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A character in Death on the Nile

Salome Otterbourne

The novelist of sexual passion, in a turban, whose books no longer sell and whose daughter carries a secret about her.

What they want

Attention, and a drink, and to be believed about both her books and what she saw.

The book

Death on the NileAgatha Christie, 1937

An heiress, her new husband and the friend she took him from, on a Nile steamer with nowhere to go but the next temple.

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At a glance

In the book
Novelist; Rosalie's mother
Where she appears
Chapters 1 to 25

Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Mrs Otterbourne writes novels with titles like Snow on the Desert's Face and talks about them to anyone who sits still. She is loud, unsteady on her feet, and travelling with a daughter who watches her the way a nurse watches a patient. Christie writes her as comedy and then does something else with her.

She began, in the notebooks, as a character called Mrs Pooper. What she wants is to be taken seriously, and in the end she is the one passenger with a piece of evidence that matters.

How Salome Otterbourne Is Portrayed

Appearance, manner, and tone — as the book sketches them, in our words.

  • The turbanWorn with a flowing dress; the narration lets the costume introduce her.
  • The booksFrank, she says, about sex; Rosalie flinches every time she says it.
  • The drinkHer unsteadiness is put down to the sun until Rosalie's secret comes out.
  • The daughterRosalie, sullen and watchful, who has been pouring bottles into the Nile.
  • The witnessShe saw who went into Louise Bourget's cabin, and goes to say so.
  • The doorwayShe is standing in it, about to give the name, when the shot comes.
Their ending, and the commentary — spoilers aheadHow the book leaves them, what happened after, and what the record says. Open when you're ready.

Salome Otterbourne saw Jacqueline go into Louise Bourget's cabin. She comes to Bessner's cabin to tell Poirot, Race and Simon, and Jacqueline, warned by Simon's shout, shoots her from the deck through the open door with Pennington's pistol.

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