Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (n¨¦e Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.
As a Christie fan I'm wondering how this little gem escaped my notice all these years?
I think Victoria may be the most adorable pathological liar you'll ever meet. You can't be mad at her because she's just so honest about it! <-- 100% true
And you really shouldn't like her so much considering all the idiotic choices she makes which land her in incredibly dangerous situations. Starting with losing her job in the first chapter or so due to her need to perform a reenactment of a particularly embarrassing scene between her boss and his wife for her fellow typists. Of course, this frees her up to take off on an ill-advised adventure to Baghdad to find the handsome young man she exchanged a flirtatious conversation with on a park bench. Oh come on, girl!
What ensues is the classic tale of a girl in love who follows her heart and gets mixed up in a political assassination attempt in another country, while working as an untrained mole in a cult...and becoming an amateur archeologist on the side. Because why not?!
If you like Agatha, you'll like this one.
2022 Audiobook re-read
Emilia Fox does an amazing job bringing all the characters to life in this. I'd definitely recommend the HarperAudio version!
This one is more thriller than mystery. It has intelligence agents, spys, murders, fraud, conspiracies, an international conference between the Russian premier and the American president and what we would now call terrorists plotting to ignite war. A strong female lead caught up in a tangled web. Who can be trusted?
The story begins in London. It quickly moves to Bagdad, a city with which Ms. Christie was familiar. Well written with good descriptions of the city and an archeological dig.
This one might work as a movie (I'm disinclined to find out, but if you are interested one was made in 1952), but fails to impress as a book.
Victoria Jones has been fired from her typist position. As she sits in a courtyard, eating her lunch, she's politely approached by a diffident young man who strikes up a conversation. In America, Miss Anna Scheele, personal secretary to the head of a firm of international bankers, informs her employer she must take a vacation to care for her sick sister in England. In the Iraqi countryside, Carmichael is trying to sneak back into Baghdad in time for a major world powers meeting with proof of a certain conspiracy. Mr. Dakin, the local Baghdad covert agent is charged with ensuring security for the meeting, and is hoping to preserve international peace. Richard is an archeologist fanatic just hoping to make it to Dr. Pauncefoot Jones' dig. After their brief meeting, Victoria decides she is in love with Edward and must find him in Baghdad, as soon as possible. Separate plot lines build and come together in a dramatic finish.
One of the ways Christie excels is in capturing the minutia of the small town life, the details that instantly identify a character, making them resonate in the imagination. In Baghdad, there's a full cast, but no one but Victoria Jones really gets the attention they deserve, and once introduced, they tend to fall out of the action, only to appear significantly later. As a non-thriller reader, I find I'm not particularly impressed by megalomania as character motivation.
Mostly, I blame the lack of world-building. Baghdad of the 1950s was an entirely different city from Baghdad of 2014. Its one of those books that was probably perfect for the decade is was published in, but works significantly less well for current times. I needed more atmosphere. I had the vaguest sense of place, most likely pulled from old memories. In my case, Christie's 1950s Baghdad felt a lot like Elizabeth Peters' Egypt in 1880, which most likely reflects time spent reading the Amelia Peabody series.
Baghdad, 1950
Baghdad, 2014
So many coincidences in this plot! The government recruiting a naif based on her spunky attitude and ability to lie convincingly? She was charming, no doubt, but it played like a Cary Grant script, not a thriller. Overall, I don't regret the time, but it wasn't a great example of Christie's capabilities. I prefer her Marple and Poirot series. It's passable, but I recommend it for fans of thrillers and Christie completionists.
