Døden i skyerne

by Agatha Christie

Paper Book, 1968

Status

Available

Call number

823.912

Library's review

London, Paris, ca 1935.
Hercule Poirot er ombord på en flyvning Paris - London. Madame Giselle, med det rigtige navn Marie Angélique Morisot - en berømt pengeudlåner - dør ombord og Poirot opdager en lille pusterørspil med gift på spidsen. Pusterøret bliver fundet bag hans eget sæde og ved
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ligsynet er nævningene mistænksomme overfor Poirot.
De øvrige passagerer er James Ryder, Monsieur Armand Dupont, Monsieur Jean Dupont, Daniel Clancy, Doctor Bryant, Norman Gale, Hertuginden af Horbury, Jane Grey og Venetia Kerr.
Poirot, inspektør Japp og den franske politimand Fournier (som har hørt om Poirot gennem M. Giraud) efterforsker Madame Giselle's forskellige kunder. Giselle havde altid en klemme på sine kunder og brugte den, hvis de ikke ville betale.
Madame Giselle's datter Anne Morisot dukker op, blot for kort efter at blive dræbt af sin mand James Richards alias Norman Gale. Poirot afslører dette og har hele tiden mistænkt Norman fordi han havde en lille æske med på flyet.
Oveni opklaringen spiller Poirot giftekniv for Jane Grey og Jean Dupont, og for lord Horbury og Venetia Kerr.

Glimrende Poirot mysterie.
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Publication

[Kbh.] : Carit Andersen, [1968]. De trestjernede kriminalromaner, Agatha Christie, 4.

Description

Fiction. Mystery. Historical Fiction. HTML: Hercule Poirot must solve a perplexing case of midair murder in Death in the Clouds when he discovers that the woman in seat two of the airborne aeroplane he's traveling on is quite unexpectedly�??and unnaturally�??deceased. From seat No. 9, Hercule Poirot was ideally placed to observe his fellow air passengers on the short flight from Paris to London. Over to his right sat a pretty young woman, clearly infatuated with the man opposite; ahead, in seat No. 13, sat a countess with a poorly concealed cocaine habit; across the gangway in seat No. 8, a writer of detective fiction was being troubled by an aggressive wasp. Yes, Poirot is almost ideally placed to take it all in, except what he did not yet realize was that behind him, in seat No. 2, sat the slumped, lifeless body of a woman. Murdered, and likely by someone in Poirot's immediate proximity… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member cbl_tn
A passenger is murdered on a flight from Paris to London. Unfortunately for the murderer, Hercule Poirot is also a passenger on the flight. Both French and British authorities are involved with the investigation, but neither are a match for the little grey cells of Hercule Poirot.

Agatha Christie
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must have had fun writing this one, as the passengers include a mystery novelist and a pair of archaeologists. (Christie's second husband was an archaeologist.) If you haven't yet read any of Christie's novels, this would be a great place to start!
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LibraryThing member smik
This is a fascinating novel from a number of points of view.
To start with, because of its setting, it is very obviously a "locked room" mystery. If Mme Giselle's death is murder then the murderer has to have been on the plane. Hercule Poirot, that inveterate sufferer from mal-de-mer, is
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concentrating on not being a victim of mal-de-air, and feels a great deal of chagrin that murder has taken place under his very nose, or to be more precise, under his closed eyes.

For air travellers amongst us, travel on this plane was very different, and much more in keeping with travelling by train or by steamer. To start with luggage, rugs and other paraphernalia are heaped rather untidily at the end of the cabin, which Agatha Christie keeps calling a "car".
At the front of the book is a diagram of the rear "car" of the plane Prometheus, which clearly shows that some of the seats are arranged in "facing" sets of 4.
And just a final point about this setting - the windows of the plane have little air vents, big enough to have passed a blow pipe through. They obviously didn't fly at 37,000 feet.

The investigation of the murder is jointly conducted by Poirot, the French detective Fournier and Inspector Japp from Scotland Yard, and each brings a different quality to its conduct. Poirot and Fournier are both interested in the psychology of crime.

In the following Poirot, Fournier and Japp are talking about perception, and how we interpret what happens in the light of other observations (or perhaps what we don't notice)

Fournier says .... when a lady dies suddenly of heart failure, if a man is to drop his handkerchief and stoop to pick it up, who will notice the action or think twice about it?

