Death in the clouds by Agatha Christie – book review

The master is at it again and this time, the closed confines of the murder happens to be set way up in the sky. The difference between this storyline and her other masterpieces being, it is set as a continuous journey of discussions and chats between the suspects and alongside ongoing investigation by Poirot, providing more and more information, with each of them negating the other as a possible suspect. The story goes like this – there is a murder that happens on a plane carrying about a dozen folks with Poirot being one of them. There is a dead wasp, a poison curare and a puncture wound on the deceased, leading the suspicion of a blow pipe being in play as a murder weapon, which eventually is found out on the plane underneath the seat of Poirot. The victim being a shrewd moneylender, often resorting to blackmails to get her due back from her customers, was almost roaming with a target on her back for a while. No one notices anyone doing any mischief, leave alone pointing a blow pipe at the victim on such close quarters and thus begins the investigation. It becomes evident pretty early that possibly the kill didn’t happen via the blow pipe. But the master weaves so many twists into the plots that makes one doubt their thought process and there by giving a win for the author. Moreover with the ongoing conversations that happen amongst the suspects as they meet each other personally, only serves up more intrigue on the who. As the story nears completion, it becomes more and more clear that blow pipe is not the weapon but the “how” and “why” along with the “who” becomes more muddled. Finally when the reveal happens as usual it ties through many hints that were strewn across. I was thinking that it could’ve been the lady character but the reasoning behind why Poirot had her close by to him was amazing. This is one of the best novels of the Poirot series where the pace is very quick and steady throughout. It doesn’t drag with too many long conversations as well. On the whole yet another wonderful experience for her fans. It is mind-boggling, how she has managed to churn so many different setups and thrillers on confined spaces and within a set piece of characters. No wonder the books continue to amaze even after a century of them being published first.