They Came to Baghdad

Book Description
Victoria Jones was a shorthand typist, though she was actually out of a job more often than she was in one. Not only was she an indifferent typist, but she had an insatiable craving for excitement which often led her to choose drama at the expense of truth, a tendency which did not exactly fit her for ordinary office life. Owing to a slight difference of opinion with her latest employer, Victoria was again unemployed when fate stepped in. A chance encounter set her off in pursuit of glorious adventure and an attractive young man.

Baghdad by air, a post with a mysterious organization that existed for the betterment of world relations, three words uttered by a dying man, and Victoria was caught in the relentless toils of international intrigue, with evil, violence, and deadly peril as her close companions.

They Came to Baghdad, with its exciting background of mystery and espionage, is one of Agatha Christie's most absorbing novels.

From AudioFile
In these days of increased awareness of the Middle East, it's fascinating to hear Agatha Christie's view of Iraq just after WWII. Albeit, one learns about Iraq by way of a mystery story featuring archaeologists, British agents, and a plucky English girl, but that just means one is learning while being entertained. One wishes that the narration were quite as good as the far-fetched but engaging plot. The difficulty is not the narration per se, which Emilia Fox reads beautifully. She also supplies an appealing, believable voice for Victoria, the Cockney heroine. It's most of the (many) male characters that give difficulty, for in seeking to give each a unique character-driven voice, Fox often makes them sound squeaky. As a result, many of the male characters have higher pitched voices than the female characters. This distracts from an otherwise admirable reading of a delightful entertainment. A.C.S.

Book Dimension
length: (cm)21.8 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)14.8