I Saw Him Die

Starred review from May 4, 2020
In 1930, on the eve of Agatha Christie’s wedding to Max Mallowan, Christie accepts another mission from her friend John Davison, a Secret Intelligence Service agent, in Wilson’s outstanding fourth whodunit featuring the mystery writer (after 2019’s Death in a Desert Land). Davison is concerned about the welfare of Robin Kinmuir, who used to be one of the service’s best agents until a run of bad luck, including the death of his only son in WWI, the disappearance of his wife, and a botched operation that cost several operatives’ lives. Someone has been sending Kinmuir threatening letters, which warn that he will pay for his crimes with his life. Christie and Davison travel to Kinmuir’s home on the island of Skye, where, despite their vigilance, Kinmuir dies after being shot, apparently accidentally, by his nephew and heir in a hunting mishap. The plot takes multiple unexpected turns before a neat solution that pays homage to Christie’s own best fiction. Golden age fans will hope for more. Agent: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander Assoc.

July 1, 2020
The premise is delightful?Agatha Christie working as consultant for the British Secret Intelligence Service?and the Isle of Skye setting in this third entry in Wilson's series (following Death in a Desert Land, 2019) is evocative. This time, Christie has been asked by John Davison of the SIS to help him safeguard a former agent, Robin Kinmuir. Christie's marriage to Max Mallowan is just weeks away, but she reluctantly agrees, only to find herself in the midst of the house party from hell. Though the prominent guests seem not know each other, they all have reasons to hate Kinmuir. Christie and Davison fail spectacularly in their task to save Kinmuir, but they are determined to discover the who, how, and why of the murder, which is not easy as surprises and relationships double back on one another. Wilson does an excellent job of using familiar Christie tropes?including the roomful of suspects for the denouement?but this has a freshness of its own, helped by taking readers inside Agatha's head as she deals with personal demons. Fans of mystery fiction's Golden Age will be entranced.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)