Agatha Christie Mystery Quiz: Can You Name This Christie Novel? | Murder Board #3
Study the Murder Board
Three clue photos. One corkboard. One classic Agatha Christie novel.
Study the clues. Then make your guess.
Need a Hint?
If you were thinking sleepy English village, redirect your thinking. This one is set a long way from home — far enough that the suspects are very, very stuck with each other. The detective is on holiday. As usual, the holiday is about to be ruined.
Watch for a Second Hint and Reveal
Solution and Clue Breakdown
⚠️ Spoiler warning — the answer and the clues are both below.
The novel is Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (1937).
The watercolor of the temple and the falling boulder is Abu Simbel, where Linnet Doyle is nearly crushed by a stone shoved off the cliff above her. It is the first attempt on her life, and it is meant to be blamed on someone who didn’t do it. This is the "second lesser crime" subplot that often appears in longer Christie novels.
The pearl-handled pistol, the scarlet velvet stole, and the handkerchief are the murder weapon and the trick that hid it. The pistol was wrapped in the stole to muffle the gunshot, bundled with the handkerchief, and dropped over the rail into the river
The bottle of crimson nail polish is the killer’s tell. Above Linnet’s body, a dark-red letter J is scrawled on the wall. Blood? Lipstick? Nail varnish? Christie keeps it ambiguous — and Jacqueline de Bellefort’s perfectly lacquered scarlet nails are hiding in plain sight from the beginning. It's SO obvious, and the reader thinks, with Jackie under constant supervision, obviously a red herring.
The trick: Jackie and Simon Doyle are working together. Jackie has the perfect alibi because she’s being watched the whole time — while Simon does the killing.
Catching up with the series? Try Murder Board #1 and Murder Board #2. New Murder Boards drop on the blog when inspiration strikes, and my printer is actually cooperating.