I really enjoyed the interaction between these 3.
Finally we see a further development of the romantic side of Hercule Poirot's character, when he lets a society lady off lightly and gives a young orphan a gentle push towards love.
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LibraryThing member rosalita
Dame Agatha scores again with this high-altitude locked-room mystery, wherein Hercule Poirot is present but sleeping when a woman is murdered aboard an airplane flying from France to England. I enjoyed all the twists and turns, even though (unusually for me) I actually sussed out the killer quite
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early on, thanks to the author playing fair with the clues. But even though I was pretty sure I knew WHOdunit, I was foggy on both the HOWdunit and WHYdunit, and in both cases was not disappointed by the reveal.
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LibraryThing member Fliss88
This is a Hercule Poirot mystery and as you would expect the least likely person turned out to be the murderer. Could Madam Giselle really have been murdered by a poisoned dart and could the murder weapon really have been a blowpipe? All the passengers on the small plane flight from France to
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England are now under suspicion! A light easy read….
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LibraryThing member riverwillow
This is classic Christie - a murder in an enclosed space with a limited number of suspects. Poirot tracks down the murderer, of course, ably assisted by two suspects in the murder who can't have done it - or could they? Fantastic.
LibraryThing member mmansilla
This book is a great and clever mystery with a colorful story and detailed characters...especially Mr.poirit
LibraryThing member Figgles
Great period piece. A murder is committed right under Poirot's airsick nose on a cross channel plane. Many on board prove to have had a motive, can Poirot see his way to itdentifying the real killer? Good fun early Poirot with a nice flavour of early air travel glamour.
LibraryThing member cozy-reader
Since 2008 I have been trying to make my way through all the Agatha Christie mysteries. After spending several years reading here and there I am now trying to read the missing ones in order. The next one on my list was DEATH IN THE CLOUDS.

DEATH IN THE CLOUDS sees the infamous Hercule Poirot
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spending a plane ride, with passengers unknown, and witnesses a murder. As he goes about using his "little grey cells" and collecting clues, he tries to figure out just who killed the poor woman.

For me, there is no greater crime writer than Agatha Christie. All of her mysteries keep me glued to every page. I'm always wanting to read "just one more page!" DEATH IN THE CLOUDS is no exception to this. I was completely glued to the story, as Hercule Poirot, with the assistance of Inspector Japp and another passenger, Jane Grey, tried to find out the answer to this crime.

I have a love/hate relationship with Hercules Poirot. I do favour Miss Marple, and find that sometimes Poirot's ego gets the better of him. However, DEATH IN THE CLOUDS might be the exception to that. Poirot's ego didn't hardly make much of an appearance, and it was all in all a reading experience, alongside Poirot. For fan's of Poirot, there is were definitely many Poirot-ism's, but without the ultra ego trip he usually plays.

I highly recommend DEATH IN THE CLOUDS to mystery/crime fans. It will definitely keep you guessing to the last page. Even though I did guess the murderer close to the end, I was hanging onto the very last sentence to see how it all intertwined together. As I said no-one writes a complex, interesting mystery like Agatha Christie does.
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LibraryThing member amelish
Death... FROM ABOVE!
LibraryThing member Jiraiya
I think I experience reader's block. Reading this book proved to be one too many. As I've been reading a lot of Agatha Christie books for the past months, fatigue has set in. This is compounded by the lower quality that this book exudes. It's just that Agatha Christie makes the reading experience
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fluid and cool and soothing...hence the 3 stars. It's a book that I've read in the distant past and it left no impression on me then and it doesn't do much now. Mind you, I'd rather read books like this than some of the bestsellers that pass for thrillers these days.

Reading through mediocre(which this book isn't quite) books generally sets the bar low, and bam, there you have your acquired taste.
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LibraryThing member RubyScarlett
Another winner from Christie. Bizarrely seems to have been written in a rush as I found the characters to be less memorable than some others. Still tremendously good puzzle. I sure didn't guess the murderer before Poirot but I'm getting better.
LibraryThing member JulesJones
Abridged audiobook on 3 CDs, read by David Timson. A passenger aboard a plane between France and England is found dead, apparently of a wasp sting. Poirot rapidly finds evidence otherwise, and what appears to be the murder weapon -- placed where Poirot is the most likely suspect. Poirot knows he
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isn't the killer, but in proving himself innocent, he will also need to correctly identify the real killer, lest some other innocent be wrongly convicted by one of the many false clues.

