| Murder on the Orient Express | |
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Dust-jacket illustration of the first UK edition |
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| Author(s) | Agatha Christie |
| Cover artist | Not known |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Crime novel |
| Publisher | Collins Crime Club |
| Publication date | January 4, 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 featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.
It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on January 1, 1934[1] and in the US 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 US edition at $2.00.[3]
The US title of Murder on the Calais Coach was used to avoid confusion with the 1932 Graham Greene novel Stamboul Train which had been published in the US as Orient Express.[5]
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Returning from an important case in Syria, Hercule Poirot boards the Orient Express in Constantinople. The train is unusually crowded for the time of year. Poirot secures a berth only with the help of his friend M. Bouc, a director of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. When a Mr. Harris fails to show up, Poirot takes his place. On the second night, Poirot gets a compartment to himself.
That night, in Vinkovci, 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. A man replies in French "Ce n'est rien. Je me suis trompé", which means "It's nothing. I was mistaken", 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 a Mrs. Hubbard ringing the bell urgently. When Poirot then rings the conductor for a bottle of mineral water, he learns that Mrs. Hubbard claimed 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 Ratchett is dead, having been stabbed twelve times in his sleep. M. Bouc suggests that Poirot take the case, being that it is so obviously his kind of case; nothing more is required than for him to sit, think, and take in the available evidence.
However, the clues and circumstances of Ratchett's death are very mysterious. Some of the stab wounds are very deep, only three are lethal, 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 embroidered with the initial "H", 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 parts of a burned letter, Poirot discovers that Mr. Ratchett was a notorious fugitive from the U.S. named Cassetti. Five years earlier, Cassetti kidnapped three-year-old American heiress Daisy Armstrong. Though the Armstrong family paid a large ransom, Cassetti murdered the little girl and fled the country with the money. Daisy's mother, Sonia, was pregnant when she heard of Daisy's death. The shock sent her into premature labour, and both she and the baby died. Her husband, Colonel Armstrong, shot himself out of grief. Daisy's nursemaid, Susanne, was suspected of complicity in the crime by the police, despite her protests. She threw herself out of a window and died, after which she was proved innocent. Although Cassetti was caught, his resources allowed him to get himself acquitted on an unspecified technicality, although he still fled the country to escape further prosecution for the crime.
As the evidence mounts, it continues to point in wildly different directions and it appears that Poirot is being challenged by a mastermind. 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.
After meditating on the evidence, Poirot assembles the twelve suspects, M. Bouc and Dr. Constantine in the restaurant car. He lays out two possible explanations of Ratchett's murder.
The first explanation is that a stranger–some gangster enemy of Ratchett–boarded the train at Vinkovci, the last stop, 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 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 were first piqued by the fact that all the passengers on the train were of so many different nationalities and social classes, and that only in the "melting pot" of the United States would a group of such different people form some connection with each other.
Poirot reveals that the twelve other passengers on the train were all connected to the Armstrong family in some way:
All these friends and relations had been gravely affected by Daisy's murder and outraged by Cassetti's subsequent escape. 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 Count Andrenyi acting for his wife, as she–Daisy's aunt–would have been the most likely suspect. One extra berth was booked under a fictitious name–Harris–so that no one but the conspirators and the victim would be on board the coach, and this fictitious person would subsequently disappear and become the primary suspect in Ratchett's murder. (The only person not involved in the plot would be M. Bouc, for whom the cabin next to Ratchett was already reserved.)
The main inconvenience for the murderers was the occurrence of a snowstorm and the presence of a detective, which caused complications to the conspirators that resulted in several crucial clues being left behind.
Poirot summarizes that there was no other way the murder could have taken place, given the evidence. Several of the suspects have broken down in tears as he has revealed their connection to the Armstrong family, and Mrs. Hubbard/Linda Arden confesses that the second theory is correct and that Colonel Arbuthnot and Mary Debenham are in love. She then appeals to Poirot, M. Bouc, and Dr. Constantine, not to turn them in to the police. Fully in sympathy with the Armstrong family, and feeling nothing but disgust for the victim, Bouc pronounces the first explanation as correct, and Poirot and Dr. Constantine agree, Dr. Constantine suggesting that he will edit his original report of Cassetti's body to comply with Poirot's first deduction as he now 'recognizes' some mistakes he has made.
His task completed, Poirot states he has "the honour to retire from the case."
