Death Comes as the End

Setting a classic household murder mystery in ancient Egypt was a bold idea, and Christie pulls it off. The family's tensions, between ambitious sons, resentful wives, a sharp-tongued grandmother and the proud patriarch, would fit any English country house, but the setting gives them a fresh, exotic flavour. Christie researched the period carefully, drawing on her own experience of archaeological digs. The daily life of the household, from meals and farm work to family quarrels over inheritance, is sketched with confident, unfussy detail.

Renisenb is an appealing heroine, thoughtful and observant, and her conversations with the quiet scribe Hori give the book a reflective, philosophical tone. The suspense builds steadily as the household shrinks, and the solution is both surprising and fair. The old grandmother Esa, shrewd and unsentimental, is one of Christie's most memorable minor characters, and her sharp observations often point the way to the truth.

The death toll is high, and some characters are thinly drawn. Readers expecting Poirot or Miss Marple may miss a detective figure. The pace is slower than in Christie's best-known novels. For those willing to try something different, it is a memorable and atmospheric mystery. About 272 pages in the William Morrow paperback; one catalog lists 252.