Eight reasons why I loved Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

I didn't expect to like Murder on the Orient Express. I expected to plod through it. Why? I'm not a fan of mysteries. And Agatha Christie (whom I'd never read before), well, she's just not for me. When it came time to select a mystery to read for Books and Beer Club's May meeting, I was okay with reading this one. I felt it was probably I book I should read at some point. Agatha Christie is classic. The book wasn't too long. And I've always loved the idea of luxury travel aboard a train such as the Orient Express. Maybe that's the number one reason why I loved reading this book.

1.     I love the idea of the Orient Express. I mean the train, not the novel. Travel was so classy and dignified back then. In my mind, I always liken the Orient Express to a cruise to no where. It wasn't all about the transportation. The journey was the important part. Granted, my impressions of the Orient Express were based on my experiences with the Venice-Simplon Orient Express, a tour company that ran restored carriages from the 1920s and 1930s between Venice and London during the time I was a FIT agent in the early 1980s. FIT stands for foreign independent travel. And in the 80s,  in the years before internet bookings, and probably in the years since, foreign independent travel was the epitome of luxury. We'd plan out every aspect of a client's trip. Itineraries were pages long and included phrases like "car and driver at your disposal" and "reservation at <insert Michelin-rated restaurant> for 2". I had the opportunity to book the Venice-Simplon Orient Express at least twice. It was sure a lot more luxurious than booking Amtrak.


2.     The passengers on this Orient Express lived up to my expectations. There was a Count and a Contessa. There was a princess. There was a wealthy American. People traveled with valets and lady's maids.

3.     The murder takes places early enough in the story so that basically the entirety of the book is based on the solving of the crime.

4.     The train is snowbound in the midst of Yugo-Slavia with no contact with the outside world. This means that our detective, Hercule Poirot had no way to verify the identities or the alibis of the passengers on the train. Can you imagine anything comparable today in this day and age? I suppose in a blizzard in the middle of nowhere it would be possible to be stuck in an information void. It seemed somehow romantic in the novel, but if something like that happened today, the rest of the world would know about it in short order and rescuers would be quickly sent in to get the train back on its tracks. (Just sharing my thinking right here. Even if HP did have a way to contact the outside world, how quickly would he have been able to get information about the passengers on the train? I guess the importance of being stuck in the snow was to prove the point that the murderer had to be one of the passengers on the train. I'm also amazed that HP was so quickly able to discern the real identity of the murdered passenger who was traveling under an alias.)

5.     Hercule Poirot is clever. (I'm not talking about the way he cleverly solves the mystery. He's clever in a totally different way.)  The interplay amongst HP, M. Bouc, the high up guy from Wagon Lits, the company that operates the train, and Constantine, the doctor who examines the dead body, is extremely clever. The writing is clever. We can forgive Ms. Christie for all the stereotypes used in the book because the writing is so clever.

6.     I love saying Wagon Lits. It's pronounced VAH-guhn-lee.

7.      I love the way the book was organized. The facts, the evidence and finally Hercule Poirot sits back and thinks. Everything is clearly laid out, including HP's completely far-fetched thinking. A map of the train carriage is included. And the motives and alibis of all the passengers is reiterated in summary format.
 
8.     It was okay that the story was totally unbelievable. Totally. And the solution that Hercule Poirot developed was nothing short of miraculous.

Will I read another of Agatha Christie's mysteries again? I might. Probably not anytime soon. Too many books, too little time and all that. But I certainly wouldn't be averse to selecting a title from the Miss Marple series if the need arises to read another mystery book! Everyone should read a little Agatha Christie.

Now I'm off to find a version of the movie to watch. Just because I can...