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Long before it was a film with an all-star cast, "Murder on the Orient Express" was a travel story written by someone who had actually made the trip. In 1928 Agatha Christie took the Orient Express to Istanbul and continued on to Baghdad. On later journeys along the same route, her trains were held up by bad weather, once by a blizzard and once by flooding. A few years after that first ride, she put Hercule Poirot on the train and stopped it in the snow.
If your picture of this book comes from one of its screen versions, the original is well worth reading on its own terms, in Christie's own voice and at her own pace.
Who wrote it, and when
Agatha Christie was born on 15 September 1890 in Torquay, Devon, and died on 12 January 1976 in Wallingford, Oxfordshire. Her books have sold more than two billion copies. Her first novel, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" (1920), introduced the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, who went on to appear in 33 novels and more than 50 short stories.
By the early 1930s the Middle East was part of Christie's ordinary life. In 1930 she married the archaeologist Max Mallowan, and she spent several months of each year at his excavations there. She kept riding the Orient Express in those years, and she drew on her experience of international rail travel when she wrote this novel.
The story first appeared in the United States, serialised in the Saturday Evening Post in six instalments between 30 September and 4 November 1933. Collins Crime Club published the book in Britain on 1 January 1934, and Dodd, Mead and Company followed in America on 28 February. In the Poirot series it comes after "Lord Edgware Dies" and before "Three Act Tragedy."
Where the story begins
The opening chapters take place mainly in Istanbul. Poirot is heading home to London from the Middle East, but the Orient Express, which ought to be quiet at that time of year, is fully booked. He gets a berth only because his friend Bouc, a director of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, arranges one for him.
On board, Poirot is approached by an American businessman named Ratchett, who says he has been receiving death threats. Having recognised the famous detective, Ratchett asks for his protection. Poirot turns him down.
The train is a crowded little Europe on wheels. A Swedish missionary, a Hungarian count travelling with his wife, a doctor from Greece, a princess from Russia, a colonel and a governess from England, a widow from America: people of different countries and classes, sharing one train.
Somewhere beyond the station at Vinkovci, in what was then Yugoslavia and is now Croatia, the train runs into a snowdrift and stops. As the title promises, a murder follows, and Poirot, who boarded simply to get home, finds himself at the centre of it.
That is all you need to know before you start.
Why it is worth reading
The setting does half the work. A sleeping car stuck in a snowdrift is a small world of its own. The train cannot go forward or back, so the story stays focused on one stretch of carriages and the people in them. Christie knew this kind of journey from her own travels, and the setting has the feel of a place she had seen rather than one she only imagined.
The cast is a snapshot of interwar travel. A princess, a missionary, a soldier, a governess, a businessman, a doctor: the long-distance trains of the 1930s brought together people who would never otherwise share a table. Part of the pleasure is simply the company: a slice of 1930s Europe shut inside one train for a while.
Poirot is at his most engaging. He is not on a case when the book begins. He is a traveller with a ticket home, slightly inconvenienced by a crowded train, and that informal start makes him easy company. Readers new to Christie can meet him here without any background from earlier books.
It is a book with a long afterlife. Sidney Lumet's 1974 film starred Albert Finney as Poirot, and Ingrid Bergman won an Academy Award for her role in it. David Suchet played Poirot in a 2010 episode of "Agatha Christie's Poirot," and Kenneth Branagh directed and starred in a 2017 film. Ken Ludwig's stage adaptation premiered the same year. The novel has also been named on the Mystery Writers of America's 1995 list of the Top 100 Mystery Novels and on H.R.F. Keating's list of the 100 best crime and mystery books.
Choosing an edition
Two titles, one book. The first American edition was called "Murder in the Calais Coach." The change was practical: Graham Greene's novel "Stamboul Train" had already been published in the US as "Orient Express," and the publishers wanted to avoid confusion. So if you find an older American copy under the Calais Coach title, it is the same novel, and there is no need to buy both.
Beyond that, the main thing is to choose a complete, unabridged text rather than a simplified retelling. If an edition includes an introduction, notes, or an afterword, consider saving them until you have finished the story. Readers who want to see how Poirot began can go back to "The Mysterious Affair at Styles," but you do not have to read the series in order to enjoy this one.
Who will enjoy it
This is a natural choice for anyone who has seen one of the films and wants to know how the story reads on the page. It suits readers who love train journeys, 1930s settings, and mysteries confined to a single place. It is a comfortable first Poirot novel, and an equally good next step if you have already read "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" or "And Then There Were None" and want more Christie.
Pack a book for a long journey, or simply for a winter evening. This one comes with its own train.
Sources
- Wikipedia, "Murder on the Orient Express" (UK first edition by Collins Crime Club on 1 January 1934; US edition by Dodd, Mead and Company on 28 February 1934 as "Murder in the Calais Coach," and the reason for the change, to avoid confusion with Graham Greene's "Stamboul Train," published in the US as "Orient Express"; serialisation in the Saturday Evening Post in six instalments from 30 September to 4 November 1933; place in the Poirot series between "Lord Edgware Dies" and "Three Act Tragedy"; Christie's first Orient Express journey in late 1928 and later journeys halted by a blizzard and by flooding; opening setup: a fully booked train, unusual for the season, a berth arranged by Bouc of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, Ratchett's death threats, his request for protection and Poirot's refusal, the snowdrift beyond Vinkovci in Yugoslavia, now Croatia; opening chapters set mainly in Istanbul; Poirot as a Belgian detective returning to London from the Middle East; passengers' nationalities and occupations; Mystery Writers of America Top 100 in 1995; H.R.F. Keating's 100 best list; 1974 film by Sidney Lumet with Albert Finney and Ingrid Bergman's Academy Award; 2010 "Agatha Christie's Poirot" episode with David Suchet; 2017 film directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh; Ken Ludwig's stage version premiered in 2017) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_on_the_Orient_Express
- Wikipedia, "Agatha Christie" (birth and death dates and places, total sales, first novel "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" published in 1920 and Poirot's debut in it, number of Poirot novels and stories, marriage to Max Mallowan in 1930 and seasons on his Middle Eastern excavations, the 1928 journey by Orient Express to Istanbul and on to Baghdad, her use of her experience of international train travel in this novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie