Attempted boulder attack on Linnet Doyle

The Attempted boulder attack on Linnet Doyle was a near-fatal incident at Abu Simbel that later became a crucial part of the case against her killer. Initially treated as a possible accident, it was reconsidered when Colonel Race connected it to the attempt to make Jacqueline de Bellefort appear responsible for Linnet Doyle’s murder.

The Near Escape at Abu Simbel

A boulder crashed down at Abu Simbel while Linnet Doyle was there, and she narrowly escaped. The incident took place near the Temple of Abu Simbel. Andrew Pennington later said he had been inside the temple at the time, had heard about the incident afterward, and had thought it might have been an accident.

Reconsidering the Incident

When Hercule Poirot raised the episode with Andrew Pennington, he questioned whether the boulder’s fall had really been accidental. His remark that someone had thought so at the time, but that the incident now invited doubt, marks the change in its significance: what had seemed like a mishap could be understood as an attempt to kill Linnet Doyle.

Connection to the Murder Plot

Colonel Race later argued that the person who stole the pistol expected the crime to be attributed to Jacqueline de Bellefort, but could not have known that she would be kept under a nurse’s care and given morphia through the night. Race added that the person had already tried to kill Linnet Doyle by rolling a boulder over her, and was not Jacqueline. The attack thus established that the danger to Linnet preceded the shooting and that the same unknown assailant was implicated in both attempts.