Murder on the Orient Express

Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot is on his way back to England by train. He takes the Orient Express during the winter, the slow season. Yet, unexpectedly, the train is full. The first night he shares a second class berth with a young American. This man is the secretary to another man with malevelent eyes. The second night Poirot was moved to first class next to the employer, Mssr. Ratchet. The next morning the train is stopped in a snow bank and Mssr. Ratchet is dead, stabbed twelve times.

Poirot puts his gray cells to work. The murderer(s?) must still be on the train. The snow would have shown footprints from anyone who had left the train. He, the train's doctor, and the train's owner question all the passengers in the first and second class carriages. Everyone appears to have an alibi.

Mssr. Ratchet proves to be a kidnapper and child murderer. He had been convicted in the United States and had left the country to avoid prison or punishment. The various international passengers are amazed to learn the truth about him. Some of passengers had been connected with the murdered child's family. Others had no knowledge of the case or those involved.

This is Christie at the top of her form. The ending is a total surprise the first time the story is read. Even after the first time, it is worth re-reading. This is a well-executed mystery. Anyone who likes mysteries could not go wrong on this one.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Murder on the Links
Poirot Investigates
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The Big Four
The Mysery of the Blue Train
Peril at End House
Thirteen at Dinner
Murder on the Orient Express
The A.B.C. Murders
Death in the Air
Murder in Three Acts
Cards on the Table
Murder in Mesopotamia
Death on the Nile
Poirot Loses a Client
Dean Man's Mirror
Appointment With Death
A Holiday for Murder
Sad Cypress
An Overdose of Death
Evil Under the Sun
Murder in Retrospect
Murder After Hours
The Labours of Hercules
There is a Tide
The Underdog and Other Stories
Mrs. McGinty's Dead
Funerals Are Fatal
Hickory, Dickory, Death
Dead Man's Folly
Cat Among the Pigeons
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding
Double Sin and Other Stories
The Clocks
Third Girl
Halloween Party
Elephants Can Remember
Hercule Poirot's Early Cases
Curtain