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Encyclopedia > They Came to Baghdad

They Came to Baghdad (published in 1951) is an espionage novel by Agatha Christie, inspired by Christie's own trips to Baghdad with her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan. It is also one of few Christie novels belonging to the action and spy drama genres, rather than to mysteries and whodunnits. 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... Spy and Secret agent redirect here. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890—12 January 1976), also known as Dame Agatha Christie, was an English crime fiction writer. ... Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... Sir Max Edgar Lucien Mallowan (6 May 1904 – 19 August 1978) was a prominent archaeologist, specialising in ancient Middle Eastern history, and was also (despite his Roman Catholicism) the second husband of Dame Agatha Christie, who was 14 years his senior. ... Action movies usually involve a fairly straightforward story of good guys versus bad guys, where most disputes are resolved by using physical force. ... Mystery fiction is a distinct subgenre of detective fiction that entails the occurrence of an unknown event which requires the protagonist to make known (or solve). ... A whodunit or whodunnit (for Who done it? and sometimes referred to as a Golden Age Mystery novel) is a complex, plot-driven variety of the detective story in which the puzzle is paramount. ...


Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details about the murderer's identity follow.

A secret summit of superpowers is to be held in Baghdad, but it is no longer secret, and a shadowy fascist group is plotting to sabotage the event. Things get complicated when enthusiastic young tourist Victoria Jones discovers a dying secret British agent Henry "Fakir" Carmichael in her hotel room, his last words - "Lucifer...Basrah...Lefarge" - propel her into investigation. "Lucifer" refers to the mastermind, Victoria's false lover Edward, who is behind the plot. "Basrah" refers to the city where certain documents where handed to certain people. "Lefarge" turns out the actually be "Defarge" and is a reference to a Charles Dickens character; it is a clue to where the aforementioned documents can be found. An American B-2 bomber in flight. ... Baghdad (Arabic: ) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate. ... Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ... Location of Basra Basra (Arabic: ‎; BGN: Al Başrah) is the second largest city of Iraq with an estimated population of 2,600,000 (2003). ... Dickens redirects here. ...


An interesting comparison can be made between the romance themes of this novel and The Man in the Brown Suit, which is also primarily an adventure novel, rather than a straight whodunnit. In Brown Suit, the exciting, mysterious young man that falls into the heroine's room ends up as the romantic hero. In Baghdad, an exciting, mysterious young man also falls into the heroine's room, but he is disposed of, as is the other exciting, mysterious young man that the heroine has followed to Baghdad. A more conventional and staid archaelogist ends up as the romantic hero; Christie herself was married to archaelogist Max Mallowan by this date. The Man in the Brown Suit (published in 1924) is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie. ...


The fascist conspiracy in They Came to Baghdad bears a distinct resemblance to the one in Christie's later spy novel, Passenger to Frankfurt. Passenger to Frankfurt (published in 1970) is a spy drama novel by Agatha Christie. ...


External links

  • http://www.all-about-agatha-christie.com/they-came-to-baghdad.html
Agatha Christie
Detectives: Hercule Poirot • Miss Marple • Tommy and Tuppence • Ariadne Oliver • Arthur Hastings • Superintendent Battle • Chief Inspector Japp • Parker Pyne
Novels: The Mysterious Affair at Styles • The Secret Adversary • Murder on the Links • The Man in the Brown Suit • The Secret of Chimneys • The Murder of Roger Ackroyd • The Big Four • The Mystery of the Blue Train • The Seven Dials Mystery • The Murder at the Vicarage • The Sittaford Mystery • Peril at End House • Lord Edgware Dies • Murder on the Orient Express • Three Act Tragedy • Why Didn't They Ask Evans? • Death in the Clouds • The A.B.C. Murders • Murder in Mesopotamia • Cards on the Table • Death on the Nile • Dumb Witness • Appointment with Death • And Then There Were None • Murder is Easy • Hercule Poirot's Christmas • Sad Cypress • Evil Under the Sun • N or M? • One, Two, Buckle My Shoe • The Body in the Library • Five Little Pigs • The Moving Finger • Towards Zero • Sparkling Cyanide • Death Comes as the End • The Hollow • Taken at the Flood • Crooked House • A Murder is Announced • They Came to Baghdad • Mrs McGinty's Dead • They Do It with Mirrors • A Pocket Full of Rye • After the Funeral • Hickory Dickory Dock • Destination Unknown • Dead Man's Folly • 4.50 From Paddington • Ordeal by Innocence • Cat Among the Pigeons • The Pale Horse • The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side • The Clocks • A Caribbean Mystery • At Bertram's Hotel • Third Girl • Endless Night • By the Pricking of My Thumbs • Hallowe'en Party • Passenger to Frankfurt • Nemesis • Elephants Can Remember • Postern of Fate • Curtain • Sleeping Murder
As Mary Westmacott: Giant's Bread • Unfinished Portrait • Absent in the Spring • The Rose and the Yew Tree • A Daughter's a Daughter • The Burden
Short story collections: Poirot Investigates • Partners in Crime • The Mysterious Mr. Quin • The Hound of Death • The Thirteen Problems • Parker Pyne Investigates • The Listerdale Mystery • Murder in the Mews • The Regatta Mystery • The Labours of Hercules • Poirot's Early Cases • The Harlequin Tea Set
Plays: Akhnaton • The Mousetrap • Witness for the Prosecution • Verdict • Rule of Three • Fiddlers Three

  Results from FactBites:
 
Al-Ahram Weekly | Baghdad Supplement | They came to Baghdad : Its famous names (3084 words)
Baghdad had been the seat of the Abbasid caliphs since Al- Mansur laid its foundations in 762 as a round city on the Tigris that would become the nucleus for a bigger metropolis.
Baghdad's main gates were the Khurasan Gate to the northeast, the Basra Gate to the southwest, the Syria Gate to the northwest and the Kufa Gate to the southeast.
Whatever the truth may be, the classical Baghdad that lives in the collective consciousness of the Arabs, as well as on the pages of the mediaeval texts, was indeed a city of splendour and scholarship.
Sunnis absent from Iraqi polling stations (1212 words)
They came to claim their rightful power in the land - that is why Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the grand marja of the Shi'as of Iraq, told them to vote - and woe betide the Americans and British if they do not get it.
Across Baghdad, it was the same story; entire families moved as one towards the polling stations while the air rang with explosions.
On Baghdad's streets on Sunday, the Americans deployed thousands of troops, most of them trying to show some respect for the people, watching them rather than threatening them with their rifles, which is how they usually behave in the dangerous capital.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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