Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie

I read Agatha Christie's iconic 1934 mystery, Murder on the Orient Express, many, many years ago. (And to be honest - I had forgotten the 'whodunit'.) Well, Twentieth Century Fox has just released a new (star studded) version of Murder on the Orient Express. It's one I would like to see at the theatre, but I wanted to read the book again beforehand.

My favourite genre is mysteries and this one is a classic 'locked room' mystery. Twelve people are traveling on the Orient Express train. Our protagonist, the great Detective Hercule Poirot is one of them. When the train is stopped dead on the tracks in the middle of nowhere by a snowstorm and a murdered traveler is found in one of the cabins, Poirot's deductive skills are called upon. "The murderer is with us - on the train now..."

And it is those deductive skills that make Christie's works such a joy to read. While current day crime novels can draw upon technology and forensic tools, Poirot relies upon his 'little gray cells'. He solves crimes through interviews, questions, deductions and his own innate cleverness. It's great fun to see if you can remember what each of the twelve has claimed - and to try and find the cracks in each one's proclamations along with Hercule. But they are subtle and so cleverly inserted. The joy in reading Murder on the Orient express is in the journey to the final answer. Read an excerpt of Murder on the Orient Express.

On reaching the final whodunit, I am now very curious as to how the movie will play out. Christie's ending leaves some wiggle room.