I don¡¯t even have words to describe the madcap charm of this book. No Miss Marple, no Poirot, just a heroine who redefines ¡°spunky¡± and a plot that will leave you yearning for high jinks in the desert. International intrigue has never been such fun, nor has it probably ever been infiltrated by a mediocre shorthand typist. Miss Victoria Jones, freshly booted from her job, sits in a London park figuring out her next move. Enter a handsome lad named Edward who enchants Victoria but ¨C oh no! ¨C is leaving the next day for a job in Baghdad. Well, what¡¯s to stop her from following him? Armed with a can-do attitude and a remarkable gift for invention (some would call her a pathological liar, but things sound so much better when she makes them up), she¡¯s off to the unknown. Subterfuge, danger, and daring exploits await her as she becomes embroiled in shady dealings and . . . even better! . . . an international conspiracy. In one thrilling episode, a spy stumbles into her hotel room and DIES! Who can resist such drama?! Certainly not the resourceful Victoria, who¡¯s up for anything.
Agatha Christie¡¯s seamless style lends itself to this sort of action/adventure caper. But the dialogue is what really wooed me, probably because I listened to the audio version read by Emilia Fox. The voices she does for each character really bring out the comedy. At times I hooted with laughter. An absolutely delightful summer escape!
It was almost like reading a Robert Ludlum novel. Great start, fast paced action spread across different cities, unconnected people , a mastermind brilliantly orchestrating the entire drama and all coming together in the end to give a nice satisfying closure. Written decades ago when espionage , compared to current standards, was novice, the story line holds your attention till the end. Nice gripping drama.
Schools out for the summer and that means decompressing for a bit. And what a better way than reading the Queen of Crime. My go to is Poirot but I was intrigued by the Queen of Crime¡¯s stand alone novels of which I¡¯ve never read before. In Baghdad spy rings from both sides of the new world order converge. Least likely traveler turned heroine Victoria Jones finds herself wrapped up in the middle of the spy ring and has to choose which side to trust. Always fun reading the Queen of Crime but I found this departure from her two bread and butter detectives to be a more action, less trite than the ordinary. As I continue to read many of Dame Christie¡¯s cases this summer in between heavier reads I will look forward to the stand-alone cases that might make me think less but are more fun to read.
Whenever I pick up a book written by I know I¡¯m in for a great read. This book isn¡¯t about your usual Poirot or Marple, but it¡¯s more about espionage than murder mystery, but with plenty of twists and turns to keep up with your interest and guessing.
puts a hook in you from the very beginning and is an absolute treasure. I hated to see it end. Christie's descriptions of the Middle East culture and scenery are enchanting; you find yourself wishing you could be there in that time and space. The characters are interesting and imaginative. .
In true Christie fashion, the clues are hidden in plain sight throughout the novel. Only in the final chapters do the clues come together to reveal the true culprits!
The end was totally unexpected. She developed the characters so well that you find yourself believing how they wished to be perceived. She also described Iraq so well that it was almost like virtual reality. I don't want to reveal much about this book. Thus, I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did! :)
Another standalone Christie thriller as she returns to the type of storytelling from some of her earlier novels. Whilst I much prefer her crime mysteries, its certainly true that the much traveled author knows how to transport the contemporary reader to various different countries - this time Iraq.
The main protagonist Victoria Jones is actually quite fun, the short hand typist recent dismissal from work soon leads to a chance encounter with Edward. Impulsively she decideds to follow him to Baghdad and she soon finds herself caught up in an elaborate conspiracy.
Even though I'm not overly keen when Christie tackles a more action packed storyline, the pacing definitely improves during the later half.
If you prefer a more traditional mystery then stick with Poirot or Marple, but like all her novels their are always good moments - especially the archaeological element. I'd only recommend it to a Christie complesionist.
They Came to Baghdad is another thriller by Agatha Christie. I'm now a bit seasoned to the idea of Agatha Christie writing thrillers, so I can get on with her thrillers without much complaint. This particular thriller is based on a cleverly plotted story, only that we are convinced of that fact quite late. :) The beginning of the story was too fantastic and unreal. I couldn't buy it as plausible. Getting into it was quite a struggle. I had to keep my impatience and annoyance under control until I came to the final third. Only then did everything start getting into their proper places.
This thriller is set in a few cities in Iraq, and I must say, Christie has made a good attempt at capturing the middle-eastern atmosphere reasonably well. The story at times reminded me of another thriller of hers, The Man in the Brown Suit, but I found this book had more charisma given its vibrant setting. As to the characters, I was grieved at being unable to form any real connection with any of them. Except for Victoria Jones, none of the characters were fully-fledged. Also, these characters, except Victoria, appeared at random, so their contribution felt inadequate.
In any case, I will not recommend this to impatient souls like me who expect constant action in a thriller rather than awaiting events. But if you don't mind a slow-building action and can endure a lot of talking in the middle, be my guest!
This wasn't so much interesting as the others Agatha Christie's books, but my purpose was improving my English knowledge through reading it and listening to the audio.
This is another spy thriller by the master of murder-mystery¡ªthere are a couple of murders in here, but the nature of the spy thriller is that we know, more-or-less, why the victims were killed and who ordered the killing, if not the name of the particular thug. The tension, mystery, and excitement come from the good guys trying to accomplish their mission¡ªto save the world in this case¡ªand not be killed in the process. This novel is a standalone, with unique characters, yet it is founded in the same basic premise as ¡®Destination Unknown.¡¯ Money and talented people in many fields have been disappearing, and an evil organization is growing, planning to destroy most of the world by encouraging the USSR and the USA to escalate their confrontations. Having used this theme twice, I speculate that Christie was concerned about the possibility of nuclear war between the superpowers. As a good storyteller should, she found a way to put a spin on the cold war and make the prevention of Armageddon depend on a few poorly equipped spies. And this was another opportunity for Christie to let British spies save the day with intelligence, experience, and devotion to the cause of peace. The focus is on Victoria Jones, a typist who goes to Baghdad on a whim and becomes ensnared in the diabolical plot. This is the only plot-point where Christie stumbles: Victoria goes to Baghdad in pursuit of a handsome and charming young man she¡¯s just met in London, who happens to be heading for Baghdad. Christie could easily have set this up more credibly; Victoria could have stumbled into a free way to travel to Baghdad (instead she seeks it out.) However, once you suspend your disbelief on this move, the rest of the story races by with lots of suspense, action, clever detection, and fine spy craft. Written in 1950 or so, Stalin is still in charge of the USSR. Christie doesn¡¯t mention the US president by name, which was the style seven decades ago. (I think it was considered poor manners to use the name of real person in a fictional plot.) This is a wonderful spy novel that holds up well, thanks to Christie¡¯s crisp writing and her imaginative storytelling.
This is a Cold War thriller by Agatha Christie,and not one of her traditional whodunits.
It is another of her books with a Middle Eastern setting,as she had travelled in the region with her second husband,archaeologist Max Mallowan.An archaelogist is part of the cast of characters and could well have been modeled on her husband.
The story has an unlikely heroine,Victoria Jones.She gets sacked from her job as a typist in London and while she mulls what to do next,comes across an attractive young man who tells her he is going to Baghdad shortly.
She is instantly smitten and decides to follow him to Baghdad,even though she has no money.But she manages to find a woman who will pay her fare and get her there to be with her man.
Victoria lands in Baghdad and finds herself caught up in a web of international intrigue and espionage.She lies and improvises on the spur of the moment and is offered a job as a spy.
And she does a great job of if,even as she finds herself in mortal danger.But she is equal to the task as she witnesses a man dying in her bed and is kidnapped herself.
She escapes and plays her part in foiling a Communist conspiracy which could destabilize the world.Christie keeps a nice little surprise for the end.
Great fun,though a bit silly at times.I found myself wishing she had written more thrillers.
I am still fond of this book and Christie fooled me again even on the re-read! She uses romantic attachments so skillfully to distract me from what's really going on. I liked Victoria even better this time around. Her lively imagination must be what Christie's mental life was like¡ªalways looking for material for the next novel. And I know that Christie was adventurous. You can clearly see her affection for the archaeological community is her gentle teasing of them, describing them as digging as determinedly as terriers. How sadly different is the situation in the Middle East today than it was in Christie's time.
