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| Murder o the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot Mysteries) | 
| Author: Agatha Christie
Publisher: Berkley
Category: Book
List Price: $6.99
Buy New: $2.00
You Save: $4.99 (71%)
New (46) Collectible (1) from $2.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  196 reviews
Sales Rank: 13162
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.2 x 1
ISBN: 0425200450
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN: 9780425200452
ASIN: 0425200450
Publication Date: August 31, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Really People? You Didn't Know? January 24, 2007
1 out of 14 found this review helpful
I read this book because I felt silly claiming to be a big reader and never having read an Agatha Christie mystery. Do I dare say I'm disappointed? I knew the end less than halfway through so reading the whole thing was perfunctory. Luckily, it's fairly short. Instead of keeping me on the edge of my seat it had me sliding off as I struggled to not doze off. I know it's a classic, a trendsetter by a truly original and insanely successful author, but I'm sorry. I wasn't wowed. Perhaps I haven't made enough of an investment in her creation. After all I've only gotten to know Hercule Poirot in the context of one story. I might give him--and her--another chance, but not likely any time soon.
 What An Interesting Murder..... January 3, 2007
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
To begin with, do NOT buy this book from Amazon. The mass market paperback is priced in the bookstore at $5.99, but on Amazon it is $6.99 plus shipping. Just go to the bookstore and pick it up.
This is one of the most interesting murder mysteries I have ever read. Every little element, every little slip of the tongue by each of the suspects, every piece of evidence - real or faked - will keep you guessing right up until the end. I just kept reading and reading late into the night because the evidence and suspects were so confusing. I changed my mind about who was the true murderer at least four times. I won't reveal the actual plot, but it will surprise you right up to the last page.
This is actually the first Agatha Christie mystery that I have read (surprisingly) and I'm glad that I picked it up. Although there were times that I considered everything about Hercule Poirot to be almost cheesy, in the end his methods were justified, and I really enjoyed the story. I will definitely pick up a few more Poirot mysteries in the coming future.
 Timeless classic December 17, 2006
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
After my daughter read it for a report, I wrestled the book away from my wife to read it again for myself. Fortunately, I'd forgotten the plot in the two or three decades since last reading it.
It did not disappoint me. The plot is ingenious and the characters come alive. It falls a little short of five stars because of the inclusion of some objectionable stereotypes of women, Italians, and various other nationalities including the cold-fish British. Also, Agatha Christie generally includes misleading details in an unfairly dense profusion for those of us trying to guess the truth in the plot, although that was consistent with the plot in this case.
A story that should be read by anyone remotely interested in murder mysteries.
I Never would have guessed the ending November 29, 2006
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
This was the first Agatha Christie novel I have ever read, but it will not be the last. The detective in this book is the Belgium Inv. Poirot. He boards a train to London, the Orient Express and during the trip one of the passengers is murdered. The passenger approached Poirot before his murder asking to retain his services, but Poirot refused. When the train is delayed due to weather, Poirot, his friend M. Bouc and a physician decide to figure out the murderer so when the police are able to get to them, they will already have it solved. It is discovered that the murdered passenger was travelling under an alias and that he was an infamous kidnapper who killed a child from a prominent American family and changed his name and took the ransom money on the run. This provides our motive and we just have to find the killer and the means of the murder. They interview each suspect one by one and inspect their luggage. They find several clues but as they dig deeper they find things are not always as they seem. There are suspects from various nationalities and economic backgrounds. Alibis, motives and movements are accounted for and then discredited leaving the reader wondering if the crime will be solved. I can say one thing, I too often can predict the ending of a book, but I was totally surprised by this one. I don't want to tell too many details because it would ruin the ending but it is an excellent story.
Murder on the Orient Express November 10, 2006
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Fourteen passengers and Hercule Poirot on a train, stuck in a blizzard in a mountain pass on the way from Cairo to Calais. Breathes there a crime fiction fan with soul so dead that she isn't familiar with this story? Still, they call them "classics" for a reason, and Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express was one on publication in 1934. It was at that time an entirely new take on the locked room mystery, and the little gray cells of the Belgian detective with the magnificent moustaches are put seriously to the test.
Must reading for any fan of the genre, and made into an iconic film in 1974 starring a host of instantly recognizable faces, including Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, and Ingrid Bergman, who won an Oscar for her performance. The best adaptation of a Christie novel and I checked: It's out on DVD.
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