.Leidner's gold dagger and several other things and replaces them with clever electrotypes.

Whom I like and why: I like Hercule Poirot very much. He is a private detective. He is very clever and smart. He has the talent to recreate the past. He sees things which most of them miss to look at. He always worries about the smallest problems while solving a case. He  has his own style of finding solutions to cases.

Whom I dislike and Why: I dislike Dr.Leidner, alias Frederick Bosner. He is a foolish man. Frederick Bosner changes his name, after pretending he was dead, to Dr.Leidner. He killed Mrs.Leidner his own wife and also Miss. Jhonson as she found out that it was Dr.Leidner who killed his wife.

Setting/Theme of the Story: Mrs.Leidner sees strange things and is constantly troubled by the letters from her old, dead husband, Frederick Bonser. So, Dr.Leidner, an archaeologist and husband of Mrs.Zeidner, calls Amy Leatheran, a nurse, to look after his wife. Soon Amy Leatheran finds out that Mrs.Leidner is afraid of someone. That day, Mrs. Leidner shows her nurse the letters from Bosner, which threatened to kill her if she married anyone else except Bosner. She is afraid because she had already married Leidner after Bosner died. She also confides to nurse Leatheran that she suspects Bosner to be still alive. That day, she is murdered. Hercule Pirot, a private detective is called to investigate on the murder. Poirot questions everybody and starts investigating. The next day Miss.Johnson is murdered. Her last words according to Amy Leatheran were ‘window’. With this single clue Poirot finds the murderer of Mrs.Leidner and Miss.Johnson. the solution was that Mr.Leidner was actually Frederick Bosner. When he escaped, he changed his name into Dr.Leidner and became an archaeologist. He married his old wife, who did not recognise him. He sent her threatening letters. When Mrs. Leidner married Dr.Leidner even after the letters came, he was true to his word and he killed her. He killed her through the ‘window’. He could do so because his office and his wife’s room were on the same line. Miss.Johnson came to know about this, so he killed her also. Poirot declares that this is what he thinks happened, but he says he has no proof. Dr.Leidner accepts and feels sorry for both the murders done by him.

Part I enjoyed the most: I enjoyed the part when Amy Leatheran, the nurse, comes to Mr.Zeidner’s house to take care of Mrs.Leidner.