1920s photograph of the river Nile with pyramids in the background

Can you ‘Murder’ a book by watching its film adaptation first?

As a lifelong Agatha Christie fan, I’m a sucker for any new adaptations of her books. So when I heard the much delayed (by Covid) film release of ‘Death on the Nile’ was due out I was very excited. But, before heading to the cinema or some streaming device, first I had to read it again.

Penguin book cover of Death on the Nile

I say ‘again’ because I presume I must have read it sometime in the past. But if that was so, why didn’t I have a copy of it? It could have been because in the past, I used to borrow her books from the library so I might never have owned this particular one.

I certainly can’t remember who did the murder, even though I’m sure I’ve probably watched the 1978 film version of the book. Awful of me I know. But I find good mysteries are like that, especially Christie’s. There will be a lot of potential culprits and often the thing that sticks in your memory is the setting of the crime, ‘The Orient Express is an example of that.

I know that I already own lots of books and as such am always nervous about adding to my tottering TBR (To Be Read) pile, although it is now a TBR and half-read shelf. However, in this case, I decided it was worth getting…