Despite having been a lifelong fan of a good whodunit, I somehow never actually read an Agatha Christie novel before this one (crazy, I know). Christie is known as the queen of mystery, having had a wildly successful writing career that spanned six decades. She saw so much success in her craft, that she has only been outsold by Shakespeare and the Bible. In her book Death Comes As The End, I can see why she has earned so much recognition: she knows how to pull together a mystery in a way no one else can.

The first thing that led me to choose this book as my first of hers was the fascinating backdrop she used to set the stage – Egypt, 2000 BC. Set along the Nile river and remaining true to the author’s intensive research of Ancient Egyptian culture (apart from the obvious yet necessary discrepancy of the characters speaking in English), this novel felt like stepping back in time to a part of the world I have never been to, but yet could picture vividly through the details offered.

The story mainly follows Renisenb, a young widow who has moved back into her father’s house. There has always been some amount of tension within the family – from the three brothers all vying for power, to the grandmother who often disapproves of how her son is running things – but nothing spells out family drama more than when Renisenb’s father brings home his new, beautiful young concubine Nofret, who becomes fast enemies with most of the household. When Nofret is murdered in cold blood, it’s genuinely impossible to tell whodunit, because just about everyone hates her. But then, things take a dark turn when the whole family starts dropping like flies after her death – could this be the vengeance of an angered spirit, or is someone within the family not to be trusted?

This is one of those books where there are several potential suspects, and it’s a lot of fun to pick one out at the beginning and follow along, updating your theory as the pages turn. Personally, I thought my theory was going to be the one, but in the very end of the book I was finally proven wrong. It was a very, “I’m going to chuck this book across the room” moment in the best possible way.
If you also have been sleeping on Agatha Christie’s work, I am nudging you awake right now. You have to give her work a try, and this is a great book to jump right in for your first impression!