Victoria is a highly self sufficient woman, sure that she can earn her way if given half a chance. Of course it helps that she is attractive and young. But Christie likes to create intelligent young women for her fiction, so Victoria fits the mould. I shall keep watch at the used bookstore and purchase a copy of this title if possible.
***2018 Summer of Spies***
I went into this novel with trepidation, as my friends¡¯ opinions of it are all over the map. I think that reaction to it may be a function of timing & mood¡ªare you in the market for some fluffy, silly spy fun or not?
It does get rather silly at several points¡ªVictoria is remarkably self-sufficient for a Cockney lass who has never been out of London city before. Right after she loses her job, she has a brief encounter with the handsome Edward, which sends her looking for a way to Baghdad! When we are young, we are certainly willing to do ridiculous things to pursue members of the opposite sex that we find attractive, but this is just a bit over the top! Nor does she suffer from culture shock (or not for very long) and is very good at the spy biz, considering her only job experience is typing badly and telling tall tales!
Nevertheless, I couldn¡¯t refrain from speeding to the end, to find out how everything resolved. I could enjoy the cheeky Victoria as she bumped from crisis to crisis and appreciate the other players (Sir Rupert of the swirling cloak, anyone?)
Buddy-reading this with some friends at Booklikes led us to discuss this book vs. Ian Fleming¡¯s Casino Royale (1953). The tale that I had always heard was that Fleming got his spy¡¯s name from the bird field guide to the West Indies (by James Bond), but a bit of googling revealed that Dame Agatha beat him to the name, using it for a character in The Rajah¡¯s Emerald in 1934! Of course, it doesn¡¯t need to be either/or, it could be both/and. There is also a scene early in TCTB where Anna Scheele examines her suitcases for tampering which is apparently very similar to a scene in Casino Royale, so now I must read CR in the very near future, while my tired, middle-aged brain is retaining Christie¡¯s version.
I also have to say that I think this book and Murder in Mesopotamia must have been inspirations for M.M. Kaye when she began writing her ¡°Death in [insert exotic location here]¡± books. I re-read both Death in Kenya and Death in Cyprus last year and to me they seem to have much the same vibe (although Kaye inserts a bit more romance, the atmosphere remains very similar).
All the comparisons made this a much more enriching read than just speeding through a fluffy spy novel, so I thank my BookLikes reading companions very, very much.
Bueno no ha estado mal, un libro diferente de Agatha, no tanto de misterio sino de esp¨ªas y confabulaciones mundiales. Me ha gustado la protagonista Victoria Jones, toda una superviviente y que con sus historias inventadas consigue salir airosa m¨¢s de una ocasi¨®n. Sinopsis: Victoria Jones, una joven taquimecan¨®grafa inglesa, acaba de perder su trabajo cuando de pronto conoce a Edward, un joven que se va a ir a Bagdad a trabajar con el doctor Rathbone, un intelectual. Al verse inmiscuida en una t¨ªpica historia de Romeo y Julieta, Victoria decide viajar a Bagdad y reencontrarse con el joven. Sin embargo, una noche Henry Carmichael, agente brit¨¢nico, entra a la habitaci¨®n de Victoria y muere, no sin antes decirle la palabra "Lefarge" en el o¨ªdo. La joven, horrorizada, se ve pronto inmiscuida en un mundo donde la astucia ser¨ªa el arma m¨¢s eficaz que uno tendr¨ªa a la mano.
