Locus Amoenus: All By My Shelf

I'm ten chapters in, so here are a few random observations:

1. I love the constant sense of menace. There's such a difference between mysteries that take place over a large area (a city, for example) and ones set in a more claustrophobic place: trains, boats... wherever a group of people are thrown together. This reminds me of Orient Express in its atmosphere.

2. The interactions between family members, acquaintances, and social classes are fascinating. And I love seeing Poirot at the very center, as an observer.

3. Colonialism, and the attitudes the various travelers bring to Egypt. For example: “If there were only any peace in Egypt, I should like it better,” said Mrs. Allerton. “But you can never be alone anywhere. Someone is always pestering you for money, or offering you donkeys, or beads, or expeditions to native villages, or duck shooting.” Ferguson provides an interesting counterpoint here.

4. An interesting take on male and female expectations and how these are subverted here. Simon may complain that he doesn't want to be controlled by a woman, but is perfectly willing to follow the commanding, contract-reading Linnet. And I think that Linnet's own sense of power is at the heart of some people's dislike of her, and their constant mantra of "it's not fair that she has everything."