Murder on the Orient Express
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| Murder on the Orient Express | |
 Dust-jacket illustration of the first UK edition |
|
| Author | Agatha Christie |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Not known |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Crime novel |
| Publisher | Collins Crime Club |
| Publication date | January 1, 1934 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 256 pp (first edition, hardcover) |
| ISBN | NA |
| Preceded by | The Hound of Death |
| Followed by | Unfinished Portrait |
Murder on the Orient Express is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on January 1, 1934[1] and in the U.S. by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year under the title of Murder in the Calais Coach[2][3]. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6)[4] and the U.S. edition at $2.00[3]. The book features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.
Contents |
[edit] Explanation of the novel's title
The U.S. title of Murder in the Calais Coach was used to avoid confusion with the 1932 Graham Greene novel Stamboul Train which had been published in the U.S. as Orient Express.[5]
[edit] Plot summary
Returning from an important case in Syria, Hercule Poirot boards the Orient Express in Istanbul. The train is unusually crowded for the time of year and Poirot is able to secure a place only with the help of his friend Monsieur Bouc, a director of the company which operates the Express. When a Mr. Harris fails to show up, Poirot takes his place, to the surprise of his roommate Mr. MacQueen. However, on the second night, Poirot gets a compartment to himself.
On the second night out from Istanbul, near Belgrade at about twenty-three minutes before 1:00 am, Poirot wakes to the sound of a loud noise. It seems to come from the compartment next to his, which is occupied by Mr. Ratchett. When Poirot peeks out his door, he sees the conductor knock on Mr. Ratchett's door and ask if he is all right. Mr. Ratchett replies in French that he just had a nightmare, and the conductor moves on to answer a bell down the passage. Poirot decides to go back to bed but he is disturbed by the fact that the train is unusually still and his mouth is dry. As he lies awake, he hears Mrs. Hubbard ringing the bell urgently. When Poirot then rings the conductor for a glass of water, he learns that Mrs. Hubbard was afraid that someone had been in her compartment. He also learns that the train has stopped due to a snowstorm. Poirot dismisses the conductor and tries to go back to sleep, only to be wakened again by a thump on his door. This time when Poirot gets up and looks out of his compartment, the passage is completely silent, and he sees nothing except the back of a woman in a scarlet kimono retreating down the passage in the distance.
The next day he awakens to find that Mr. Ratchett is dead, having been stabbed twelve times in his sleep. However, the clues and circumstances are very mysterious. Some of the stab wounds are very deep and some are glancing blows. Furthermore, some of them appear to have been inflicted by a right-handed person and some by a left-handed person.
Poirot finds several more clues in the victim's cabin and on board the train, including a linen handkerchief with the letter "H" on it, a pipe cleaner, and a button from a conductor's uniform. All of these clues suggest that the murderer or murderers were somewhat sloppy. However, each clue seemingly points to different suspects, which suggests that some of the clues were planted.
By reconstructing some bits of a burned letter, Poirot soon discovers that Mr. Ratchett was a notorious fugitive from the U.S. named Cassetti. Some years earlier, Cassetti kidnapped three-year-old American heiress Daisy Armstrong. Though the Armstrong family paid a large ransom for Daisy's release, Cassetti murdered the little girl regardless and fled the country with the money. Daisy's mother, Sonia Armstrong, was pregnant when she heard of Daisy's death. The shock sent her into premature labor, and both she and the child died. Her husband, Colonel Armstrong, shot himself out of grief. Mrs. Armstrong's maid, Susanne, was suspected by the police, despite her protests. She threw herself out of a window of the Armstrong house and died after which she was proved innocent.
As the evidence mounts, it continues to point in wildly different directions and it appears that Poirot is being challenged by a master mind. A critical piece of missing evidence - the scarlet kimono worn the night of the murder by an unknown woman — turns up in Poirot's own luggage.
Poirot discovers that some of the passengers had connections to the victim, while others had connections to the Armstrong family.
- MacQueen's father was the district attorney in charge of the Armstrong case.
- Masterman was Colonel Armstrong's batman during the war and his valet in New York.
- Pierre Michel was the father of Susanne, the maid driven to her death.
- Miss Debenham was Mrs. Armstrong's secretary & Countess Andrenyi's governess.
- Colonel Arbuthnot was Colonel Armstrong's brother officer and best friend.
- Princess Dragomiroff was Mrs. Armstrong's godmother.
- Countess Andrenyi was Mrs. Armstrong's sister.
- Count Andrenyi was Mrs. Armstrong's brother-in-law.
- Fraulein Schmidt was the Armstrong family's cook.
- Mrs. Hubbard was Mrs. Armstrong's mother, the actress Linda Arden.
- Foscarelli was the Armstrong family's chauffeur.
- Hardman was a policeman who fell in love with Susanne.
- Greta Ohlsson was Daisy Armstrong's nurse.
After meditating on the evidence for some time, Poirot assembles the thirteen suspects, plus M. Bouc and Dr. Constantine, in the restaurant car where he lays out two possible explanations of Ratchett's murder.
