Mystery Monday: Murder on the Orient Express

Mystery Monday: Murder on the Orient Express 

 

Photo: WikiImages

Published eighty-eight years ago this month, Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express is still one of her most popular books. Additionally, the book regularly appears in lists denoting the top one hundred mysteries of all time. The story was originally titled Murder on the Calais Coach. 

 

Orient Express was Christie’s twelfth novel and inspiration for the book came from several places, the first of which was the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Charles Lindberg’s son that occurred two years prior to her writing. In 1928, Christie took her first trip on the Orient Express and a few months later, the train was marooned in Turkey during a six-day blizzard. On a later journey the train was halted for twenty-four hours because of flooding, and Christie’s experience also served as inspiration, especially with regard to passengers. 

 

For those unfamiliar with the book, Murder on the Orient Express features Hercule Poirot, the "world-

famous” sleuth from Belgium. He is approached by American businessman Samuel Ratchett who asks for protection because of threats he’s received. Poirot refuses the case, and that evening the train is stopped because of heavy snowfall. The following morning, he is informed that Ratchett has been murdered. With the train unable to go anywhere (or for anyone to reach them), Poirot is tasked with finding the murderer. Much of the book involved the suspects being interviewed and the detective searching various parts of the train. 

 

The book was highly successful, with critics lauding it with statements such as the book “keeps her readers enthralled to the end,” and “what more can a mystery addict desire?” One website comments that “Agatha Christie has been hailed as the queen of crime fiction, and Murder on the Orient Express might just be her crown jewel. 

 

Christie’s story had been adapted to radio (1992-1993), film (1974: starring Albert Finney, and 2017: starring Kenneth Branagh), stage (2017) and television, including a 1955 German and 2015 Japanese version. In 1985, a board game based on the novel was released as well as a 2006 computer game featuring David Suchet’s voice as Poirot. The book has never been out of print. 

Have you read this classic?

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Happy book birthday, Under Ground 

 

It’s been six months since Ruth Brown followed clues to England and discovered the identity of her sister’s killer. War continues to rage as Ruth reports on food shortages, the black market, the evacuation of London’s children, and the bravery of the British people. When a bombing raid destroys her home and unearths a twenty-year-old skeleton in the cellar, her reporter’s senses tingle in anticipation of solving another mystery. Unfortunately, the by-the-book detective inspector assigned to the case is not interested in her theories. As Ruth investigates the case on her own, she butts heads with the handsome policeman. 

 

Will she get to the bottom of the story before the killer strikes again?

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