Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile puts Egypt in the picture

A trip to Egypt presents the opportunity for snooping and sleuthing on the hunt for celebrity clues.

Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in Death on the Nile.

It’s 2019 and I’m channelling Agatha Christie, as you do, at the Old Cataract Hotel (now a Sofitel Legend brand) in Aswan, Egypt. All the guests I speak to are agog at the prospect of bumping into actor/director Kenneth Branagh and, as early publicity promised, his “all-star ensemble cast of suspects” in the latest adaptation of the 1937 novel Death on the Nile.

It’s rumoured he’s filming at the property (whether today, next week or last month is never entirely clear) where Christie stayed and there’s a suite in her honour, a large and strangely cheerless chamber that guests can visit on a guided tour when it’s not booked.

I doubt the so-called countess of crime, although hugely famous in her lifetime, could have imagined swarms of tourists peering at her modest mahogany desk, now roped off as a strange tableau in the lobby alongside her favourite wicker rocking chair.

Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot.

As I pass, there’s a queue of selfie-takers, a few clutching copies of the umpteenth reprint of her Egyptian murder mystery.

Later, I come across a 1946 observation from Christie: “My chief dislikes are crowds, loud noises, gramophones and cinemas.” Oh, dear.

 But I can’t pretend to be anything but a snooping fan and rather fancy a sighting of Branagh, who’s reprising the role of Hercule Poirot from his 2017 adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express, although hopefully not sporting the epic moustache of that earlier outing, which surely would cause Peter Ustinov to roll in his grave.

The cast this time is enormous and includes Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, and that daft comedic duo, Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French. Over a few days at the Old Cataract Hotel I loiter in wing-back chairs, peeping over paperbacks in the Miss Marple manner (knitting would seem a tad suspicious in the June heat) and observing all and sundry.

If Branagh is costumed as Poirot, I’ll be the first to spot him, thanks to Christie’s meticulous description: “He wore a white silk suit, carefully pressed, and a Panama hat and carried a highly ornamental fly whisk with a sham amber handle.”

Days later, north along the Nile at Luxor, I am at The Old Winter Palace, also a favourite of Christie’s, where she reputedly penned further chapters. It, too, is thick with atmosphere, gloomy corners and the distinct possibility of bodies in the ballroom, especially as the very loud tour groups in the lobby must lead many a guest to murderous thoughts.

Death on the Nile opens in Australian cinemas on February 10.