105 pages • 3 hours read
Death On The Nile
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During Reading
Reading Questions & Paired Texts
Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.
AUTHOR’S FORWARD AND CHAPTER 1
Reading Check
1. What event in Agatha Christie’s life inspired the novel?
2. Who is Linnet Ridgeway’s best friend?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Who introduces Simon Doyle to Linnet? What is their motivation in introducing him to her?
CHAPTERS 2-4
Reading Check
1. Where is the Cataract Hotel?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why does Rosalie remark that “It isn’t fair” (Chapter 2, Page 58) when she sees Linnet and Simon?
2. Why does Poirot say Linnet is so upset that Jackie is following her and Simon?
Paired Resource
“How European Tourism All Began”
- This article from the German publication Deutsche Welle traces the development of tourism from the 17th century to the present.
- What role has class and social standing historically played in tourism? What is the role of class and social standing in Christie’s novel?
CHAPTERS 5-7
Reading Check
1. Whom does Simon hope to avoid by being secretive about his true plans to board the steamer Karnak?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why does Poirot urge Jackie to stop tormenting Linnet?
Paired Resource
- This article from Psychology Today article discusses the connection between love and murder.
- This connects to the themes of The Seductiveness of Evil and The Danger of Loving “Too Much.”
- Could love ever be a valid defense or excuse for murdering somebody?
CHAPTERS 8-10
Reading Check
1. What does Pennington ask Linnet to do to the business documents she brings to Ez-Zebua?
2. Who is nearly killed when the group stops at a temple?
CHAPTERS 11-13
Reading Check
1. What word does Linnet mistakenly read when she sees the signed word “Richetti”?
2. Whom does Jackie shoot?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1.How does Colonel Race know Poirot? Why does Colonel Race board the Karnak?
2. What is Jackie’s alibi for Linnet’s murder?
CHAPTERS 14-16
Reading Check
1. Whom did Miss Van Schuyler see throwing something into the water the night of Linnet’s murder?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why does Louise say Fleetwood told her he would like to kill Linnet?
2. Why are Poirot and Race so puzzled that the pistol was thrown into the water?
CHAPTERS 17-19
Reading Check
1. Whom does Pennington insistently accuse of Linnet’s murder?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What does Poirot note as odd about the way Linnet was lying when she was found?
2. How does Poirot explain the fact that Rosalie was seen throwing something overboard?
CHAPTERS 20-22
Reading Check
1. Who brings Poirot and Race the pearls that were stolen from Linnet’s room?
2. Whose body is found in Louise’s cabin?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why did nobody hear the shot that killed Linnet?
2. Why do Poirot and Race think Linnet’s stolen pearls are likely to be hidden in Simon’s room?
CHAPTERS 23-25
Reading Check
1. Who is shot as they are about to reveal who killed Linnet and Louise?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why do Poirot and Race conclude that Louise knew the murderer’s identity?
Paired Resource
“5 Archetypes of Fictional Detectives”
- This short and amusing article analyzes five different types of fictional detectives and describes their defining characteristics.
- This post connects to the theme of The Seductiveness of Evil.
- What kind of detective is Poirot? How is Poirot’s character typical of detective fiction? How is his character unique?
Trailer: Death on the Nile (2020)
- This trailer is from the 2020 Kenneth Branagh adaptation of the novel.
- Shared themes include The Seductiveness of Evil and The Danger of Loving “Too Much.”
- What similarities and differences can you already see in the film trailer between the novel and the movie? Why might directors, writers, and producers make these changes?
CHAPTERS 26-28
Reading Check
1. Who is revealed to be the man Race is after?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. In what way is Tim Allerton connected to the theft of Linnet’s pearls?
CHAPTERS 29-31
Reading Check
1. Who shot Simon in the leg?
2. Why was Poirot sleeping so heavily on the night of the murder?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why did Jackie help Simon murder Linnet?
Recommended Next Reads
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
- One of Agatha Christie’s best-known Poirot novels, this mystery concerns a murder that takes place on a snow-bound train.
- Shared themes include The Seductiveness of Evil.
- Shared topics include crime, travel, and relationships.
- Murder on the Orient Express on SuperSummary
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
- This 1887 novel by Arthur Conan Doyle work introduced the world to Sherlock Holmes.
- Shared themes include The Seductiveness of Evil and Loving “Too Much.”
- Shared topics include crime, travel, and relationships.