Poirot's first explanation is that a stranger entered the train during the previous stop at Vincovci, murdered Ratchett for reasons unknown, and escaped unnoticed. The crime occurred an hour earlier than everyone thought, because the victim and several others failed to note that the train had just crossed into a different time zone. The other noises heard by Poirot on the coach that evening were unrelated to the murder. However, Dr. Constantine says that Poirot must surely be aware that this explanation does not fully explain the circumstances of the case.
Poirot's second explanation is rather more sensational: All of the suspects are guilty. Poirot's suspicions are first piqued by the fact that each of these individuals are acquaintances of different European nationalities and/or ethnicities. Poirot reasons that this usually occurs with those who are connected to the United States of America, the “melting pot” where a Scotsman, may also be an acquaintance of an Italian and a German, all of different social classes and all at the same time. There was no other way the murder could have taken place, given the evidence. Poirot reveals that the other passengers were in fact relatives, servants, or friends of the Armstrong family, or had connections to the crime. All had been gravely affected by Daisy's murder and the consequences of the crime. They took it into their own hands to serve as Cassetti's executioners, to avenge a crime the law was unable to punish. Each of the suspects stabbed Ratchett once, so that no one could know who delivered the fatal blow. Twelve of the conspirators participated to allow for a "twelve-person jury", with only Countess Andrenyi not participating, as she (Daisy's aunt) would have been the most likely suspect. One extra berth was booked under a fictitious name - Harris (the cabin next to Ratchett was already reserved for a director of the company) so no one other than the conspirators and the victim would be on the train that night. The unexpected stoppage in the snowbank, and the fact that the carriage company had allowed the famous Poirot to take the cabin reserved for the fictitious person, caused complications to the conspirators that resulted in several crucial clues being left behind. As Poirot reveals the details of the elaborate plot, many of the suspects (among them Daisy's aunt) break down in tears.
Poirot agrees to let Dr. Constantine and M. Bouc decide which of his two theories is correct. After a brief pause, both state softly that the first explanation seems far the more plausible, and is the one they will give to the police when the freed train reaches the next station. His task completed, Poirot retires from the case, admitting that, albeit glad to see justice served, the case initiated "a struggle with [his] conscience".
[edit] Characters in "Murder on the Orient Express"
The Victim:
- Samuel Edward Ratchett, an unsavoury-looking man with a dark secret (Real name: Cassetti, a gangster).
The Suspects:
- Hector Willard MacQueen, a tall, handsome, young American, the victim's secretary and translator.
- Edward Henry Masterman, the victim's British valet.
- Pierre Michel, the French conductor of the Calais coach.
- Mary Hermione Debenham, a tall, dark, young British woman, working as a governess in Baghdad.
- Colonel Arbuthnot, a tall British army officer returning from India.
- Princess Natalia Dragomiroff, an elderly and very ugly Russian grande dame.
- Hildegarde Schmidt, a middle-aged German woman, Princess Dragomiroff's lady's maid.
- Count Rudolph Andrenyi, a tall, dark Hungarian diplomat with English manner and clothing, travelling to France.
- Countess Elena Andrenyi, the Count's pale young wife (Formerly Helena Goldenberg, Linda Goldenberg's younger daughter).
- Greta Ohlsson, a middle-aged blonde Swedish missionary returning home for a vacation (In reality, a former nurse).
- Mrs. Caroline Martha Hubbard, a plump, elderly, very excitable American returning from a visit to her daughter, a teacher in Baghdad. (In reality, Linda Goldenberg, an actress under the name of Linda Arden).
- Antonio Foscarelli, a portly and exuberant Italian businessman (In reality, a former chauffeur).
- Cyrus Bethman Hardman, a large and gregarious Texan typewriter ribbon salesman (In reality, a former policeman).
The Investigators:
- The Detective - Hercule Poirot
- The Director - M. Bouc
- The Doctor - Dr. Constantine
[edit] Literary significance and reception
The Times Literary Supplement of January 11, 1934 outlined the plot and concluded that "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."[6]
In The New York Times Book Review of March 4, 1934, Isaac Anderson finished by saying, "The great Belgian' detective's guesses are more than shrewd; they are positively miraculous. Although both the murder plot and the solution verge upon the impossible, Agatha Christie has contrived to make them appear quiet convincing for the time being, and what more than that can a mystery addict desire?"[7]
The reviewer in The Guardian of January 12, 1934 stated that the murder would have been “perfect” had Poirot not been on the train and also overheard a conversation between Miss Devonham (sic) and Colonel Arbuthnot before he boarded, however, "'The little grey cells' worked admirably, and the solution surprised their owner as much as it may well surprise the reader, for the secret is well kept and the manner of the telling is in Mrs. Christie’s usual admirable manner.”[8]
Robert Barnard: "The best of the railway stories. The Orient Express, snowed up in Yugoslavia, provides the ideal 'closed' set-up for a classic-style exercise in detection, as well as an excuse for an international cast-list. Contains my favourite line in all Christie: 'Poor creature, she's a Swede.' Impeccably clued, with a clever use of the Cyrillic alphabet (cf. The Double Clue). The solution raised the ire of Raymond Chandler, but won't bother anyone who doesn't insist his detective fiction mirror real-life crime."[9]
[edit] References and Allusions
[edit] References to actual history, geography and current science
The Armstrong kidnapping case was based on the actual kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's son in 1932, just before the book was written. A maid employed by Mrs. Lindbergh's parents was suspected of involvement in the crime, and after being harshly interrogated by police, committed suicide.
