Out of 5 mustachesOut of 5 mustaches
Probably the richest girl in England is the young Linnet Ridgeway--and she gets what she wants. Even the fiancé of her best friend from school, Jacqueline de Bellefort. Times passes and we meet Hercule Poirot on vacation ("holiday") in Egypt. There he meets Linnet Ridgeway and her new husband--Simon Doyle. Rosalie Otterbourne says, "Some people have got everything." Also on the trip is the bitter Jacqueline, who follows the couple everywhere they go, simply to harass her old "friend" Linnet. Linnet pleads with Poirot to stop this "intolerable persecution." But, it's not a crime in traveling to the same places as other people. They leave the Nile, but Jackie still persists in persecution. A boulder even rolled down a hill to flatten poor Linnet. Boy, does Jackie have a grudge!
Then, on the cruise, Poirot gets drugged, Jackie has had too much to drink that night, argues with Simon, and out of anger, pulls out a gun and shoots his leg! Simon's leg gets treated, Jackie is sedated, and the gun is now missing. The next morning, Poirot finds that Linnet is murdered! Written next to her in blood is the letter J. Is it J for Jackie? That's impossible because Jackie was sedated that night and under supervision of Nurse Bowers. Then who did it? What possible motive could it have been? There's a boat with a few people who would've liked her dead. What's more is that someone stole her pearl necklace, too.
Colonel Race joins Poirot in another adventure to find the ruthless killer. But, before they do, two more deaths happen! Linnet's maid is one and Rosalie's mother the next. Poirot and Race go through the clues: a rosary, nail polish, and a velvet shawl. Is the theft tied to the murder? Are the suspects really telling the truth? Has the gun been hidden or is there actually another one?
Poirot does it again, piecing the bizarre clues together to come up with a true tragedy. The story is truly a tragedy: bad habits rule their lives, greed ends their lives, and deception enslaves their lives. My heart actually aches for those alive at the end. Poor Linnet. Says one character, "Well, it didn't seem fair, her having everything." The response of his friend: "Well, it doesn't seem to have done her much good, poor lass." A good lesson learned. And, here's another lesson: many love stories are tragedies.