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Murder on the Orient Express: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Agatha Christie Collection) | 
 enlarge | Author: Agatha Christie
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
Category: Book
List Price: $12.00
Buy Used: $0.69
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Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 129278
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1
ISBN: 1579126235
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN: 9781579126230
ASIN: 1579126235
Publication Date: September 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
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Product Description
One of Agatha Christie’s most famous mysteries, Murder on the Orient Express was inspired by two real-life crimes and the author’s own experience being stranded on the Orient Express during Christmas of 1931. While traveling to Paris, a wealthy American is stabbed to death in his cabin on the Orient Express. With the train stuck in a snowdrift, there is no easy escape for the killer. Fortunately, detective Hercule Poirot is aboard and launches a clever investigation into the curious assortment of passengers, of whom each seems to have a motive.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Train of thought August 31, 2008
Westley (The South)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Murder on the Orient Express" is arguably Agatha Christie's best known novel, which is a status it more or less deserves. The book features Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, in one of his earliest appearances (his eighth novel). The plot is a clever one -- a murder takes place on a luxury train and one of the 12 passengers must have committed it. Poirot is travelling on the train, and he is drawn into the mystery by one of the executives of the train company who knows Poirot and also happened to be on the train. A few of the passengers seem like obvious suspects, but Poirot takes his time and does not draw any rash conclusions.
Many of the plot devices in "Murder on the Orient Express" have been borrowed from Christie by later, lesser authors, so the novel may not seem as fresh as it once was. I'm a relative newbie to Christie's writing but enjoyed this book quite a bit, particularly the colorful and interesting characters. I marked it down one star because some of the plot twists are not very believable and the novel relies on a few coincidences. However, even with these issues, "Murder on the Orient Express" is a very good to excellent mystery novel that is sure to please fans of the genre.
I read the rerelease version by Black Dog & Leventhal. They have done a nice job with this hardback series, including an attractive dust cover and quality paper. However, I'm not sure that the novel is worth the extra price you'd pay for a typical soft cover version.
Review of Murder on the Orient Express courtesy [...] May 12, 2008
Matthew Christensen (Minneapolis, MN USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3V1GZ8X1R0PN3
A brilliant "locked room" classic! August 25, 2007
Paul Weiss (Dundas, Ontario Canada)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
"The Mysterious Affair at Styles" might be the locked room mystery that holds down honours for being the novel in which Agatha Christie introduced Hercule Poirot to a grateful reading public. But it is "Murder on the Orient Express" that showcases a confident, polished Hercule at the height of his powers. Standing tall beside Sherlock Holmes and Auguste Dupin, Poirot is arguably the most widely read and best known detective in literature and "Murder on the Orient Express" is certainly one of the finest examples of the mystery genre. In a brilliant variation of the typical British drawing room mystery, Christie places her cast of thirteen suspects together with the victim and Poirot on the Orient Express en route from Istanbul to Calais.
Mr Ratchett, an unsavory looking man who obviously has some dark secrets in his past, approaches Poirot as the train leaves Istanbul with the offer of a very fat fee asking for his services to help protect his life from enemies he knows are out to kill him. Poirot, seeing this as a very uninteresting exercise from a cerebral point of view, politely declines. But when the train is stopped in its proverbial tracks by a huge snow storm and Ratchett is killed in his locked berth, stabbed no less than twelve times, Poirot is pressed into service to solve the case by his long time friend Bouc who is also a director of the corporation that owns the train.
Through the simple process gathering clues by interviewing the thirteen suspects - a wildly disparate lot that in modern terms would almost certainly be referred to as a "motley crue" - Poirot employs "the little gray cells" and intuits a positively brilliant solution. In that time honoured literary tradition of gathering all of the suspects into a single room, a somewhat less than humble Poirot puts on a flashy show of summarizing the case and revealing the identity of the perpetrator in a brilliant twist that only Poirot could fathom and only Dame Christie could create.
There is nothing about "Murder on the Orient Express" that does not deserve high praise - dialogue; the hilarious mis-translation of idiomatic French into spoken English; the less than subtle but accurate use of class distinctions and behavioural stereotypes unique to different nationalities; characterization; colourful narrative description; plot; suspense; red herrings; and, of course, a brilliant solution that deftly ties up every conceivable loose thread. And all of that is in an all too short package that can be read in the brief space of three or four thoroughly enjoyable hours. Read and enjoy, pass the book onto your best friend but, for goodness sake, keep your lip zipped about that brilliant ending!
Paul Weiss
An absolutely classic!!! August 9, 2007
L. J. Roberts (Oakland, CA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
First Sentence: It was five o'clock on a winter's morning in Syria.
In the Orient Express Calais Coach, a wealthy American is found dead of multiple stab wounds. The train is stopped in the snow and it quickly becomes clear the killer is still on board. Monsieur Bouc, the director of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons Lits, asks his friend, and fellow passenger, M. Hercule Poirot to solve the case.
It had been about 25 years since last I'd read Dame Agatha but I now remember just how good she was. Her dialogue is flawless; it flows in the natural style of conversation, particularly multi-lingual conversation. I'm reminded, too, that her books were written in a time when the middle- and upper-class English had, and may still have, a rudimentary understanding of French so no translations were made in the story. Her humor is light and deft. Her characters, Poirot particularly, are fascinating representatives of certain classes of the time. Her clues are deftly placed and it such fun to watch Poirot engage his "little gray cells." Dame Agatha is definitely deserving of the term "classic." I'll not wait another 25 years before reading another of her books.
Christie and Poirot at their best June 1, 2007
Joseph Boone (Irvine, CA United States)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Murder on the Orient Express is almost certainly the most famous Agatha Christie novel and may well be the best-known novel from the entire mystery genre. Despite the fact that I had been told the solution to the case many years ago, I decided to go ahead and finally read the book and am very glad that I did.
The basic plot, for any who don't already know, involves a murder on board a train with a small, but colorful, group of passengers. It becomes apparent relatively quickly that no one could have possibly committed the murder but Poirot has no option except to exercise his little gray cells to their utmost in an effort to solve the case. The story moves along at a nice clip and the cast is varied and interesting. My favorite aspect of any Poirot novel tends to be the little Belgian himself and he is in fine form here.
It is a tribute to Agatha Christie's writing that I could enjoy reading a mystery novel so much on my first read even knowing the murderer before starting. The book is an excellent choice whether you are an old Poirot fan who hasn't gotten around to it yet or a first-time Christie reader.
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