<Alex> Book Review: Murder on the Orient Express
- Alex Lin
- Jan 30, 2018
- 4 min read
“Murder on the Orient Express” has been one of the most popular masterpieces by Agatha Christie, known as “Queen of crime” to her readers. The story takes place on the”Orient Express,” a train traveling across Europe and Asia. Hercule Poirot, the Belgium private detective, who is my favorite character in this book, plays a significant role in this mystery. He is on the train when the murder happens. The victim Samuel Rachett, whose true identity is “Casseti”, is actually the kidnapper and the murderer of Daisy Armstrong (daughter of the Armstrong family), which occured a few years ago in the US. Before the murder happens, Rachett asks for protection from Mr. Poirot by saying he has enemies on the train, but Poirot refuses his offer because he does not like Rachett’s face, which he describes as a “wild animal”. Rachett has been stabbed twelves times in various ways and positions in his compartment when the train is stuck in the snow. It’s not until the next morning that his death is discovered.
The detective, his friend Mr. Bouc and Dr. Constantine start to investigate the mysterious case. They examine Rachett’s dead body and search the room. They found 12 wounds on the corpse, a watch that stops at 1:15, a pipe cleaner, a handkerchief with initial “H” and an open window. They interview all the passengers and the staff, one by one. During the investigation, the detective suddenly comes up with an idea about the Armstrong Kidnap case and recognizes Rachett as the kidnapper of Daisy Armstrong. Basically, all the passengers in that carriage, except the detective and the other two, are related to the Armstrong family. They decide to punish Rachett themselves and confuse the detective by giving misleading information.
Some of the interviewees such as Count Andrenyi try to get away with this case by saying they know nothing, they are just sleeping or reading books. Countess Andrenyi (Daisy Armstrong’s aunt) smears her passport name with a drop of grease in order to hide her real name. Princess Dragomiroff, a Russian princess, attempts to confuse the detective by giving many incorrect information about other passengers. Mrs. Hubbard (Daisy’s grandmother) whose true identity is actress Linda Arden, tells Poirot that there was a man inside her compartment in the night Rachett died. The wagon lit conductor, Colonel Arbuthnot (friend of Daisy Armstrong’s father) and some other passengers lie to the detective by creating a non-existent person in order to mess up the evidence and the entire case. They claim that they saw a short black person with a womanish sound in a staff uniform walking through the corridor and a lady with a red kimono. These fake clues really make a hard time for the investigators, but not for Poirot, he notices that there are some contradictions between their words and their behaviors. After the interview, Poirot starts to check every passenger’s compartment and luggage. During the check, he notices a few unusual things: the wagon lit uniform is found in Hildegarde Schmidt’s (Armstrong family’s cook) bag, the Japanese kimono is found in his own luggage and a knife is discovered in Mrs.Hubbard’s sponge bag.
After the check, Poirot reviews the facts and the evidence the passengers make and conclude two possible solutions. Before he propounds his solution to the passengers, he calls some of them to reveal their true identities by saying something emotional. Poirot discovers Antonio Foscanelli was Armstrong's chaffuer, Mary Debenham was Daisy's governess, Countess Andrenyi was the aunt of Daisy Armstrong, Greta Ohlsson was Daisy Armstrong's nurse and the rest were indirectly connected with the Armstrong family. He then explains the two solutions to the passengers. The first solution is that the stranger (the short black person with womanish voice) gets on to the train when it stops in one of the station, kills Rachett and gets off the train before the train leaves. The second solution is that all the passengers (13 people) are involved in this murder. Mrs. Hubbard then jumps out, admitting the second solution is correct, and explains their motivation. After it, Poirot suggests Mr. Bouc and Dr. Constantine tell the police that the first solution in order to protect all the people involved.
In the story, the writer proposes that murder could be justified in certain situations. Casseti has escaped the punishment from the legal system in the US. He is able to travel around the world and live a comfortable life. On the other hands, the Armstrong famiy are suffering because of the loss of Daisy Armstrong. Law cannot stop evil, so the relatives and friends of Armstrong family decide to organize a jury of 12 on order to punish the bad guy. In my opinion, I think the passengers have done the right things, they kill Casseti in the name of justice. In reality, legal law system usually fails to bring justice to victims; for example, two years ago, a guy in Taipei cut off the throat of a little girl brutally but got only life imprisonment instead of death penalty. In this case, according to Taiwan’s law, he is likely to be release in the future. The criminal will probably continue breaking laws and harming innocent childrens. To ensure that murderers or criminals cannot hurt the innocents again, it is necessary and can be forgive to take action like what the passengers on the Oreint Express have done.
I think the setting of the character was quite interesting, all the passengers have different cultural background and nationality but they are all related to the Armstrong family. Despite the intriguing plots, this novel is kind of boring to me. There is no action or exciting parts, only a large amount of conversation. In the beginning of the story, my curiosity aroused. I was eager to find out what will happen next that I could hardly put it down. However, when it came to the interview part, I started to feel bored because what they do is only talking, talking and talking. Even so, the ending of the story surprised me a lot, I can never imagine such a brilliant way to revenge if no one told me the end of the novel when I was reading the book. I will like to try some other books written by Agatha Cristie in the future.
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