Mystery Review: Death in the Clouds finds Poirot asleep on a flight from Paris to London when a French money-lender is found dead in her seat. Poirot, aghast at being one of the eleven suspects, is quickly on the case. Aided by French and English police inspectors and a young woman on the flight (Poirot you dog!) Poirot examines the clues, including a dead wasp, a poison dart, and a one-foot-long blowgun (in Mrs. McGinty's Dead (1952) Ariadne Oliver acknowledges the error). Poirot flies back to France to test his theories on the plane but soon another death occurs: the maid of one of the suspects, perhaps suicide. Poirot doesn't fall for the red herrings left by the perp, and neither will the reader. Based largely on an inventory of the contents of the plane's luggage Poirot solves the two murders, though the reader won't. The explanation for the Death in the Clouds requires quite a bit of off-stage machinations. Entertaining nonetheless and extra points for a blowgun (even truncated) on a plane. Once again the talented Ms. Christie manages to find a murder plot from her everyday life. She's also still oblivious as ever, coyly describing a couple on a first date and what they had in common: "They disliked loud voices, noisy restaurants and negroes." Argh. Also known as Death in the Air. [3½★]
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