They Came to Baghdad
byAgatha Christie

4 out of 5 stars

Victoria is fascinated by a dashing young man, Edward, who she meets by chance in the park one day. But he is leaving for Baghdad the very next day, so Victoria decides to follow him and finds a job as a travelling companion. She arrives in Baghdad with no idea how to find him and only a little money in her pocket, but she is soon swept into a mysterious adventure involving a ring of spies. When a spy is found murdered in her hotel room, Victoria must unravel the clues to discover what the spy was hiding.

I liked that this story is told partly from Victoria’s perspective and partly from the perspective of other spies, informants, and agents involved in the mystery. We see little glimpses of information from each of them, but only Victoria has all the pieces. Unfortunately, she’s not particularly bright. She’s a quick-thinker in a pinch, but tends to forget details if they aren’t immediately in front of her. She forgets important clues, misunderstands what is happening, and gets into even deeper trouble because she trusts the wrong people.

I can’t say that I really liked Victoria’s character that much, but I definitely found her fascinating. She is carefree and impulsive and sometimes ridiculous, but I loved her courage and resilience.

The mystery is really excellent, since there are all these moving pieces and clues and enigmatic people. Agatha Christie has this way of weaving little snippets of information into a baffling tapestry of clues. I especially liked the way that we can follow the movements of certain agents and important people, so it feels like a game of chess as they move and countermove against each other. There are plenty of exciting plot twists, and I only saw one of them coming. The others all surprised me!

The writing is brilliant in every way! I loved the setting in Baghdad, and how you can really feel the heat and the bustle of the streets and the shouts of the merchants as the author puts you right into the scene.

I partly read with my eyes, and partly listened to the audiobook narrated by Emilia Fox. I enjoyed the narration very much!