JUL - Murder on the Orient Express

July review for Book Riot's Read Harder 2017: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, 1934. [published between 1900 and 1950 category]

Murder on the Orient Express is soon to be made into a movie, so what better incentive for me to finally pick it up and climb aboard? ~~Be forewarned that I WILL mention the solution to the murder, so if you don't want to be spoiled, I suggest you leave now!~~

Murder on the Orient Express was written in 1934 by Agatha Christie, originally published as "Murder in the Calais Coach." It is one of the infamous Hercule Poirot mysteries, an indefatigable detective with an equally indefatigable mustache that Christie relied heavily on for many of her mysteries. The premise is this: Poirot finds himself on a train where there has been a murder. The train is snowed in on the tracks, creating a sort of locked-room scenario that Poirot is tapped to solve, given his apparently widespread reputation. I found a helpful link that gave me some little annotations to help immerse myself in the story more. Being written and set in the 1930s, there were some accouterments I was less than familiar with, such as a slip coach, as well as some untranslated French.

I like Agatha Christie's writing style, and I think she sort of gets a bad rap for being a terrible writer, which I do not believe to be the case. She is one of the few mystery writers that I can content myself with just reading and absorbing as I go, not trying to figure out the answer to the mystery before it happens. She lets me wait, and my overactive brain appreciates that. This story has been called "one of the most ingenious stories ever devised," and it has had many a cultural reference spinoff in its time. The fact that (SPOILER) all 13 passengers were involved in planning and committing the murder, leaving Poirot again and again to the same impossible conclusion with contradictory stories and evidence, is a highly clever one. I think the movie Hot Fuzz took that approach into consideration when writing, and I really enjoyed it. It turns the idea of a singular solve, a singular villain, on its head and forces the reader to go back and rethink the story.

In terms of the upcoming film, I have some feelings. First and foremost that I object to the casting ofJudi Dench as Princess Natalia Dragomiroff, not because of Judi Dench (because she is a goddess), but because there is constant references to the Princess as "one of the ugliest old ladies [Poirot] had ever seen. [...] an ugliness of distinction--it fascinated rather than repelled" (p25). She is also referred to as having a yellow, toad-like face and I resent this connection to Dame Judi! That being said, I do look forward to seeing Kenneth Branagh and his ridiculous mustache solve this crime on the silver screen this November.