In the short story The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb, Dr Ames was a doctor attached to the archaeological team led by Sir John Willard which was excavating the tomb of Men-her-Ra. Several members of the expedition died in quick succession, notably Sir John himself, the American financier Mr Bleibner who backed the expedition, and Mr Schneider, an American archaeologist. In addition, Rupert Bleibner, the nephew of Mr Bleibner committed suicide, believing that he had leprosy.
Poirot concluded that Sir John had died of natural causes but he unmasked Ames as one who brought about the deaths of the others because the methods employed required a doctor. Thus Ames introduced germs into Mr Bleidner after he had a small scratch on his thumb, leading to him dying of septicaemia. He infected Mr Schneider with tetanus which subsequently killed him. Ames then examined a minor skin complaint of Rupert and convinced him that he had leprosy. This led Rupert to commit suicide.
The motive was related to the fact that Rupert Bleibner stood to inherit from Mr Bleibner and that Rupert had once made a will in favour of Ames. Schneider was probably killed to promote the impression that an ancient curse was at work.
Portrayals[]
Dr Ames was played by Rolf Saxon in the film adaptation of The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb in Series 5 of ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot. Ames was arrested at the end of the episode. In the original story, he took cyanide rather than face the consequences.