The 8:55 to Baghdad : From London to Iraq on the Trail of Agatha Christie and the Orient Express

Review by Philip Blazdell

Travel journalist Andrew Eames was in the ancient Syrian city of Aleppo when he met an elderly lady who had known Agatha Christie. Fascinated by the exotic history of this quintessentially English crime writer, he decided to retrace the trip from London to Baghdad which she made in 1928 - a journey which was to change Agatha Christie completely and led to her other life as the wife of an archaeologist in the deserts of Syria and Iraq. The book he produces is part Christie biography, part travelogue and part history of the many regions through which Eames and his famous fore-traveller pass en route to the Middle East.

The modern journey from London to Baghdad by train is actually far harder to do today than it was in Agatha's day. Many of the countries Eames passes through, from the Balkans and into the Middle East, have been through difficult times recently, and yet the people the author meets are invariably delightful (to the extent that you wonder how rose tinted the author's spectacles are).
Eventually he arrives at the Iraqi border at the same time as the UN weapons inspectors, and is one of the last tourists to experience the reality of Saddam Hussein's regime. As the book approaches its final destination of Ur, one of the first cities mentioned in Genesis and the place where Agatha first met her future husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan, it becomes increasingly filled with a sense of doom and oppression as the shadow of war looms. Its at this point that the book really takes off and the author cranks up the tension to an almost unbearable level. This suites his engaging writing style well and I found myself gripped by the last few chapters.

Although I am no great fan of Agatha Christie this book still engaged me. This well constructed book has all the ingredients for a great read: a vicarious expedition through lands sufficiently exotic to arrest the reader's attention and a quest: one that just happened to terminate in the most topical plot on the planet. The author has the acute eye and polished pen of an outstanding observer and can be both witty and profound in equal measure. The book is also as strong on people as it is on places. Among a huge cast of characters - fellow passengers, Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia and an alluring girl from the Belgrade tourist office - are two who remembered Mrs. Christie. One, a Slovenian journalist, waylaid her with flowers on her hotel balcony; the other, an elderly Syrian woman, is convinced Poirot was modelled on Max.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It is well written, topical and leaves a lasting impression. I shall wait further books from the author with expectation.

• The 8:55 to Baghdad : From London to Iraq on the Trail of Agatha Christie and the Orient Express by Andrew Eames