Twelve people on a train, from different countries and
different social classes. One of them is a murderer. Good
thing world-famous crime solver Hercule Poirot is on the
scene. Shortly before his death, the victim approaches
Poirot to ask for protection because he thinks someone is
trying to kill him. Poirot refuses, but when Ratchett's
body is found stabbed a dozen times, his friend M. Bouc, a
director of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits,
who also happens to be on the train, urges him to solve the
case. The train has hit a snowdrift in the night,
isolating Poirot, the other passengers, and the staff with
a killer who could not have escaped.
This re-issue of MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS will help
create a new generation of Agatha Christi fans. It seems
impossible that Poirot should be able to sort through the
misdirection and lies that all of the suspects seem to be
telling, that he should overcome the red herrings and put
together the intricate puzzle to reach the truth, but he
does so with aplomb. The plot is cleverly crafted, the
supporting characters distinct and three dimensional. It
is a work that had me guessing right to the very end.
The 1974 film cast Albert Finney as Poirot, and remained
quite true to the book. The book was originally released
in the United States as MURDER ON THE CALAIS COACH, since
another work had been published around the same time with
the title ORIENT EXPRESS, and the publishers were afraid
the coincidence would cause confusion. This is actually
Poirot's tenth appearance solving a novel-length mystery.
Christi first introduced him in 1920 in The Mysterious
Affair at Styles, her first novel. He was such an
appealing character that after his demise in Curtain
(1975), the New York Times ran an obituary, the only time
they have ever done so for a fictional character.
"The murderer is with us–on the train now . . ." Just after
midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks
by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Edward
Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen
times, his door locked from the inside. One of his fellow
passengers must be the murderer. Isolated by the storm,
detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer among a dozen
of the dead man's enemies, before the murderer decides to
strike again . . .
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