The abridged audiobook is well edited, and ably read by Timson, but as always suffers somewhat from the abridgement. I enjoyed listening to it even though I haven't read the novel in decades and remembered nothing about it; but I am minded to try the unabridged version read by Hugh Fraser the next time I want to listen to it.
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LibraryThing member Samar.Abd-Allah
Was okay, very typical,starting to think that maybe it's because of the translation... or maybe Christie is not interesting 2 me as be4?
LibraryThing member crashmyparty
In this installment of Dame Christie's fantastic mystery novels featuring private investigator Hercule Poirot, we find ourselves with M. Poirot on a flight across the English Channel where a murder occurs mid flight. Only problem is - nobody has seen anything, neither the passengers or the
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stewards. It is up to Poirot, and the less competent French and English police, to solve the case. Another of Christie's mysteries that doesn't disappoint, you'll be kicking yourself for not picking the murderer in the end!
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LibraryThing member AmphipodGirl
You know it's an old-school Christie mystery when tehre's a map in the front of where the murder happens (on an airplane in this case). It's got twists, a love interest, and a hint of the sentimental side of Poirot. Not her best but not her worst either.
LibraryThing member BookAngel_a
I liked this one a lot, but I did catch on to who the murderer was by the end. So either I'm getting better at this, or Christie was weaker - you be the judge! It is definitely classic Poirot and a must read for Christie fans.
LibraryThing member johnclaydon
An impossible crime story, similar to a locked room mystery. All is great fun, which is why I give it 5 stars. Right up to the solution, which is absurd nonsense. Turns out yes, it really was impossible!

Many details of the story are jokes. I assume that the ending is sarcastic self-parody,
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ridiculing her fans for putting up with such silliness.

(The boomslang is real. The name is cognate to the words beam schlong. The venom is quite different from what is described in the novel. She just made that up. She became a poisons expert during WWI. That was part of the reason she started writing detective stories.)
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LibraryThing member bbbart
Enjoyed the story as such, but at the end when the identity of the murderer is revealed to the reader by Poirot, I felt quite disappointed, since I believe there was no way I as a reader could have found it out myself with the given information. Usually, Christie does manage to give all clues to
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the reader in her stories.

That's why it's only a 3 from me, and no 4 this time.
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LibraryThing member Auntie-Nanuuq
Also titled: Death in the Air

Imaging Hercule sleeping through a murder! Suffering from air-sickness, indeed he did....

Upon landing in London on a trip back from France, Madame Giselle, a famous & highly reputable Parisienne money lender is found to be dead in her seat of an apparent wasp sting,
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but what M. Poirot finds is a poisoned thorn w/ wasp colored fluff on the end.....

There were less than a dozen people on the flight, several of whom had dealings with Mdme. Giselle, and with that group a few who did not want to pay her back. Mdme Giselle had her ways, as collateral she collected "information" on her clients, information that they would loathe to be known.

Unfortunately upon her death, Le Surete was loathe to find that Mdme. Giselle's maid (per previous instructions) burned all of Mdme. Giselle's moneylending records and was not able to provide any information regarding possible enemies. However, left behind (quite by accident) was Mdme. Giselle's daily black book which contained appointments in code, this the maid handed over to M. Poirot....

I was not able to decipher the clues, so I was unable to figure out who murdered Mdme. Giselle. But there were many with motive and few if any had opportunity.... Afterall it was in a small enclosed space, with the weapon of choice a blowpipe thorn.

Yes, there was one mention of prejudice, a few Red Herrings, an overlooked passenger, and even a romance (that M. Poirot helped along). But what I found unbelievable was the type of poison used.... Boomslang venom, really? That particular venom is not only very uncommon, but up until the very end, not one of the suspects seemed to have had access to it.
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LibraryThing member TomDonaghey
Death In The Air (1935) (Poirot #12) by Agatha Christie. This is a classic locked room murder mystery with an inversion: all the suspects are in the room when the individual is murdered. In fact, Poirot is the main suspect from among the very small number of passengers aboard the plane. During a
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flight from Paris to Croydon, England, Madame Giselle, a well respected Parisian blackmailer is murdered in her seat. There are ten passengers left alive at the end of the flight, including Poirot, as well as two stewards and a maid, so one of these must be the killer.
No one was seen attacking the victim, no one could have done it, the weapon, is so exotic that it points to only two people, and the entire thing is a total mystery. Except to Poirot.
There is flirtation, there is drama, red herrings to fill a fish market, a romance sparks and a cold blooded killer sits amount the innocent. Is it the dentist, the crime writer, the archeologists, the countess, or one of the others? All are shown to have the possibility of a motive, but only one could have struck the deadly blow.
An intriguing puzzle set in an impossible situation, but fortunately Poirot is on the case. It is imperative that he solve as, after all, Is was the one best suited and situated to actually have done the deed. Who better to save him from the gallows than himself.
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LibraryThing member john257hopper
Published in 1935, this "locked room" mystery takes place in a commercial plane flying between Paris and Croydon airport. A French woman is found poisoned, and an incongruous blowpipe and dart smeared with snake venom is found stuffed down the side of Hercule Poirot's seat. Needless to say, all is
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not as it seems, and where does the wasp fit in? The usual varied cast of Christie archetypes are present: the objectionable aristocrat; the earnest young man; the plucky young lady he is in love with; and so on. Also present are two French archaeologists - this was in the early years of Christie's marriage to her second husband, middle East archaeologist Max Mallowan. A Christie tour de force this, very intricately and tightly plotted, almost an exercise in analysis as much as a novel - it should be as well known as some of her others such as Murder on the Orient Express or Death on the Nile, but has only ever been adapted for the screen once, as part of the David Suchet Poirot series.
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LibraryThing member a-shelf-apart
Not a good enough mystery to make up for the appalling casual racism.

