A Book A Week

Anyone who has read my reviews will know that I love a good mystery. I've always been addicted to the genre. I remember reading Encyclopedia Brown as a kid and have continued to devour mysteries ever since. All things considered, I can't believe it has taken me this long to read an Agatha Christie novel. As an introduction to the author, I decided to start with her most famous book, Murder on the Orient Express.

This is a classic, locked-room mystery. A train passenger has been killed, the train is snowed in, and one of the surviving passengers has to be the culprit. Fortunately, inspector Hercule Poirot is riding the train. He jumps into action and begins a methodical investigation of the mysterious murder. Poirot creates a list of questions to be answered. He believes that if the answers are revealed, he will be able to discover the identity of the killer.

In a brisk couple hundred of pages, Agatha Christie presents a meticulously plotted mystery that will keep even veteran readers of the genre guessing. I was reminded of the novels by P.D. James as I read this one. Like James's works, this story relies on characters to drive the momentum of the plot. With the static setting of the stalled train, Christie uses her charismatic hero and his incremental revelations to bring depth to her novel. Over eighty years after being published, Murder on the Orient Express is still a thrilling read with a surprise ending that makes it one of the best that's ever been written.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads.

(2017, 29)