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A character in Death on the Nile

Tim Allerton

The charming young man travelling with his mother, who knows the girl in London who copies famous pearls.

What they want

To keep his mother comfortable and his own arrangements private.

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.

View the book

At a glance

In the book
Passenger, travelling with his mother
Where he appears
Throughout

Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Tim Allerton is easy company and devoted to his mother, with whom he is travelling on not much money. He is a friend of Joanna Southwood, a London girl with expensive tastes, and the first chapter has already shown Joanna handling Linnet's pearls. He and Rosalie Otterbourne circle each other for most of the voyage.

How Tim Allerton Is Portrayed

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

  • The motherMrs Allerton, whom he teases and looks after, and who is one of Poirot's favourite people on the boat.
  • The friendJoanna Southwood, whose letters arrive at every stop.
  • The nightSeen on deck by Rosalie, who says nothing.
  • The pearlsA string that is not what it seems, and a second string that is.
Their ending, and the commentary — spoilers aheadHow the book leaves them, what happened after, and what the record says. Open when you're ready.

Tim and Joanna Southwood were jewel thieves who swapped Linnet's pearls for a copy. Poirot lets him return the real ones quietly, and Rosalie chooses him anyway.

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