Agatha Christie's The Murder on the Orient Express

957 Words2 Pages

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born on September 15, 1890 in Torquay, England, U.K., as the youngest of three children. Christie wrote six romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is known for the 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections she wrote. She is the best-selling author coming only third to Shakespeare and the Bible. Christie described her childhood as very happy, and was surrounded by strong and independent women from an early age. She was raised in a household with various beliefs, and also believed that their mother was a psychic. Her parents believed that she should be homeschooled ;they taught her how to read and write, and to do basic arithmetic. They also taught her how to play both the piano and the mandolin. Her father was often ill and eventually he passed away in November of 1901. At this time Christie said her childhood was now over only being eleven years old. She met her fiancé Archie, in London during his leave at the end of 1914, and they married on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. Agatha Christie died on January 12, 1976, at the age of 85 from natural causes in her Winterbrook House.

The story begins with Hercule Poirot, a detective, boards the Orient Express train. He is unable to sit in first class because it is full. In the morning, Poirot woke up to a cry that he thought nothing of until the next morning. The conductor informed everyone that the train is stuck in a snow bank. The next morning, the train still stopped, the conductor informs Poirot that Ratchett has been murdered and the murderer is still on the train. Poirot checks every passenger's luggage. During the luggage check he notices a list of things: a label on Countess Andrenyi's luggage is wet, a Wagon Lit uniform...

... middle of paper ...

...on writer so it is hard to tell what she wanted to accomplish in her novels. The main idea that she wanted to propose is the fact that Ratchett's death was just or unjust and leaves it up to the reader to decide. Christie does an amazing job guiding the reader through all of the evidence but is still able to reveal a plot twist near the end of the novel. She leaves the reader to try to discover the murderer by giving them enough hints and clues but not completely giving it away by giving them too much. Agatha Christie is an excellent author because she is able to propose a question and moral in a subtle manner.

Works Cited

Christie, Agatha. The Murder on the Orient Express. London, Paris: Harper Publishings, 1933. Kindle file.

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Murder on the Orient Express.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.

Open Document