- A Study in Scarlet on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
AUTHOR’S FORWARD AND CHAPTER 1
Reading Check
1. A holiday in Egypt (Author’s Forward)
2. Jacqueline “Jackie” de Bellefort (Chapter 1)
Short Answer
1. Jackie introduced Simon to Linnet, hoping that the rich Linnet would be able to give him a job. (Chapter 1)
CHAPTERS 2-4
Reading Check
1. Assuan (Aswan), Egypt (Chapter 2)
Short Answer
1. As Rosalie explains to Poirot, she does not think it is fair for one person to be beautiful, rich, and in love, admitting that she hates Linnet. (Chapter 2)
2. Poirot opines that Linnet’s irritation at being followed by Jackie stems not so much from fear as from her guilt at having stolen Simon away from her. (Chapter 4)
CHAPTERS 5-7
Reading Check
1. Jackie (Chapter 6)
Short Answer
1. Poirot tells Jackie that she should stop tormenting Linnet because doing so is only prolonging her own suffering. (Chapter 5)
CHAPTERS 8-10
Reading Check
1. Sign them (Chapter 9)
2. Linnet (Chapter 10)
CHAPTERS 11-13
Reading Check
1. Ridgeway/her birth name (Chapter 11)
2. Simon (Chapter 12)
Short Answer
1. Colonel Race, a British officer, is an old acquaintance of Poirot. He boards the Karnak in pursuit of a political dissident known to be traveling on board. (Chapter 11)
2. Jackie could not have murdered Linnet because she spent the night of the murder under sedation with Miss Bowers, who would have known if Jackie left the room. (Chapter 13)
CHAPTERS 14-16
Reading Check
1. Rosalie (Chapter 16)
Short Answer
1. As Louise tells Poirot and Race, Fleetwood, the fiancé of Linnet’s former maid Marie, tells her that he would like to kill Linnet because she was the one responsible for ending his relationship with Marie. (Chapter 14)
2. Poirot and Race are confused about why the pistol was thrown into the water because the murderer clearly went to great lengths to frame Jackie, and since the pistol used to kill Linnet was also Jackie’s, one would have expected them to leave the pistol at the scene of the crime to further implicate her, rather than throw the weapon overboard. (Chapter 16)
CHAPTERS 17-19
Reading Check
1. Jackie (Chapter 18)
Short Answer
1. Poirot notes that Linnet was lying peacefully when she was found, saying that this was odd. (Chapter 18)
2. Poirot’s careful observations lead him to the realization that Mrs. Otterbourne, Rosalie’s mother, has an alcohol addiction and that what Rosalie threw overboard was her mother’s secret stash. (Chapter 19)
CHAPTERS 20-22
Reading Check
1. Miss Bowers (Chapter 20)
2. Louise’s body (Chapter 22)
Short Answer
1. As Poirot and Race realize after several interrogations, nobody heard the shot that killed Linnet because the cabin on the forward side of hers was empty (Simon being in Dr. Bessner’s cabin) while the cabin on the aft side was occupied by Miss Van Schuyler, who is hard of hearing; the only other cabin near hers was Pennington’s, and Pennington had already given them cause to believe he is not being honest. (Chapter 21)
2. Though Poirot and Race do not suspect Simon of stealing Linnet’s pearls, they think there is a good chance that they will be in his room because the room would have been empty at the time of the theft and the thief, whoever they were, would probably not have wanted the pearls in their room. (Chapter 22)
CHAPTERS 23-25
Reading Check
1. Mrs. Otterbourne (Chapter 24)
Short Answer
1. Louise is discovered with a look of “surprise and fury” (Chapter 23, Page 307) on her face and a thousand-franc note clutched in her hand, leading Poirot and Race to infer that she knew the murderer’s identity and was extorting them. (Chapter 23)
CHAPTERS 26-28
Reading Check
1. Richetti (Chapter 28)
Short Answer
1. Poirot deduces that Tim is the accomplice of Joanna Southwood, who has been connected with a string of jewelry thefts in which the real jewels are replaced by high-quality reproductions. Tim, her accomplice, replaced Linnet’s necklace with a reproduction that Joanna had made beforehand. (Chapter 27)
CHAPTERS 29-31
Reading Check
1. Simon (Chapter 29)
2. He had been drugged. (Chapter 29)
Short Answer
1. Jackie explains that though she and Simon loved each other, Simon had expensive tastes and they were low on cash. They decided that Simon would marry Linnet for her money and that Jackie would help him murder her. (Chapter 30)
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