Death on the Nile

A honeymoon on the Nile sounds like the safest trip in the world, until you remember who is on the boat. Linnet Ridgeway, the wealthy American heiress, has married Simon Doyle, and the third corner of that triangle is on board as well. Jacqueline De Bellefort, Simon's former girlfriend, follows the couple up the river like a bad weather front, and every passenger on the cruise knows it. Linnet stole the boyfriend before making him her husband, and jealousy does not dissolve on schedule. The cruise is supposed to be a celebration, but the passenger list reads like a grievance register.

When the honeymooning heiress is found dead, Poirot is asked to investigate. But the river gives him a closed circle with nowhere to run. Colonel Race is on hand, along with Miss Van Schuyler, sharp-eyed and old money; Cornelia Robson; Mrs Allerton and her son Tim; and Andrew Pennington, who has travelled a long way for a man with Linnet's affairs to settle. The dead woman's money draws people from three continents, and the boat is where they all collide. The riverboat claustrophobia is the point. Nobody can leave, and everybody has a story. Suspicion moves around the deck like the heat.

Emily Blunt plays Linnet Ridgeway, with James Fox as Colonel Race, Emma Griffiths Malin as Jacqueline De Bellefort, JJ Feild as Simon Doyle, Judy Parfitt as Miss Van Schuyler, Daisy Donovan as Cornelia Robson, Barbara Flynn as Mrs Allerton, Daniel Lapaine as Tim Allerton and David Soul as Andrew Pennington. Agatha Christie wrote it with Kevin Elyot, and Andy Wilson directed. David Suchet is Poirot.

The closed-circle mystery gets one of its grandest stages here: a luxury riverboat with the pyramids in the background and a killer in the first-class lounge. The beauty of the setting only sharpens the nastiness underneath. The adaptation keeps the story's heart intact even as it compresses the journey, and the result is two hours that go quickly. It is one of the great Christie constructions, and this version does it justice.