Agatha Christie does not appear on most “100 Greatest Novels” list, which seems something of an oversight. Her plaudits are myriad: In 1955, the Mystery Writers of America awarded her its inaugural Grand Master Award. Her novel And Then There Were None, having sold more than 100 million copies, is the best-selling mystery novel of all time, in any language, and is estimated to be the fifth best-selling novel in the world. As of 2020, she was declared by Index Translationum to be the world’s most translated author, her books having sold more than two billion copies in 44 different languages. The 2018 Guinness Book of World Records called her the best-selling fiction writer of all time. In 2000, at the Boucheron World Mystery Convention, Christie was named “Best Writer of the Century” and her novels featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot “Best Series of the Century.” In 2013, a survey of 600 members of the Crime Writer’s Association of professional novelists named her the “Best Crime Writer” of all time. That same year the British Crime Writers Association named her third Poirot novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, the best crime novel ever written.
All of which suggests that Agatha Christie truly ought to be on any list of great English novels. Which is not to say that she is universally admired: Last week’s honoree, Raymond Chandler, considered her novels to be artificial and not true to the real world of crime and law enforcement. Edmund Wilson saw nothing exceptional in her style and called her characterization superficial. But they are exceptions that prove the rule. Agatha Christie is recognized for her plot twists, which revolutionized the mystery genre. She creates early in the book a situation that seems to be impossible, so that it becomes a problem that her detective, more often than not Hercule Poirot, must apply his “little grey cells” to, and ultimately figure out the solution to the puzzle. Poirot, whom Christie created in 1916, was presented as a Belgian refugee fleeing to England after the German invasion of Belgium, an act which had served as the immediate cause for England’s entry into World War I. Poirot, already a well-known detective in his home country, is a somewhat vain and fussy character with a rather preposterously groomed mustache who in the tradition of Sherlock homes or Edgar Allan Poe, relies on ratiocination, his “little grey cells,” to put all the clues together to solve the puzzle. After Sherlock Holmes, he’s probably the world’s most famous fictional detective.
It would make some sense to include the very popular And Then There Were None, or the acclaimed Poirot novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, as Christie’s representative on my list of the “100 Most Lovable Books in the English Language.” And I was certainly tempted to do so. But in the end I decided to go with the novel that first comes to my mind when I think of Agatha Christie: the Hercule Poirot mystery from 1934 called Murder on the Orient Express. It’s possible my taste was formed by the fact that, while I’d heard of Christie before, my first real acquaintance with one of her works was in Sidney Lumet’s 1974 film version of the novel, which starred Albert Finney as Poirot with an all-star supporting cast including Richard Widmark (at one time my favorite actor), Sean Connery in one of his first post-Bond roles, Michael York, Psycho’s own Anthony Perkins, and Hollywood royalty including Vanessa Redgrave, Lauren Bacall, and the incandescent Ingrid Bergman in one of her last roles, for which she won an Oscar, glowing even brighter than the other stars in that film. Ultimately, I read the book and realized how closely the screenplay had stuck to the novel, and the novel became my entryway into other Christie books. But for me it still stands out, and so stands at number 19 (alphabetically) on my great books list.
The famous kidnapping of the Charles Lindbergh baby in 1932 significantly influenced the Christie novel, which appeared two years later. In that case, the child was abducted from his own crib and held for ransom. Though the ransom was paid, the child was never returned and was ultimately found dead. One of the Lindberghs’ maids was falsely accused of the crime and, after severe and vigorous interrogation by the police, died by suicide. A similar historical (but fictional) crime lies behind the crime Poirot is called to investigate in Orient Express. Christie, who had recently ridden the Orient Express across Europe, used her own experiences to give her story credibility, and in fact on one trip in 1931, her train had to be halted for 24 hours because of flooding on the tracks. She knew, as well, that a snowstorm had actually halted the train for six days in 1929. So recent experiences helped to inform her story.
The plot is one of Christie’s most convoluted and it would be futile to try to explore it in this small space. But I can give you a little taste of what it’s all about. Poirot has just arrived in Istanbul when he receives a telegram begging him to return to London. He is able to book second-class tickets for immediate passage on the Orient Express that evening with the help of his friend, Monsieur Bouc, a director in the firm that operates the train. A wealthy American businessman, Samuel Ratchett, is a fellow passenger, and when he learns the famous detective is on the train, Ratchett speaks to him, revealing he has been receiving death threats and trying to hire Poirot to protect him. His conversation disgusts Poirot, however, and the detective refuses the case, telling Ratchett frankly that he just doesn’t like his face.
As luck would have it, and as mystery plots demand, Ratchett is found murdered in his cabin the next morning. At the same time, it is announced that the train has been stuck in a snowdrift and is stalled on the track between Vinkovci and Brod in the former Yugoslavia. Poirot’s friend Michel informs him of the murder and reveals that the train has no police on board, and that the murder must still be on the train since the snowstorm has made it impossible to escape. Poirot agrees to take the case. Examining the body, he finds that it has been stabbed twelve times. He finds the window open in Ratchett’s compartment, and also finds a pipe cleaner, a match different from the ones Ratchett used, a handkerchief monogramed with the letter H, and a half burnt slip of paper on which is written “member little Daisy Armstrong.”
It’s the paper that gives Poirot a clue to the motive for the murder: He remembers the famous case of Daisy Armstrong, a three year old child kidnapped by an American gangster named Cassetti, who collected a large ransom though the child died. But which of the passengers did it, and what did Ratchett have to do with the Armstrong case?
Poirot has no shortage of suspects trapped on the train. There are Ratchet’s secretary Hector McQueen and his British valet Masterman. There is an American salesman named Hardman and Italian American car salesman Fosarelli. There are a few upper class passengers: a British colonel called Arbuthnot, a Hungarian Count named Andrenyi and his wife Elena, and a Russian princess named Natalia Dragomiroff with her German maid Hildegarde Schmidt. On the other end of the spectrum are an American widow, Caroline Hubbard, an English governess Mary Debenheim, and a Swedish missionary named Greta Ohlsson. Finally, there is a Greek doctor named Constantine who helps Poirot examine the body.
Poirot interviews all the suspects, gathers his information, and then works out the solution after a period of consideration. The solution is a bizarre twist that readers will not see coming—unless they’ve already watched the Lumet movie, or perhaps the more recent Kenneth Branagh film version—also a star-studded cast with Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Dame Judy Dench, and others. Branagh’s film takes more liberties with the novel and its characters. So don’t’ watch this one yet. In fact, don’t watch any film or television version of the movie (of which there are several). Read the book first. It’s a special kind of enjoyable, to see whether your little grey cells can match Poirot’s, or Christie’s. Once you’ve done the reading, then go ahead and watch as many film versions as you want. This is a story that you might like to experience over and over again, even though you know the solution to the puzzle. And that’s what puts her on my list.