Well, after many years I have finally read an Agatha Christie mystery. My overly persuasive husband prodded me into reading it because he thought that since I was a mystery lover I had to read one of the most prolific mystery writers of all time. I read it in two days. It is a very easy read that carries the reader effortlessly into each chapter and section. The characters are somewhat intriguing and from varied international backgrounds which definitely heightened the sense of mystery. It is the first book I have read that takes place, for the most part, on an stationary train (the orient express) in the dead of winter.

I appreciated the suspense, the author's irony and sense of humor, but it lacked depth or any meaning beyond a mystery. However, maybe that is all Christie was trying to deliver: a beautifully written mystery and nothing more? Still, I struggled with rating it in the same category as the great books I have read and so I rated it against the greatest mystery I have ever read: The Women In White by Wilkie Collins. All in all, it held my attention, made me chuckle and even though I suspected the true killer(s) identity all along I was pleasantly surprised with the way it unfolded.