The Murder on the Orient Express ~ Agatha Christie (103 0f 2024)

Agatha Christie was one of the most famous guests of the Pera Palace Hotel which is the first modern hotel in Istanbul and hosted the most notable people of a period. The writer stayed many times in room 411 between 1926 and 1932 and even wrote her famous novel The Murder on the Orient Express. It is belived that she was here during her mysterious 11 missing days.

The Pera Palace Hotel is a historic and luxurious hotel located in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, near Taksim Square and the vibrant Istiklal Street. Opened in 1892: The Pera Palace Hotel was inaugurated to cater to the needs of the passengers traveling on the Orient Express, the famous train service connecting Paris to Istanbul. The original Orient Express service, which began in 1883, is no longer running in its historical form. However, its legacy lives on through various iterations and services inspired by the famous train. The original route was discontinued in 1977, and the service gradually ceased operating as the world of rail travel evolved. While the exact historical route of the Orient Express no longer operates, the name continues to evoke the romance and elegance of classic rail travel through the modern luxury trains with similar names. 

The original Orient Express began its journey from Paris, France - Gare de l'Est (Eastern Railway Station) and ended at Istanbul (formerly Constantinople), Turkey, passing through several major European cities along the way, including Strasbourg, Munich, Vienna, Budapest, and Bucharest.

The journey covered a distance of approximately 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) and was renowned for its luxury, providing an opulent and comfortable travel experience across Europe.

After taking the Taurus Express from Aleppo to Istanbul, private detective Hercule Poirot arrives at the Tokatlian Hotel, where he receives a telegram prompting him to return to London. He instructs the concierge to book him a first-class compartment on the Simplon-route Orient Express service leaving that night. Although the train is fully booked, Poirot obtains a second-class berth through the intervention of friend, fellow Belgian, and fellow passenger Monsieur Bouc, director of the train operator Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL). Other passengers include American widow Caroline Hubbard; English governess Mary Debenham; Swedish missionary Greta Ohlsson; American businessman Samuel Ratchett, with his secretary/translator Hector MacQueen, and his English valet Edward Henry Masterman; Italian-American car salesman Antonio Foscarelli; Russian Princess Natalia Dragomiroff and her German maid Hildegarde Schmidt; Hungarian Count Rudolph Andrenyi and his wife Helena; English Colonel John Arbuthnot; American salesman Cyrus B. Hardman; and Greek medical doctor Stavros Constantine.

Ratchett has been receiving death threats; recognizing Poirot, he tries to hire him for protection. Poirot, repulsed by Ratchett, refuses, telling him, "I will not take your case because I do not like your face." Bouc has taken the last first-class cabin, but on the first morning he arranges to move to a separate coach and gives Poirot his space. That night, Poirot observes some strange occurrences. Early in the morning, he is awakened by a cry from Ratchett's compartment next door. Pierre Michel, the train's conductor, knocks on Ratchett's door, but a voice from inside responds, "Ce n'est rien. Je me suis trompé." ("It is nothing. I was mistaken.") Hubbard rings her bell and tells Michel a man passed through her room. When Poirot rings his bell for water, Michel informs him that the train is stuck in a snowdrift between Vinkovci and Brod before he hears a loud thump next door. He observes a woman in a scarlet kimono going towards the washroom, then goes to sleep.

The next morning, with the train still stalled, Bouc informs Poirot that Ratchett has been murdered and the murderer is still aboard, having no way to escape in the snow. As there are no police on board, Poirot takes up the case. With help from Dr. Constantine, Poirot examines Ratchett's body and compartment, discovering the following: the body has twelve stab wounds, the window had been left open, a handkerchief with the initial "H", a pipe cleaner, a flat match different from the ones Ratchett used, and a charred piece of paper with "member little Daisy Armstrong" written on it.

