Murder on the Nile
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley September 26, 2024
Author Verity Bright
Distributor: Amazon
ISBN: 978-1835255872
Publisher: Bookouture
Release Date: September 204
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Lady Eleanor Swift, along with Clifford her indomitable Butler, are in Cairo waiting to board their ship for a cruise down the mighty River Nile, an adventure not at all approved of by Clifford, as he has not been able to ‘properly scrutinise’, the details. Little do they know what is in store for them once they board the not so wonderful looking boat, with a group of people of which they have little in common.
Murder on the Nile is nineteenth murder mystery in the Lady Eleanor Swift series and is the gravest and most dangerous murder mystery she and Clifford have even been involved with, which sees them both mixed up in what looks like being a serious and deadly situation, trying to solve a riddle that has seen two men killed.
Right from the beginning it is clear that nothing is as it seems as the SS Cleopatra has seen better days and is nothing at all like the brochure Ellie collected at the British Empire Travel exhibition in London. A strident English voice is heard demanding people get out of the way; the man was to be one of the other passengers.
Two Dutch Archaeologists, a German Arts dealer and seller, a Welsh businessman, a distinguish Egyptian man and a former Military man make up the passenger list. It becomes obvious from the first dinner together something is amiss as no one seems to be comfortable about answering even the politest of questions.
When a man is murdered, leaving behind a cryptic message that Ellie and Clifford have obtained, Ellie is desperate to find out why he was killed and what the terrible injustice is that needs to be put right.
The SS Cleopatra is impounded in Bawaaba, a member of the crew is found murdered and Ellie and Clifford discover they have to convince the new head of the Bawaaba Policing, Sayeed Sharef, one of the passengers on the boat, that it is murder and not suicide, which has taken place in the first instance, with the second murder to make sure no one talked.
Rushing against the clock, they trek across the desert to meet with a man, a most dangerous man, who may be able to help them discover what happened, carry out a clandestine raid on the Cleopatra, and almost get themselves killed in a deadly race through the underground catacombs, in order to catch a cold blooded killer.
As always well researched and written, this storyline captures the uncertainly of life in Egypt in 1924, not many years after he British moved out to Egypt, during a time when the British were not popular and the Egyptians were slowly taking over the reins of Government as well as their country.
Murder on the Nile is a cliff-hanger of an adventure as Ellie and Clifford do their utmost to try and write a terrible wrong and save a young soldier’s life.