Death On The Nile by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie's most daring travel mystery.

The tranquillity of a cruise along the Nile is shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway has been shot through the head. She was young, stylish and beautiful, a girl who had everything – until she lost her life.

Hercule Poirot recalls an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: ‘I’d like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger.’ Yet in this exotic setting’ nothing is ever quite what it seems…

It is always the facts that will not fit in that are significant.
Hercule Poirot, Death on the Nile

More about this story

Death on the Nile is among Agatha Christie’s best-loved and most famous works and is a sweeping mystery of love, jealously and betrayal. Agatha Christie drew inspiration for this novel from her travels in Egypt, picking up geographically and historical details throughout her time there.

When Agatha Christie adapted the story into a play, she dropped Hercule Poirot from the script as she felt that he drew too much attention on stage. The title was changed to Hidden Horizons and the play opened at Dundee Repertory Theatre. When the play moved to London’s West End in 1946, the title was changed to Murder on the Nile. Later on in the same year the show opened on Broadway, and in 1950 a live television broadcast of the US play took place as part of the Kraft Television Theatre.

As ingenious an alibi as can well be imagined.
Sunday Times

Twentieth Century's Death on the Nile is due out in cinemas in February 2022, following the success of their 2017 adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express. Previous adaptations of Death on the Nile include the 1978 feature film which starred Peter Ustinov in his first role as Hercule Poirot. John Moffatt played Poirot in the first radio adaptation based on the book in 1997 which was broadcast as a five-part serial. In 2004, ITV’s Agatha Christie’s Poirot saw David Suchet take on the role in an adaptation which included famous faces Emily Blunt and James Fox. The novel has since been adapted into a hidden object PC game and a graphic novel.

Listen to an extract from the all new digital audio edition of Death on the Nile narrated by Kenneth Branagh, director and star of 20th Century Studios’ upcoming Death on the Nile feature film. In this famous Agatha Christie mystery, Hercule Poirot’s Egyptian adventure aboard a glamorous river steamer descends into a terrifying search for a murderer, with enough twists and turns to keep you unsettled and guessing until the final, shocking discovery. Kenneth Branagh reprises both his directorial role and that of the iconic detective in the upcoming film adaptation of Death on the Nile.

Did you know?

Agatha Christie toyed with the idea of originally naming the stage adaptation Moon on the Nile.
Kenneth Branagh reads the story for a new audio recording, which was released in June 2020