Rather, Poirot pieces together the murder by talking to various suspects and witnesses in Nice and Monte Carlo on the coast of the blue Mediterranean. A simpler novel would have the evidence point to one suspect favored by the police (and therefore we’d know he definitely didn’t do it).Īs is standard, we later get more suspects, but “Blue Train” shows that even when Christie follows formula, she adds an unusual wrinkle.Īlthough the title draws comparisons to Christie’s later masterpiece “Murder on the Orient Express,” “Blue Train” doesn’t take place entirely on a train. There’s a period about mid-book where the evidence points to two characters – but they most likely could not have both done it. The author doesn’t carry these moments throughout the whole novel, perhaps because it’s hard to keep so many lies straight, but it’s fun while it lasts.

An observer her whole life, Katherine is suddenly an active participant. For example, Katherine sees Derek entering his wife’s compartment, but she doesn’t tell this to the police because she is intrigued by Derek.īut later, Derek claims to have not entered the compartment so now the withheld information becomes more ominous.

Christie does a nice job of thickening the plot by having characters withhold information from others for small reasons, thus leading to fascinatingly odd moments.

Murder on the blue train poirot