The Victim:
The Suspects:
The Investigators:
Arrangement of the Calais Coach:
| Corridor | ||||||||||||||
| Athens-Paris Coach | Michel | 16. Hardman | 15. Arbuthnot | 14. Dragomiroff | 13. R. Andrenyi | 12. E. Andrenyi | 3. Hubbard | 2. Ratchett | 1. Poirot | 10. Ohlsson 11. Debenham |
8. Schmidt 9. |
6. MacQueen 7. |
4. Masterman 5. Foscarelli |
Dining Car |
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 quite 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 script (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] The reference is to Chandler's criticism of Christie in his essay The Simple Art of Murder.
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 autumn 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]
Christie herself was involved in a similar incident in December 1931 while returning from a visit to her husband's archaeological dig at Nineveh. The Orient Express train she was on was stuck for twenty-four hours, due to rainfall, flooding and sections of the track being washed away. Her authorised biography quotes in full a letter to her husband detailing the event. The letter includes descriptions of some passengers on the train, who influenced the plot and characters of the book: in particular an American lady, Mrs. Hilton, who was the inspiration for Mrs. Hubbard.[11]
John Moffatt starred as Poirot in a five-part BBC Radio 4 adaptation by Michael Blakewell directed by Enyd Williams, with Andre Maranne as M. Bouc, Joss Ackland as Ratchett, Sylvia Syms as Mrs. Hubbard, Siân Phillips as Princess Dragomiroff, Francesca Annis as Mary Debenham and Peter Polycarpou as Dr. Constantine.
The book was made into a 1974 movie, which is considered one of the most successful cinematic adaptations of Christie's work ever. The film starred Albert Finney as Poirot, Martin Balsam as M. Bianchi, Richard Widmark as Ratchett and an all-star cast of suspects including Sean Connery, Lauren Bacall, Anthony Perkins, John Gielgud, Michael York, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Jacqueline Bisset, Dame Wendy Hiller, Vanessa Redgrave, Colin Blakely and Ingrid Bergman (who won the 1974 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Greta Ohlsson). Only minor changes were made for the film: Masterman was renamed Beddoes, the dead maid was named Paulette instead of Susanne, Arbuthnot became Arbuthnott, and M. Bouc became M. Bianchi.
The novel was made into a made-for-television film which was first aired in 2001 with Alfred Molina as Poirot. This adaptation changes the setting to modern day, and also omits many characters from the novel, making the number of suspects significantly shorter. A love interest for Poirot is also introduced.
David Suchet reprises the role of Hercule Poirot in the television series co-produced by ITV Studios and WGBH-TV.
The original air date was July 11, 2010 in the United States, and it was aired on Christmas Day 2010 in the UK.
The cast comprises Eileen Atkins as Princess Dragomiroff, Barbara Hershey as Caroline Hubbard, Toby Jones as Samuel Ratchett, Elena Satine as Countess Andrenyi, Brian J. Smith as Hector MacQueen, David Morrissey as Colonel John Arbuthnot, Jessica Chastain as Mary Debenham, and Denis Menochet as Pierre Michel, among others.
Part of the filming included Malta standing in for Istanbul. Philip Martin directs this installment, with the screenplay being written by Stewart Harcourt (who also wrote the screenplay for The Clocks).
Generally it was taken badly by the Poirot fans. Loosely faithful to the original story, it has a number of major differences, such as the character of Cyrus Hardman being omitted from the story, with Doctor Constantine (who is changed from a Greek doctor to Mrs. Armstrong's American obstetrician) taking his place among the "jury", and Antonio Foscarelli being the lover of the maid (whose name is changed from Susanne to Françoise) as well as being the chauffeur. Most notably, instead of each member of the 'Jury' coming to Cassetti's room during the night and stabbing him one at a time, here they line up and stab him one after the other, resulting in him dying from the sheer quantity of wounds sustained rather than leaving any ambiguity about which one of the jury struck the fatal blow.
Following a trend of religious elements introduced to the series after 2003, the script includes extended religious and moral dialogues. Other deviations from the novel include scenes of the stoning of an adulteress on the streets of Istanbul, and Mary Debenham having a useless right arm as a result of injuries sustained while trying to stop Daisy Armstrong's kidnapping and being the organizer of the plan, whereas in the novel it was Caroline Hubbard/Linda Arden.
The adaptation is unusual in that the narrative begins with Poirot in the midst of solving his recent case in Palestine (referring back to the case mentioned in the book).
Helena, Countess Andrenyi's real maiden name, along with that of their mother's name, is changed from Goldenberg to Wasserstein, German for "water stone" then anglicized to Waterston. In the 1974 movie directed by Sidney Lumet, it had been Grünwald, German for "Greenwood". This movie version has Princess Dragomiroff volunteering to be turned in, while in the book it is Linda Arden who asks Poirot to turn her in, if anyone at all, as the lone assassin.
