Death on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun
This series will try to avoid particularly well-known Christie novels, but every article that includes one of her renowned titles will remedy that by pairing it with another, more obscure novel with similar themes. By linking these two, I hope that people who have already read Death on the Nile will have a better sense of whether Evil Under the Sun is worth their time.
First, Death on the Nile. This Christie Mystery is notorious for an incredibly slow start, building up the various motives of the suspects over a hundred pages before the actual crime takes place. While the main mystery has not yet been placed in view, there are still multiple mysterious elements that occupy the reader's mind. Why is a member of the Secret Service aboard? Why was there an attempted murder that is unrelated to the main mystery? Whose life is actually in danger? Once the crime actually takes place, the reason for needing motives to already be established is plain. We already know the most likely suspect, but they have a rock-solid alibi, which is perplexing for both the reader and the second-most-famous fictional detective ever: Hercule Poirot, who is to Christie as Sherlock Holmes is to Doyle. In both Death on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun, Poirot is simply on vacation, which helps show how deeply he enjoys his job, as he is pleased by the interruption to his rest. The crime is solved through a seemingly innocuous clue that deconstructs a character's alibi by pointing to a co-conspirator (an empty ink bottle). Death on the Nile also contains multiple criminally underrated monologues, including one about the eternal value of ancient artifacts, which that character values more than human life on account of their inanimate immortality. All of these ideas come together to form what is now clearly in the top five of Christie’s novels in terms of sales.
But Evil Under the Sun is quite comparable to Death on the Nile, containing all of the same successful forming components, including a picturesque setting, a simple but effective obscuring side plot, the innocuousness of the clue that unravels the criminal's plan (The sound of hater flowing through pipes), and an elaborate deconstruction of an alibi. But above all, the element that truly makes the two novels twins is the subject of each crime. Both are beautiful, and as a result of that beauty, have caused multiple affairs that make them, in the eyes of Poirot, the suspects, and the reader, thoroughly contemptible. The message of justice, both for the killer and the killed, is evident and sets up both novels as a memorable weaving by a masterful author.
The Chase Verdict is that because Death on the Nile is of notable quality, I believe that both it and its twin tale are an excellent display of formulaic genius. But in the end, I found both not as enjoyable as the next few Christie’s that I will expound upon.