[Review] Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Title: Murder on the Orient Express

Author: Agatha Christie

Genre: Vintage Crime
Subject: Hercule Poirot, Orient Express, Cozy Mysteries

Page: 347 pages

First Published: 1934

Murder on the Orient Express is a classic locked-room whodunit mystery so stereotypical of Agatha Christie. In this story the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot must solve a gruesome murder of man on board the Orient Express train from Istanbul to Calais. “One or more of those passengers killed Ratchett. Which of them?”

After having struggled with the previous book, I wanted to read something light but thought-provoking at the same time. Hence, I chose Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.  

I first acquired an Agatha Christie book last year at a bargain store, The Mysterious Affair at Styles – which, coincidently was her first novel. I became hooked at an instant and swore to myself that I would read all her collections, especially the Poirot and Miss Marple series as an act of repentance for not having done so when I was younger.

I absolutely love Hercule Poirot. He is described as a man with a prominent and military-like mustache, an egg-shaped head with an obsessive compulsion to orders and methods. I especially enjoy Poirot’s shrewd and funny (and sometimes rude) observations of human personality: “Her small toad-like face looked even yellower than the day before. She was certainly ugly, and yet, like the toad, she had eyes like jewels, dark and imperious, revealing latent energy and an intellectual force that could be felt at once”. He is at times too full of himself and someone who is not afraid to speak his mind: “If you will forgive me for being personal – I do not like your face, M. Ratchett.”

This is probably the best Agatha Christie that I’ve read so far. When reading any detective story, I like to challenge myself by developing my own theory as to who the murderer is and see if my hunch is correct, but I was completely at a loss with this one.  The ending was fantastic!

I believe there are many adaptations of the story including the 1974 film, but I found this one on youtube (9 parts altogether). It has a different feel compared to the book and loves the religious and social angle to it.