Agatha Christie’s most famous murder mystery. Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Isolated and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must identify the murderer – in case he or she decides to strike again. Reviews “Need it be said – the little grey cells solve once more the seemingly insoluble. Mrs Christie makes an improbable tale very real, and keeps her readers enthralled and guessing to the end.” Times Literary Supplement “A brilliantly ingenious story.” Dorothy L.
Sayers, Daily Herald “Ingenuity at its height the idea is utterly novel, the setting a model of realism, and the characters a versatile, attractive crew.” Woman’s Journal “A piece of classic workmanship. Exquisite and wholly satisfying.” News Chronicle About the author Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and became, quite simply, the best-selling novelist in history. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, written towards the end of the First World War, introduced us to Hercule Poirot, who was to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. She is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime.
Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 100 foreign countries. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 19 plays, and six novels under the name of Mary Westmacott. By Seanyseany Having read a number of Agatha Christie murder mysteries it does become apparent that their quality can vary tremendously. Without giving away any of the plot this is the quintessential example of an exotic cast of characters in a 'sealed' location typical of this period and genre.
To me what makes it stand out is that I had been made aware of the solution before reading it, but it didn't detract from the enjoyment as the many layers of the puzzle unfold. It is the only novel I have multiple times and I cannot give it higher praise than that. It provides a satisfying conclusion rather than just a case of knowing whodunit, unlike the TV adaption a couple of years ago which to my mind spoilt the essence of what the story delivers in order to be different.
Agatha Christie's most famous murder mystery, reissued with a striking new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers. Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks.
The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Isolated and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must identify the murderer - in case he or she decides to strike again. Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and became, quite simply, the best-selling novelist in history. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, written towards the end of the First World War, introduced us to Hercule Poirot, who was to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes.
She is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 100 foreign countries. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 19 plays, and six novels under the name of Mary Westmacott. 'Need it be said - the little grey cells solve once more the seemingly insoluble. Mrs Christie makes an improbable tale very real, and keeps her readers enthralled and guessing to the end.' Times Literary Supplement 'A brilliantly ingenious story.' Sayers, Daily Herald 'Ingenuity at its height.
Fast midi to mp3 converter keygen. The idea is utterly novel, the setting a model of realism, and the characters a versatile, attractive crew.' Woman's Journal 'A piece of classic workmanship. Exquisite and wholly satisfying.' News Chronicle.
Information Goodreads: Series: Hercule Poirot #10 Source: Purchased Published: 1934 Official Summary Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel 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 and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer amongst a dozen of the dead man’s enemies, before the murderer decides to strike again Review Murder on the Orient Express is my first Agatha Christie novel (which I read in anticipation of ), and I enjoyed it immensely in spite of not being a particularly avid mystery reader.
(I do dabble in Sherlock Holmes, but Arthur Conan Doyle does have something of a pattern to the mysteries he presents.) There is a fairly large cast of characters in this novel, in spite of the fact I momentarily worried that the action all taking place on a train, primarily in a single sleeping carriage, might make the book feel a bit claustrophobic. On the contrary, Christie really utilizes the space and character pool, and she makes each character/suspect come alive for the reader. Only a couple seemed to me to be missing much time on page, making it difficult for me to get a good handle on them.
The cast overall is varied and clearly presented to the reader for consideration. I don’t want to say much about the mystery because it’s too easy to accidentally spoil the plot in these types of books. However, I will say that it took me a long time and some hard thinking just to come up with what I thought was a reasonable solution to the crime. The clues are so complex and well-laid that I was dissatisfied with several initial proposals I came up with and had to keep reading and reading to gain more information before I came with an explanation I was at least moderately happy with. Mysteries that are too easily solved are disappointing to me, so I loved that in this book Christie really kept me guessing. (No, I did not know the plot or ending of the book before I started reading, much to the surprise of some of my friends, who seem under the impression that the plot is basically as much a part of pop culture knowledge as Romeo and Juliet.) I also found it really helpful that Christie includes, first, a diagram of the train carriage and where each guest is sleeping and, later, Poirot’s notes on what he has learned from each of the interviews he has conducted.
This is something a really dedicated reader and mystery fan might been inspired to jot down themselves in an effort to solve the crime, but personally I would not have been that invested myself and was pleased it had been done for me. I enjoyed this book enough that I have put And Then There Were None on hold at the library, and I look forward to reading more of Christie’s work soon. BRIANA co-founded Pages Unbound in 2011. Her favorite genres are classic literature and fantasy.
