Death on the Nile

As Hercule Poirot disembarks at Aswan, bound for a leisurely journey along the Nile River aboard the majestic Karnak, he's unexpectedly confronted by the enigmatic Linnet Doyle née Ridgeway (character A). The high-society beauty seeks his expertise in quelling her former friend Jacqueline de Bellefort's relentless pursuit. Linnet, having recently married Simon Doyle, Jacqueline's ex-fiancé, has unwittingly incurred her bitter resentment. Poirot declines the commission and tries to reason with Jacqueline, but she remains resolute in her vendetta. Meanwhile, Simon and Linnet secretly follow Poirot, only to discover that Jacqueline has outsmarted them by boarding the steamer ahead of time. As the eclectic passenger list includes Linnet's loyal maid Louise Bourget; her trustee Andrew Pennington; romance novelist Salome Otterbourne and her daughter Rosalie; Tim Allerton and his mother; elderly American socialite Marie Van Schuyler, her cousin Cornelia Robson, and her nurse Miss Bowers; outspoken communist Mr. Ferguson; Italian archaeologist Guido Richetti; solicitor Jim Fanthorp; and Austrian physician Dr. Bessner, the stage is set for a tangled web of relationships and motives.

During a stop at Abu Simbel, disaster strikes when Linnet narrowly avoids being crushed to death by a massive boulder that careens down a cliffside, sending shockwaves through the passengers. Jacqueline's presence on board earlier raises suspicions about her potential involvement in the incident, but she was safely ensconced on the steamer at the time. As tensions simmer beneath the surface, Colonel Race, Poirot's trusted friend, boards the Karnak for the return journey, revealing a hidden agenda: he seeks to uncover a murderer lurking among the passengers.

The evening after the Abu Simbel incident, Jacqueline unleashes her pent-up rage on Simon in the steamer's lounge, firing a pistol and striking him in the leg. Her remorse is short-lived, however, as she breaks down in tears and kicks the gun away. Fanthorp and Cornelia rush to escort her to her cabin, while Simon is whisked away for medical attention under Dr. Bessner's care. The search for Jacqueline's pistol yields nothing, only to be replaced by an even more disturbing discovery: Linnet lies lifeless, a victim of murder, with her valuable string of pearls vanished. A velvet stole reported missing the day prior reappears wrapped around the recovered pistol, bearing two distinct bullet casings – a chilling reminder that nothing is as it seems on this voyage of deception and death.

As Poirot converses with Louise within the secluded cabin where Simon lies resting, he becomes acutely aware of the unusual cadence in her words. Meanwhile, Miss Bowers returns Linnet's pearl necklace to its rightful owner, only to reveal that it is an expertly crafted imitation of the genuine article, a clever ruse orchestrated by none other than the kleptomaniac Miss Van Schuyler. Poirot's attention is piqued by two nail polish bottles discovered in the victim's quarters, one of which seems to hold a particular significance for him. Just as this peculiar scenario unfolds, Louise's lifeless body is found brutally stabbed to death within her cabin. Subsequently, Mrs Otterbourne converges with Poirot and Race in Simon's cabin, claiming to possess knowledge of the murder's perpetrator, only to be met with surprise by Simon himself before being struck down by a hail of bullets from outside the cabin.

Poirot's investigation takes a dramatic turn as he confronts Pennington regarding his attempted murder of Linnet via the ill-fated boulder that came crashing down the cliff. It transpires that Pennington, fueled by desperation and greed, had speculated wildly on Linnet's inheritance and subsequently traveled to Egypt in an effort to outmaneuver her into signing documents that would exonerate him. Despite his denials of involvement in any subsequent murders, Poirot discovers Pennington's revolver to be the instrument of Mrs Otterbourne's demise.

As Poirot delves deeper into the case, he recovers Linnet's genuine pearls from Tim, a master thief whose expertise lay in substituting imitation strings for their valuable counterparts. It becomes clear that Tim had been instrumental in foiling Linnet's attempt to uncover his true identity. Meanwhile, Race finally closes in on his quarry, Richetti.

Poirot shares his findings with Bessner, Cornelia, and Race, revealing the shocking truth: Simon was the one who pulled the trigger on Linnet. Jacqueline, his accomplice, had masterminded the murder, driven by a desire to protect her lover from detection. It transpired that Linnet had intentionally sought to drive a wedge between Simon and Jacqueline, only for Simon to feign injury with red ink and ultimately take matters into his own hands. As Fanthorp and Cornelia were distracted by Jacqueline's theatrics, Simon seized the opportunity to shoot Linnet in her cabin, carefully planting the nail polish bottle on her washstand to mislead investigators. He then returned to the lounge, faked a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and surreptitiously loaded an extra cartridge to create the illusion that only two shots had been fired. The game was up when Simon tossed the pistol overboard, its silence achieved through a clever ruse involving a stolen gun.

As Poirot delved deeper into the murder mystery, Louise's suspicious behavior caught his attention. She had observed Simon sneaking into Linnet's cabin that fateful night and, with malicious intent, casually dropped hints about it during their conversation, clearly aiming to extort him. Jacqueline, desperate to shield her lover from the consequences, took matters into her own hands by brutally stabbing Louise to silence her forever. Meanwhile, Mrs Otterbourne stumbled upon Jacqueline entering Louise's cabin, prompting her to rush and inform Poirot of the discovery. However, before she could reveal the truth, Simon raised his voice in a frantic attempt to warn Jacqueline, who was conveniently situated in the adjacent room. Panicked, she seized an opportunity and struck down Mrs Otterbourne with deadly precision, eliminating any possibility of exposure. The detective confronted Simon, who ultimately confessed to his crimes, leading to his swift arrest, along with accomplices Jacqueline and Richetti. As the steamer docked back at Shellal and passengers began disembarking, Jacqueline seized a second opportunity to evade justice by shooting both herself and Simon with an additional pistol, ensuring they would escape the gallows. When pressed, Poirot revealed that he had always been aware of her possession of this second firearm but deliberately chose to permit her to take control of her own fate, allowing her to find closure in a tragic yet fitting conclusion.