(WPF) Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie- 3 stars

[Jen K]

Hercule Poirot has finished a complicated case in Syria and is on his way back to Western Europe. He planned to spend some time in Istanbul when he is urgently called to London requiring him to fit onto an already fully booked Orient Express train. Being fully booked is the first odd event on his trip. After the happy coincidence of having his friend the train director also on board, accommodations are sorted. Off they go until they hit a massive snowbank in the Balkans causing the train to be stalled on the track in the middle of nowhere and even worse, a man has been stabbed to death during the night. Being stuck on the track means that the murderer must be one of the passengers on the train. Poirot volunteers to help solve the case for the train director using deduction and analysis of evidence from interviews and baggage searches. It is quite a random cast of characters and the victim is known to be an evil man. Poirot is intrigued by the challenge.

This is my first Agatha Christie novel. While it is quite a well known one, not being the biggest mystery fan, I had no idea what the outcome would be. It is a clever one and I appreciated that part. However I did not really like Poirot. Maybe I missed something by not reading the earlier books first? He was just a bit pompous with his - I'm just going to sit and think and figure out the mystery by using my genius brain and you all can just sit and be amazed and why didn't you make the same connections. I like smart people and I appreciated the cleverness of the murder but I think I prefer my mysteries a bit more cozy, bumbling, quirky and humorous.

[Booknblues]

I read many Christie books years ago and since at that time, I wasn't recording what I read, I never knew if I had read a book before or not.

Some of them, of course stands out. This is one which stands out and I really loved it and the setting as well.