“They Came to Baghdad,” by Agatha Christie

FM's ratings:


          1. Premise 9

          2. Prose 8

          3. Plot 9

          4. Characters 7

          5. Overall 8


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This is only the second book by Christie that I have read.  The first was “Murder on the Orient Express,” which I wanted to read first because I had been curious about it almost all my life.  It was okay, but not nearly the magnificent read that I had heard some people thought it was.  I had also been given the impression that there was a sameness to all her books, like so many so-called “Mystery Writers” good and bad, but this book is extremely different from “Orient.”  There are mystery elements here, to be sure, but it is really more of a “Spy Thriller” than a mystery, with a nice twist in that the protagonist becomes the heroine spy of the story quite by accident and without realizing what she’s getting into.  The characters could have been much more vividly fleshed out, making my overall rating a “9,” but it would have made for a completely different kind of book – perhaps too long and not as fast-paced.  As it is, I was pleasantly surprised, and am now more interested in reading more of Christie’s books than I was after “Orient.”  I hear that “And Then There Were None” is superb – maybe I’ll try it next time I read this important author.