Adult, middle grade, and young adult books are all fair game. Briana runs the social media accounts for the blog. KRYSTA co-founded Pages Unbound. She enjoys classic literature and fantasy, especially the works of J. She believes that all books should be read with hot chocolate (topped with marshmallows, of course).
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Hip Hip Hooray! I’m so excited that you got your first Agatha Christie book under your belt.
This is one of my favorites, though it would sit about 3rd or 4th on my list. By the way David Suchet is who plays Hercule Poirot on the PBS mystery movies. I didn’t care for their verison as I felt Poirot was a bit too emotional towards the end, not something that he is in the book. I love the Albert Finney version though. It also has Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, and Michael York. It’s a fun movie to watch on a cold winter day. If you decide to read any more of her books I would suggest The Man In The Brown Suit, And Then There Were None, and The Murder of Roger Ackryod.
They are all brilliant.
The main problem with adapting Murder on the Orient Express is that its ending is already pretty famous. Various directors have tried their hands at adapting Christie’s masterpiece for the screen, including Sidney Lumet with the, and each has taken a few liberties with the source material along the way. On Friday, Kenneth Branagh joins their ranks with his own take on the classic detective story, casting himself in the starring role.
Mary Debenham
While Branagh more or less preserves the novel’s remarkable conclusion—they all did it—he also makes some small but significant changes to the story to make it his own. Rapidshare anno 1701 deutsch. In both book and film, there are twelve suspects aboard the train, plus four others: Poirot, his friend Bouc, a train conductor named Pierre Michel, and, of course, the dead body. In both versions, that body belongs to Ratchett (Johnny Depp), a con man who is secretly an American gangster notorious for orchestrating the kidnapping and murder of Daisy Armstrong, the daughter of a WWI hero.
That fictional case bears an obvious resemblance to the real events of, in that Daisy’s death begat other tragedies. Daisy’s mother went into premature labor and died, Captain Armstrong shot himself, and an innocent maid accused of the crime jumped from a window. No wonder someone (or someones) wanted to stab Ratchett. The movie is hardly colorblind about its casting.
In the book, characters are especially suspicious of Antonio Foscarelli, because they believe that a knife is an Italian’s weapon of choice. In the movie, that suspicion shifts toward Arbuthnot and Marquez, as Poirot worries that the crime could be pinned on one of them, guilty or not, because of their respective race and heritage. Poirot also comments on the challenges facing the movie’s interracial couple, Arbuthnot and Mary Debenham (Daisy Ridley). Branagh’s greatest departure from the novel is his characterization of Poirot, starting by giving him a personal connection to the murder case. In Branagh’s version, Poirot’s familiarity with the Armstrongs goes beyond reading the headlines; he reveals that he received a letter from Captain Armstrong years earlier begging him to help solve the kidnapping years ago, but it was too late.
Poirot also gets something of a tragic backstory underneath his silly exterior, including a long-lost lover whose photo he keeps by his bed and which is subjected to long monologues about justice. Branagh’s Poirot even seems weary of crime-solving and has to be persuaded, even guilted, by Bouc into taking the case. You do not mess with the ending of Murder on the Orient Express, since the ending, and the careful way in which Christie reveals it, are what make the novel so great. In both book and film, Poirot presents two possible solutions to the crime.
In the first, Poirot suggests that an assassin snuck onboard the train, stabbed Ratchett, and vanished. In the second (correct) solution, Poirot reveals that all 13 people aboard the train—including the conductor, Pierre Michel—have some connection to the Armstrong household, and that they conspired to murder Ratchett together to avenge their loved ones. Here’s where the book and movie diverge. In the book, Poirot is sympathetic toward the conspirators, noting that the 12 stab wounds (the Count Andrenyi acted on behalf of both himself and his wife) are reminiscent of a trial by jury, with the killers acting as judges and executioners of a man who was obviously guilty. Poirot presents both his solutions but lets Bouc decide which theory they should present to the police. Despite the confessions of the train passengers, Bouc chooses the first, incorrect theory about the assassin, and Poirot announces that he considers the case closed.
Branagh’s Poirot is not nearly as relaxed about the whole thing. After presenting both theories and extracting a confession from Mrs.
Hubbard, he announces that he can’t live with the injustice of keeping the killers’ secret (something he has in common with David Suchet’s more religious Poirot in the of the novel). Branagh's Poirot puts a gun on the table and insists that the suspects will have to shoot him to keep his silence; the gun turns out to be unloaded, and Poriot eventually decides he will present the police with the assassin theory and “learn to live with the imbalance.”.