Honestly this is the first book I read to the great writer Agatha Christie after I read her excerpts, and she was very wonderful and rich in the details and the many events and fun in her writings beautifully and beautifully, make you enter into the events of the novel and be immersed in reading Numana Agatha Christie. This novel (although the title in English is somewhat different from Arabic and they (they came to baghdad - they are coming to Baghdad) and although the title if translated correctly was the nicest and closer to the story of the novel but something strange change the name. The events revolve around the most famous cities of the world at the time Baghdad, Basra, London and Cairo. The cities of dreams were at that time and everyone loved to visit or live with them, even if we deepened a bit to know the depth of the novel from these cities. I considered this novel a spy rather than a mystery or a crime. Normal, and sure you will discover these things after reading the novel and indulging them with beautiful events and dialogues. There were some things that were strange to me during my reading of the book. The events were a bit long. I felt a bit strange about this number of events, but according to this personal opinion it was by the writer to be long events and not to detect or solve events faster. Is not excellent but the most important to me is the story was very enjoyable and enjoy it is sure is among the best books of the writer Agatha Christie
I absolutely loved this book. I listened to the audiobook for this one. Adding to my enjoyment was Emile Fox¡¯s absolutely perfect narration.
Victoria Jones is one of my favorite characters I¡¯ve read this year. She¡¯s so vivacious, adventurous, if not slightly crazy. It starts with Victoria getting fired after very successfully making fun of the boss¡¯s wife just to be overheard by the boss. She then then met a handsome chap in the park. The two instantly make a connection but are disappointed that he¡¯s leaving for Baghdad the next day.
Can Victoria, fresh with new found time on her hands, get to Baghdad to meet up with her new love interest?
An enjoyable mystery unfolds but the star of this one is Victoria Jones who is one of those characters who comes to life in a charming way that makes you want to hang out with her.
Easily one of my favorite Agatha Christie books! The more mystery books I read, the more I realize just how incredible Christie was at what she did.
This mystery centers around, not so much a murder, but the plot of a political overthrow (Is the overthrow a good thing? Or a bad thing? And even, does it exist?). Our protagonist, Victoria, finds herself suddenly placed in the middle of it all, and must decide just how involved she wants to be.
"They Came to Baghdad" has an intriguing blend of all sorts of mystery points: murder, mistaken identity, spies, lies, and even a bit of romance.
I think what really won me over was the detailed and diverse cast of characters, headed by the smart and clever Victoria, who has a fantastic imagination, and an ability to create elaborate lies and stories, but whom fails to tell convincing *true* stories. Victoria isn't really "book smart" and she's not entirely "street smart" but she's clever and has a wonderful ability to never give up, and an optimistic heart that makes her a pleasure to follow through the pages.
Not every chapter is devoted to Victoria's perspective, however, and in the beginning we have several chapters from several points of view. This could have been frustrating and annoying, but for some reason I did not find it so and was instantly drawn in and hooked to each of the mini-stories (if you do find it tiresome, I highly suggest you give the book at least 5 chapters or so, until you settle into the main plot).
This book isn't overly gruesome or graphic, and while there *may* have been a few points I'd have liked better clarification on, overall I thought the mystery was explained nicely and neatly.
Although I am a huge fan of Agatha Christie, I much prefer her mysteries/crime novels to her adventure type books. Written in 1951, this is very much an adventure, with a bored young secretary, Victoria Jones, following a young man she met in a park, to Baghdad on a whim.
This throws her into a fantastic - and dangerous - conspiracy. There have been rumours of a meeting of superpowers to be held in the city, while a shadowy group are attempting to stop it. This results in Victoria having a man dying in her room, being chloroformed, imprisoned and even, like Christie herself, ending up on an archaeologists dig, posing as the archaeologist's niece.
All good fun, with plenty of false leads, conspiracies, bizarre characters and a great setting, which Christie knew well. Still, I must admit I yearned for a country house and some poison....
I enjoy Agatha Christie's stand-alone thrillers even more than her Poirot and Marple mysteries. Of course, this was a reread, as I've read them all multiple times. Highly recommended.
I read this some time in the 1980s and remember thinking it was one of Christie's more enjoyable books. This is a reminder to myself to read it again sometime and see if I still think that's true.
It's too bad I still remember who the villain is (it was a particularly surprising reveal to me) because I've forgotten almost everything else about this book.
It started really well and kept me interested, then it fell apart for me when everyone got to Baghdad. I thought it was too much to have a female doppelganger, story-line was a bit too much after a period of time, the kidnapping scene(s) were slightly exaggerated.