The adaptation concludes with an emphasis on Poirot's moral dilemma. Arbuthnot is tempted to murder Poirot and Bouc after the truth is revealed, but is convinced by the other murderers that doing so would make him as bad as Cassetti. This, Poirot's attitude towards the Istanbul stoning, and a conversation with Mary Debenham lead to Poirot presenting the police with the false account of a lone assassin. The murderers are clearly relieved by this, but Poirot continues to struggle with his decision as he walks away from the train.
A notable anachronism in this version is a reference by Mr Bouc to "the famous battleship Bismarck", built several years after the events in the novel.
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 and had the players play the role of a blonde French (English educated) woman named Antoinette Marceau working for the train company on behalf of M. Bouc (who does not appear in the game). To create an original mystery for people who had already read the book, additional content was created resulting in a "third solution" expanding on the first two that Poirot proposes in the novel.
An activity called Murder on the Orient Express appears in Microsoft Train Simulator and follows a similar plot line to the book.
Murder on the Orient Express was released by HarperCollins as a graphic novel adaptation on July 16, 2007, adapted by François Rivière and illustrated by Solidor (Jean-François Miniac) (ISBN 0-00-724658-7). This was translated from the edition first published in France by Emmanuel Proust éditions in 2003 under the title of Le Crime de L'Orient-Express.
The story's first true publication was the US serialisation in six instalments in the Saturday Evening Post from September 30 to November 4, 1933 (Volume 206, Numbers 14 to 19). The title was Murder in the Calais Coach, and it was illustrated by William C. Hoople.
The UK serialisation appeared after book publication. The story appeared in three instalments in the Grand Magazine, in March, April, and May, 1934 (Issues 349 to 351). This version was abridged from the book version (losing some 25% of the text), was without chapter divisions, and named the Russian princess as Dragiloff instead of Dragomiroff.
Advertisements in the back pages of the UK first editions of The Listerdale Mystery, Why Didn't They Ask Evans and Parker Pyne Investigates claimed that Murder on the Orient Express had proven to be Christie’s best-selling book to date and the best-selling book published in the Collins Crime Club series.
The dedication of the book reads:
"To M.E.L.M. Arpachiyah, 1933"
"M.E.L.M." is Christie's second husband, archaeologist Max Edgar Lucien Mallowan (1904–78). She dedicated four books to him, either singly or jointly, the others being The Sittaford Mystery (1931), Come Tell Me How You Live (1946), and Christie's final written work, Postern of Fate (1973).
Christie and Mallowan were married after a short engagement on September 11, 1930, followed by a honeymoon in Italy. After his final seasons working on someone else's dig (Reginald Campbell Thompson – see the dedication to Lord Edgware Dies), Max raised the funds to lead an expedition of his own. With sponsorship from the Trustees of the British Museum and the British School of Archeology in Iraq,[12] he set off in 1933 for a mound at Arpachiyah, north-west of Nineveh where "after several anxious weeks... considerable quantities of beautifully decorated pottery and figures came to the surface."[13] A notable feature of this season is that for the first time, Christie, the rank amateur, assisted the professionals in their work. She was responsible for keeping written records and proved highly adept at cleaning and re-assembling pottery fragments. As at Nineveh, she also found the time to continue writing, with this book, Why Didn't They Ask Evans, and Unfinished Portrait being drafted at the dig[13] (although a claim has been made that Murder on the Orient Express was written in the Hotel Pera Palace in Istanbul – see External Links below). Despite this success, after 1933, Mallowan discontinued work in Iraq due to the worsening political situation, and moved on to Syria.
The blurb on the inside flap of the dustjacket of the first edition (which is also repeated opposite the title page) reads:
"The famous Orient Express, thundering along on its three-days' journey across Europe, came to a sudden stop in the night. Snowdrifts blocked the line at a desolate spot somewhere in the Balkans. Everything was deathly quiet. 'Decidedly I suffer from the nerves,' murmured Hercule Poirot, and fell asleep again. He awoke to find himself very much wanted. For in the night murder had been committed. Mr. Ratchett, an American millionaire, was found lying dead in his berth – stabbed. The untrodden snow around the train proved that the murderer was still on board. Poirot investigates. He lies back and thinks – with his little grey cells...
Murder on the Orient Express must rank as one of the most ingenious stories ever devised. The solution is brilliant. One can but admire the amazing resource of Agatha Christie."
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