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.

Book Summary

"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 . . .