Death in a Desert Land by Andrew Wilson

Agatha goes to see if a woman's death was actually suicide or if it was murder.  She's in Persia where she meets Mrs. Woolley.  They are on a archeological dig and the artifacts they are finding are valuable.  Mrs. Woolley doesn't hide her disdain for the dead woman. Was she the killer?

Washington Square Press and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you).  It is being published today.

Mrs. Woolley is temperamental and has bad headaches.  It's easy to get yelled at by her but would she actually kill?

When they all go to a picnic on a hill, it's a fine evening until Mrs. Woolley and the young lady at the event get in a spat over men's attention.  Mrs. Woolley always enjoyed their attention and now the pretty young one is getting it.  The young girl runs off and the others go after her.  When they hear a scream, they all run to see what happened.  They find Mrs. Woolley leaning over the body of the dead girl with blood on her hands.  She swears she didn't kill her but there's a rock with blood on it nearby.  Someone killed her.

They lock Mrs. Woolley in her bedroom.  Agatha visits her and begins to wonder about her symptoms.  Could there be a cause besides a mental unrest?

This was a good mystery with lots of secrets.  It takes a good deal of scheming to reveal the killer and Agatha is there every step of the way.

I really enjoyed this read.  It's fun to hang out with Agatha Christie and Mr. Wilson writes great mysteries!