The piece of paper helps Poirot work out the murderer's motive. Many years earlier, American gangster Cassetti kidnapped three-year-old Daisy Armstrong. Cassetti collected a significant ransom from the wealthy Armstrong family, then revealed that he had already killed the child. Sonia Armstrong, Daisy's mother, who was pregnant with her second child, went into premature labor upon hearing the news and died, along with the baby. Her grieving husband, Colonel Armstrong, shot himself, and Daisy's French nursemaid, Susanne, was accused of aiding Cassetti and killed herself, only to be found innocent afterwards. Cassetti escaped justice through corruption and legal technicalities, and fled the country. Poirot concludes that Ratchett was actually Cassetti. Whoever had answered the conductor was not Ratchett, as Ratchett did not speak French.

As Poirot begins interviewing everyone on the train, he discovers MacQueen is directly involved as he knows about the Armstrong note and believed it was destroyed and that Hubbard believes the murderer was in her cabin. While the passengers and Pierre all provide suitable alibis for each other, Poirot notes that some of them observed the woman in the scarlet kimono walking down the hallway on the night of the murder. However, no one admits to owning a scarlet kimono. Hubbard had Ohlsson lock the communicating door between her compartment and that of Cassetti, which invalidates her story of the man in her compartment, and Schmidt bumped into a stranger wearing a Wagons-Lits uniform. Miss Debenham inadvertently reveals she has been to America, contrary to her earlier statements, and Ohlsson shows much emotion when the subject of Daisy is brought up, causing further suspicion. Arbuthnot remarks that Cassetti should have been found guilty in a second trial instead of murdered, and Hardman admits he is actually a MacNeil Agency private detective who was asked to watch out for an assassin that was stalking Cassetti.

While inspecting the passengers' luggage, Poirot is surprised to find the label on Countess Andrenyi's luggage is wet and that her passport is smudged, Schmidt's bag contains the uniform in question, and Poirot's own luggage contains the red kimono, recently hidden there. Hubbard herself finds the murder weapon hidden in her sponge bag. Poirot meets with Dr. Constantine and Bouc to review the case and develop a list of questions. With these and the evidence in mind, Poirot thinks about the case, going into a trance-like state. When he surfaces from it, he deduces the solution.

He calls in the suspects and reveals their true identities and that they were all connected to the Armstrong tragedy in some way, gathering them in the dining car for the second solution. Countess Andrenyi (née Goldenberg) is Helena, Daisy's aunt, who was a child herself at the time of the tragedy. Rudolph, her loving husband, smudged her luggage label and obscured her name to conceal her identity. Debenham was Helena's and Daisy's governess; Foscarelli was the Armstrongs' chauffeur and a suspect in the kidnapping; Masterman was Col. Armstrong's valet; Michel is Susanne's father and the person who procured the false second uniform; Hubbard is actually actress Linda Arden (Daisy's grandmother and Sonia's and Helena's mother); Schmidt was the Armstrongs' cook; and Ohlsson was Daisy's nurse. Princess Dragomiroff, in reality Sonia's godmother, claims the monogrammed handkerchief, saying that her forename is Natalia, and the "H" is actually a Cyrillic letter "N". Arbuthnot is there on Debenham's behalf and his own, as he was a personal friend of Colonel Armstrong. Hardman is an ex-policeman who admits he was in love with Susanne, and MacQueen, who had feelings for Sonia, was the son of the lawyer who represented the Armstrongs. The only passengers not involved in the murder are Bouc and Dr. Constantine, both having slept in the other coach, which was locked.

Poirot propounds two possible solutions, one far simpler than the other, and advises them to consider both seriously. The first is that a stranger boarded the train when it stopped at Vinkovci, disguised as a train conductor; he killed Cassetti as a result of a Mafia feud, and disembarked just before the train started off again. The second is that all the clues except the note about Daisy Armstrong were planted and that Michel and all the passengers in the coach, except Helena, stabbed Cassetti, acting as their own jury. Arden acknowledges everything and offers to take responsibility as she was the mastermind. Bouc and Dr. Constantine, however, decide the first solution should be relayed to the police. Poirot retires from the case.