Another, less-remembered, real-life event also helped inspire the novel. Agatha Christie first travelled on the Orient Express in the fall of 1928. Just a few months later, in February 1929, an Orient Express train was trapped by a blizzard near Cherkeskoy, Turkey, remaining marooned for six days.[10]
[edit] References in other works
In paleontology, the theory that multiple factors led to the Permian-Triassic extinction event, the largest mass extinction in Earth history, is called the "Murder on the Orient Express Model." The term was first used by Douglas Erwin in 1993.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
[edit] Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
The book was made into a 1974 movie starring Albert Finney, which is considered one of the most successful cinematic adaptations of Christie's work ever. Only minor changes were made for the film, including Masterman being named Beddoes, the dead maid being named Paulette instead of Susanne and M. Bouc became M. Bianchi.
[edit] Murder on the Orient Express (2001)
The novel was made into a made-for-television film which was first aired in 2001 with Alfred Molina as Poirot.
[edit] Agatha Christie's Poirot
David Suchet will star as Poirot in an upcoming adaptation as part of the ongoing Agatha Christie's Poirot series in late 2008.
[edit] PC adaptation
On November 21, 2006, The Adventure Company released a PC adaptation of the book. The game starred David Suchet as the voice of Hercule Poirot. However, the ending had been altered to create a fresh adaptation for people who had already read the book. Also, players play from the point of view of a blonde French (English educated) woman named Antoinette Marceau.
[edit] Publishing history
- 1934, Collins Crime Club (London), January 1, 1934, Hardcover, 256 pp
- 1934, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), 1934, Hardcover, 302 pp
- c.1934, Lawrence E. Spivak, Abridged edition, 126 pp
- 1940, Pocket Books (New York), Paperback, (Pocket number 79), 246 pp
- 1948, Penguin Books, Paperback, (Penguin number 689), 222 pp
- 1959, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins), Paperback, 192 pp
- 1965, Ulverscroft Large-print Edition, Hardcover, 253 pp ISBN 0-70-890188-3
- 1968, Greenway edition of collected works (William Collins), Hardcover, 254 pp
- 1968, Greenway edition of collected works (Dodd Mead), Hardcover, 254 pp
- 1978, Pocket Books (New York), Paperback
- 2006, Poirot Facsimile Edition (Facsimile of 1934 UK first edition), September 4, 2006, Hardcover, 256 pp ISBN 0-00-723440-6
The book's first true publication was the US serialisation in six installments in the Saturday Evening Post from September 30 (Volume 206, Number 14) to November 4, 1933 (Volume 206, Number 19) under the title Murder in the Calais Coach with illustrations by William C. Hoople.
The UK serialisation did not take place until after publication of the book version when the story appeared in three instalments in the Grand Magazine from March to May, 1934. This version was abridged from the version that had appeared in the book (losing some 25% of the text), was without chapter divisions and named the Russian Princess as Dragiloff instead of Dragomiroff.
[edit] Comic strip adaptation
Murder on the Orient Express was released by HarperCollins as a comic strip adaptation on July 16, 2007, adapted by François Rivière and illustrated by Solidor (Jean-François Miniac). ISBN 0-00-724658-7
[edit] References
- ^ The Observer December 31, 1933 (Page 4)
- ^ John Cooper and B.A. Pyke. Detective Fiction - the collector's guide: Second Edition (Pages 82 and 86) Scholar Press. 1994. ISBN 0-85967-991-8
- ^ a b American Tribute to Agatha Christie
- ^ Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. Collins Crime Club – A checklist of First Editions. Dragonby Press (Second Edition) March 1999 (Page 14)
- ^ Vanessa Wagstaff and Stephen Poole, Agatha Christie: A Readers Companion (Page 88). Aurum Press Ltd, 2004. ISBN 1 84513 015 4
- ^ The Times Literary Supplement January 11, 1934 (Page 29)
- ^ The New York Times Book Review March 4, 1934 (Page 11)
- ^ The Guardian January 12, 1934 (Page 5)
- ^ Barnard, Robert. A Talent to Deceive – an appreciation of Agatha Christie - Revised edition (Pages 199-200). Fontana Books, 1990. ISBN 0-00-637474-3
- ^ Dennis Sanders and Len Lovallo The Agatha Christie Companion (Pages 105-108) Delacorte Press, 1984
[edit] External links
- Murder on the Orient Express at the official Agatha Christie website
- Murder on the Orient Express (1974) at the Internet Movie Database
- Murder on the Orient Express (2001) at the Internet Movie Database
- Murder on the Orient Express PC Game (2006) at the Internet Movie Database
- Spark Notes for the book
- Official Website for PC Game
- Hotel Pera Palace where Christie supposedly wrote the novel although this is not referenced in either her official biography or her own Autobiography
