Death in a Desert Land

Author Andrew Wilson places Agatha Christie in another unusual spot in Death in a Desert Land. Recruited by the Secret Intelligence Service to find the truth behind the deaths of noted antiquities expert in Iraq Gertrude Bell and Lt. Colonel Bertram Keeling, late husband of Katherine Woolley. Both deaths were listed as suicides. Mrs. Woolley is now married to Leonard Woolley, the expedition leader at Ur.

There have been strange goings on and it seems Mrs. Woolley is something a a Jekyll and Hyde character. She is charming and sophisticated, then angry and abrasive, and in some cases threatening. 

When the letters written by by Gertrude Bell turn up two years after her death, they point to murder. In them Gertrude claimed someone at the site was trying to kill her. That's why Davison decides to sen Agatha to Iraq. 

Thrilled at the prospect of traveling on the famed Orient Express, and with the opportunity to investigate, Agatha sets off for Ur. It's a mixed bag of workers at the site. There's archaeologist and head of the expedition Leonard Woolley, his wife Katharine, a Jesuit priest who can transcribe Cuneiform text, an American photographer, the reliable spinster secretary, and architect and his recalcitrant nephew. Guests include a wealthy American man and his wife and daughter. He believes the site is the birthplace of Abraham and hopes to invest in the expedition.

Tensions are already high even without Katharine's bizarre outburst, but when she is found with her pet cat Tom dead on her bed, everyone is more than concerned. Has she gone mad?

When one of the group is murdered, Agatha tries to set a trap for the killer while they wait for Davison and the local police to arrive. 

Another tantalizing mystery for Agatha Christie to unravel. I love seeing her in settings outside her books. After you read Death in a Desert Land, I recommend you read A Talent For Murder, also starring Agatha Christie in a blend of fact and fiction. Click here for a review