Murder in Mesopotamia

Murder in Mesopotamia is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 6 July 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence and the US edition at $2.00. The cover was designed by Robin McCartney. The book features Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. The novel is set at an archaeological excavation in Iraq, and descriptive details derive from the author's visit to the Royal Cemetery at Ur where she met her husband, Sir Max Mallowan, and other British archaeologists. It was adapted for television in 2002. Nurse Amy Leatheran arrives at an archaeological dig near Hassanieh, Iraq, to assist the Swedish-American archaeologist, Dr Eric Leidner, in caring for his wife, Louise. During her initial days, Amy learns that Louise was married before to a German named Frederick Bosner. Fifteen years ago, during the Great War, Bosner was arrested for being a spy within the US State Department, and sentenced to death; he escaped his sentence but died later in a train crash. Louise reveals Bosner had a younger brother, and she received letters from him whenever she became attracted to other men; these stopped when she married Leidner three years ago, until recently. A week later, Louise is found dead in the bedroom of a house near her husband's dig site that the couple is using. She had been struck on the head with a large blunt object, per Dr Giles Reilly's examination of the body. The initial investigation, led by Captain Maitland, cannot find the murder weapon, but confirms someone on the dig must have committed the murder. Reilly learns that his friend Hercule Poirot is travelling in Iraq and so contacts him for help. When Poirot arrives, he notes that the bedroom has only one point of entry, that the only window in the room was shut and barred, and that a rug near a washstand has blood on it. Anne Johnson, a colleague of Leidner, claims she heard a cry, yet is unsure about it. Reilly's daughter Sheila remarks that the victim had the attention of every man, yet no obvious subject emerges from among the team. Poirot takes an interest in the story Louise told Nurse Leatheran about her first husband; he wonders if Bosner, or possibly his brother (presumably still living but whereabouts unknown) is somehow among the team. Poirot is also intrigued to find that the letters Louise received were in her handwriting. Following Louise's funeral, Nurse Leatheran meets with Miss Johnson on the house's roof, who claims she knows how someone could have entered unseen; she does not elaborate on this further. That night, Miss Johnson unwittingly drinks a glass of hydrochloric acid. It had been substituted for her usual glass of water on her nightstand. Amy comes across her and hears her mention "window" before she dies. The nurse does not believe Miss Johnson has committed suicide and wonders if she hinted at how the acid was switched for the water. After spending a day sending telegrams, Poirot brings everyone together and reveals that both women were murdered by Dr Erich Leidner, who is, in reality, Frederick Bosner. The real Leidner died in the train crash 15 years ago - when Bosner came across his body and found his face disfigured, he switched their identities to escape the authorities... @Wikipedia