"They disliked loud voices, noisy restaurants and negroes ... It seemed almost miraculous that two people should have so many points of agreement."
LibraryThing member MissBrangwen
This is a very classic Poirot, and it's safe to say that I enjoy those the most. The locked room is an airplane going from Paris to London and Poirot is a passenger. One of the other passengers is murdered and of course everyone on the plane is a suspect - including Poirot himself! It's a very
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methodical novel and Poirot at its best. While I guessed a small part of the solution, I did not guess the culprit and I loved the solving of the case.
It was also very interesting to read about air travel in the 1930s, which made me enjoy the novel even more (although there still is racism and also sexism in this text and it's not ok).
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie was a fun read. It was a “locked room” mystery with the “room” in this case being an airplane travelling from France to England. Among the passengers is the great detective, Hercule Poirot, and he takes it quite personally when a fellow passenger is
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murdered. Madame Giselle, a money lender and blackmailer, is found dead toward the end of the flight appearing to have died from a wasp sting but Poirot discovers a thorn with a discolored tip on the floor by the deceased and a later discovery of a blowpipe makes how the murder was committed apparent. Since the blowpipe was discovered hidden in Poirot’s seat, the jury at the inquest wanted to deliver a verdict that would name him as the murderer!

Inspector Japp and Poirot work together on this case digging into the lives and background of the passengers and as always there were plenty of red herrings to throw the reader off the track. Eventually Poirot was able to put all the pieces together and the book reaches a very satisfactory end with his big reveal which outlines his suspicions, his thought processes and how he zeroed in on the murderer.

Death in the Clouds has one of the most ingenious methods of murder. It also has plenty of humor, particularly pointed at one of the passengers, a writer of mystery novels. The story moves quickly and even Poirot’s attempt at matchmaking was interesting. I will long remember this whimsically strange and outrageous story.
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LibraryThing member passion4reading
When Hercule Poirot travels back to England from France by plane, his stomach is giving him so much grief that he promptly misses a murder committed almost right under his nose; however, once it is discovered, he inevitably takes charge. Clearly the murderer must be one of the passengers or
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stewards – but who? Everyone on board denies knowing the Frenchwoman, a known Parisian moneylender. Readers can be reassured that once again Poirot employs order and method in exercising his little grey cells and uncovers the truth.

I thought that only Agatha Christie could come up with a locked-room murder set on an aeroplane. While it has all the usual ingredients of a Poirot murder mystery, I was able to discover the who, later most of the how and finally the why by using my own method of deduction, i.e. reading carefully and knowing Dame Agatha's own modus operandi. Still a lot of fun and a good brain teaser, though, even if the characters don't have a lot of psychological depth to them.

Please note: there are a couple of incidences of casual racism and sexism in the novel.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1935-03-10

Physical description

175 p.; 18.4 cm

Local notes

Omslag: Ikke angivet
Omslaget viser en hveps
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Oversat fra engelsk "Death in the clouds" af Poul Ib Liebe

De trestjernede kriminalromaner, Agatha Christie, bind 4
Side 136: Hertuginden af Horbury's ægteskab er som hund og kat. Hun er som regel aldrig hjemme og synes at manden skulle have taget Venetia Kerr, som ligner en hest. - Man kommer helt til at tænke på Prince Charles og Lady Diana.

Similar in this library

Pages

175

Library's rating

Rating

½ (724 ratings; 3.6)

DDC/MDS

823.912
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