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Appointment With Death, originally published in 1938, is Agatha Christie’s crime fiction novel, featuring the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, who investigates the mysterious death of Mrs. Boynton, among the ancient ruins of Petra. Summary Of The Book Agatha Christie’s Appointment With Death, begins with a discussion about the Boyntons, between Sarah King and Dr. Gerard. Detested by everybody, including her own family, the matriarch of the Boynton family, Mrs. Boynton, is a former prison warden, and a tyrannical shrew, who seems to take sadistic pleasure in dominating over her entire family, including Raymond, Lennox, and Carol Boynton, her stepchildren. Sarah is attracted to Raymond Boynton, and confronts Mrs Boynton, who coldly admonishes her with an underlying threat. Meanwhile, a family friend, Jefferson Cope, wishes to help Nadine move away from her husband Lennox, and her dominating stepmother-in-law. The large family traveling on their exotic Middle Eastern vacation, makes the next stop, from Jerusalem, to Petra. When, among the ancient ruins and pinnacled red cliffs of Petra, Mrs. Boynton’s corpse is discovered, with a small puncture wound found on her wrist, it arouses the curiosity of the world famous Belgian Detective Hercule Poirot, who happens to be there. Before her death, Mrs. Boynton had asked to be left alone by her family, which was unlike her. In Jerusalem, when Poirot had recently overheard someone remark, You do see, don't you, that she's got to be killed?, little had he known, the bearings that it would have, on this case. Declaring that he would solve the case within 24 hours, renowned detective Poirot is up against time, as he must first prove that this was a murder, and then identify the killer among many likely suspects. The timeline established after interviewing possible suspects, seems impossible - how could the time of death be before the time that Mrs. Boynton’s family members claim they last saw her alive? With an ingenious and well-constructed plot, pulled off in a typically brilliant Christie style, Appointment With Death reflected Christie's experiences travelling in the Middle East with her archaeologist husband, Sir Max Mallowan. A film version of the original book, starring Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot, was released in 1988. About Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Christie was an award-winning British crime writer, who also wrote under the name Mary Westmacott. She wrote numerous crime novels including, The Mysterious Affair At Styles, And Then There Were None, Death On The Nile, and Murder On The Orient Express. She is known as ‘The Queen of Crime’ for her deduction skills, use of intricate clues, and detailed, whodunit style, suspenseful plots, set in exotic landscapes inspired from her personal expeditions with her husband. Born on 15 September 1890, in Devon, England, she was a vociferous reader since an early age. She is best known for her detective novels featuring Miss Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot, collections of short stories, and several successful West End plays. She is also the most translated individual author. Her play The Mousetrap holds the record for the longest run, still running after more than 25,000 performances. She was married twice, and died on 12 January 1976.