Death in a Desert Land
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
'Fiendishly well-plotted, hugely entertaining – one feels Agatha Christie would have been delighted' – LUCY FOLEY, bestselling author of The Hunting Party
I’m Mrs Christie. I think you are expecting me…
Baghdad, 1928. Agatha leaves England for the far-flung destination, determined to investigate an unresolved mystery: two year ago, the explorer and the writer Gertrude Bell died there from a drugs overdose. At the time, the authorities believed that Bell had taken her own life, but a letter now unearthed reveals she was afraid someone wants to kill her...
In her letter, Bell suggests that if she were to die the best place to look for her murderer would be Ur, the archaeological site in ancient Mesopotamia famous for its Great Death Pit.
But as Agatha stealthily begins to look into the death of Gertrude Bell, she soon discovers the mission is not without its risks. And she has to use all her skills to try and outwit a killer who is determined to stay hidden among the desert sands...
'A heart of darkness beats within this sparkling series. Fizzy with charm yet edge with menace, Andrew Wilson's Christie novels do Dame Agatha proud' A. J. FINN, bestselling author of The Woman in the Window
'Beautifully written. Both lyrical and compelling. I felt as though I was walking by Agatha Christie's side' JANE CORRY
'An affectionate homage to Agatha Christie’s desert dramas with a cheeky nod to Paul Bowles’ The Sheltering Sky. A superior blend of fact and fiction, it’s a hugely entertaining riot of red herrings, poisonous plots and boiling passions under the white hot desert sun. A must for connoisseurs of Golden Age crime fiction’ SEAN O'CONNOR
'There is no reason why this excellent series shouldn’t run till the sun don’t shine' EVENING STANDARD
'While Wilson tempts providence by inviting comparison with the real Agatha Christie, on the evidence of this book he succeeds admirably' DAILY MAIL
'He shares with the great Dame the gift of sheer readability' S MAGAZINE
'Five stars . . . Brilliantly plotted, stylishly written. A treat!' AMANDA CRAIG
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In 1928, John Davison, a British intelligence operative, persuades Agatha Christie to look into a suspicious death, in Wilson's ingenious third whodunit featuring the mystery writer (after 2018's A Different Kind of Evil). In 1926, Gertrude Bell, a "famous adventurer and Arabist," died of barbiturate poisoning in Baghdad, an apparent suicide. Davison tells Christie that one of Bell's former servants recently came across letters that she wrote to her father, but never sent. In them, Bell expresses fear for her life and states that if she died from something other than a terminal illness, her murderer should be sought at Ur, a major archaeological site she visited. Christie arrives at Ur to find a poisonous atmosphere centering on Katherine Woolley, whose husband is in charge of the dig. Woolley, whose sanity is in doubt, was at odds with Bell during their time together. The bludgeoning death of someone connected to the excavations puts Christie on the sleuthing trail. Wilson cleverly riffs on one of Christie's own novels en route to a crafty and satisfying solution. Wilson strikes gold again.