Gelesen f¨¹r die #readchristie2022Challenge im Januar 2022 ¨C ein Buch inspiriert von Agatha Christies Reisen
Das war mal ein ganz anderer Christie! Ich habe ja nun schon einige Krimis der Queen of Crime gelesen, aber ?Sie kamen nach Bagdad¡° unterscheidet sich ganz sch?n von den anderen ihrer B¨¹cher.
Victoria Jones ist ein einfaches M?dchen ¨C mit der Wahrheit nimmt sie es nicht so genau und auch ihre Arbeit als Schreibkraft in einem Londoner B¨¹ro macht ihr nur bedingt Spa?. Als sie ¨C vermeintlich unbeobachtet ¨C zur Belustigung ihrer Kollegen ihren Chef parodiert, fliegt sie kurzerhand raus. Egal, war eh ein doofer Job. W?hrend sie nun also auf einer Parkbank ¨¹ber ihre Zukunft nachdenkt, lernt sie kurzerhand den charmanten Edward kennen. Victoria ist schockverliebt. Dieser Mann ist die Liebe ihres Lebens, da ist sie sich sicher! Leider muss Edward bereits am n?chsten Tag zu einem l?ngeren Aufenthalt in Bagdad aufbrechen. Victoria ist untr?stlich.
Nachdem sie in London eigentlich nichts mehr h?lt und sie sich vor Sehnsucht nach dem Mann, mit dem sie nur eine halbe Stunde verbracht hat, verzehrt, versucht sie, nun selbst nach Bagdad zu gelangen. Gar nicht so einfach als Frau ohne Geld und nennenswerte Qualifikationen. Doch dank einer gl¨¹cklichen F¨¹gung schafft es die leicht naive Miss Jones nach Bagdad. Leider enden ihre Probleme nicht magisch mit der Ankunft in der fremden Stadt. Wie soll sie ihren Edward nur wiederfinden? Au?erdem scheinen in ihrem Hotel einige seltsame Dinge vor sich zu gehen¡
V?llig unerwartet findet sich Victoria pl?tzlich in einem diplomatischen Komplott wieder ¨C denn ¨¹berall in Bagdad wimmelt es von Agenten und Vertretern sich gegenseitig ausspionierender Superm?chte. Und vielleicht macht sich die junge Dame mit Hang zu Ausschm¨¹ckungen und Unwahrheiten gar nicht so schlecht als Spionin ¨C immerhin traut ihr niemand so wirklich etwas zu.
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Ach, das war ein Spa?! Victoria war eine sehr unterhaltsame Protagonistin, auch wenn sie bisweilen etwas anstrengend war. Aber genau das macht ihren Charakter aus ¨C sich st?ndig etwas ausdenken, Schrott erz?hlen, anderen etwas vorzuspielen ¨C und das alles, weil das normale Leben einfach ziemlich langweilig sein kann.
Mir war gar nicht bewusst, dass Agatha Christie neben ihren klassischen Kriminalgeschichten auch solche Agentenkrimis ¨¹ber Verschw?rungen der Superm?chte verfasst hat ¨C eine willkommene und ¨¹berraschende Abwechslung!
Vor allem der Schauplatz Bagdad hat mir gut gefallen. F¨¹r mich, ein Kind der 90er, ist Bagdad immer der Inbegriff von Terror und einer Stadt versunken im Chaos. Bei Agatha Christie klingt Bagdad nach nah?stlicher Magie, spannenden arch?ologischen Ausgrabungsst?tten und Zentrum asiatischer Diplomatie. Ich fand es echt sch?n, mal einen anderen Blick auf diese Stadt zu lesen ¨C wie viel sich doch in 50 Jahren ?ndern kann.
Very entertaining! Victoria, our heroine of the piece, was a great character. She wasn't afraid of anything and yearned for adventure. Things got very interesting when the scene moves to Baghdad. I didn't twig to who the 'bad guy' was and it was a huge surprise. Another winner in the Christie library.