Author: Agatha Christie
The basics: A young heiress boards a train to the French Riviera where she meets Ruth Kettering. Kettering is running from a bad marriage to the arms of her lover. But sadly....the young woman never makes it. Her body is found, beaten to a pulp, in her train compartment. And a rather infamous ruby is missing. Luckily, among the other passengers on the train, is Hercule Poirot. Poirot immediately puts his little grey cells on the case to catch the killer!
I have been a huge Agatha Christie fan for more than 40 years since I purchased a set of Poirot novels at a garage sale when I was 9. And I'm glad that I decided to read her writing in publication order. It fulfills a decades-long quest to own all of her books....and I'm finding works by Christie that I have never read before. This was my first time reading this book! Very enjoyable story!
The plot has some nice twists and suspense. Christie was a master of the plot twist! Great read! I listened to the audiobook version of this story. Work is crazy right now given the pandemic and everything else going on....but I still need my book fix. So I'm turning to audio books more and more because I can listen during my commute to work, on breaks, at lunch....and leave my reality for awhile. I thoroughly enjoyed escaping my reality for a bit to peer over Poirot's shoulder in my mind as he investigated this crime! The audio book version was an enjoyable listen. Narrated by Hugh Fraser (the actor who played Captain Hastings in the Agatha Christie's Poirot television series), the audio is 7 hors long. Fraser reads at a nice pace and gives a great performance.
All in all, an entertaining reading experience!
As I listened, I finally had to research something that had been on my mind since I read The Big Four. Christie often refers to nefarious criminals or thugs as "apaches'' and I wanted to know why. Turns out, in the 1920s, gangsters and dangerous criminal types in France were called apaches, in reference to the Native American tribe. Stories about Apaches depicted the tribe as cunning, violent and dangerous, often lying in wait for unsuspecting victims. Very racist... But, Christie was writing in an era almost 100 years in the past....and culturally at the time, racist terms and ideology were commonplace. In that era, it was viewed as ok for her to publish a book titled "Ten Little Niggers" -- the original title of Ten Little Indians (which wasn't much better), which was later changed to And Then There Were None. I don't like the use of a tribal name to depict criminals and murderers. I'm glad that usage of the word was obscure enough that I had to research it online. Other than this one little thing that bothered me....I enjoyed the book.
Agatha Christie's Poirot adapted this book as a special episode in Season 10 (2005), Episode 1. The adaptation makes several changes to characters and plot, but is still entertaining.
On to the next -- The Seven Dials Mystery! Stepping away from Poirot -- Seven Dials features Superintendent Battle. Battle only appears in five of Christie's novels.
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