Murder on the Orient Express Review

Hey Interwebs!

 Another review here. This one is for Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. I listened to this one as an audio book. The audio book was read by Dan Stevens. I listened to it over two days 6/27-6/28 and gave it a 4/5 stars. As always spoilers abound, although I’m not sure there’s many people who do not know the general plot of this book. 

Murder on the Orient Express is one of Agatha Christie’s best-known books and was published in 1934. This one features the famed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot who is travelling aboard the famed Orient Express back to England. While stopped in the snow a man is killed in his first-class compartment. The man, known aboard the train as Ratchett had approached Poirot early in the journey asking for his help. Ratchett had claimed that someone was trying to kill him and asked to hire the detective to protect him. Poirot refuses. The first night Poirot sleeps in his first-class cabin but is awakened by a cry from Ratchett’s compartment next door and other small occurrences on the train. The next morning, he is informed by his friend Mr. Bouc, an owner of the railway informs Poirot of Ratchett’s murder and enlists his help. The body reveals he had been stabbed 12 times and the window left open to trick investigators into believing the murderer had left the train. The only true clue is a scrap of paper with the name ‘Armstrong’ on it. The paper reveals to Poirot that Ratchett was really a man by the name of Cassetti who had kidnapped and subsequently killed a three-year-old girl named Daisy Armstrong. Poirot interviews all the passengers and conductor on the train, everyone who could have been involved and begins to unravel the mystery. In the end all the passengers and even the conductor are found to have a connection to the Armstrong family and motive to kill Cassetti. The Countess Andrenyi was Helena Goldenberg, Daisy’s Aunt;  English governess Mary Debenham was Daisy’s governess; Antonio Foscanelli, the Italian in second class was the chauffeur; Ratchett’s English butler Masterman was Armstrong’s valet; missionary Greta Ohlsson was Daisy’s nurse; Russian Princess Dragomiroff was Daisy’s mother’s godmother; temperamental American Mrs. Hubbard was Linda Arden the famous actress and Daisy’s grandmother; Colonel Arbuthnot was a friend of Daisy’s father and Mary Debenham’s lover; Cyrus Hardman the American private detective hired by Ratchett was in love with the French maid who committed suicide after Daisy’s death; Hildegarde Schmidt, Princess Dragomiroff’s maid was the Armstrong’s cook; and Pierre Michel, the conductor was the father of the nursemaid who killed herself. Each of the players minus Countess Andrenyi took part in the murder of Cassetti and the Countess’s husband took her place. Upon discovering the solution, Poirot tells them two possible solutions: 1. That someone from outside the train came aboard, killed Cassetti, and left again before the train was stopped by the snow; or 2. The real solution in which all the individuals came together to kill Cassetti. Mr. Bouc, the doctor who had been acting as a coroner, and Poirot decide that the first option is the story that will be told to the authorities as, in this case, justice has finally been done.

After finishing the book, I re-watched the recent movie adaptation of this book from 2017 starring Kenneth Branagh as Poirot. There are many changes to characters: Colonel Arbuthnot being changed to Dr. Arbuthnot the character combined with that of the doctor in the book; Mr. Bouc is changed from a director of the line to the director’s nephew, Pierre Michel is now the nursemaid’s brother instead of her father, and Hardman poses as an Austrian scientist for much of the film. The worst change to the movie adaptation is the ending. The ending of the book, brilliant in his treatment of this locked room mystery is thrown out to be replaced with Poirot being held at gunpoint and threatened until he agrees to keep the reality of the mystery a secret. The movie was well cast and although the case was underutilized, the only real issue I had with it was in the ending.

The audio book of this was great. Dan Stevens did highly entertaining voices for each of the characters which made it a very pleasurable book to listen to. I highly recommend the audio book for a reread of the book, if not for the first experience with the story. I found this copy on Libby to rent from the library and I think I will be listening to the other Poirot mysteries that Dan Stevens performs as well. Highly recommended, 4/5 stars.

Happy Reading!

Richelle and Emma