‘Murder on the Orient Express’ is one of those books most of us are aware of or at least have heard of before. First published in 1934, it is still referenced in popular culture today and is regarded as something of a classic within the detective/crime genre.

Having never read any of Agatha Christie’s work, I dove right into this one, and am sorry to say, I did not enjoy it as much as I had hoped for. Only after I finished it, I realised it is 10t in the series of Hercule Poirot, a Belgian detective at its core. While it seems majority of the books in the series, including ‘Murder on the Orient Express’, can be considered as stand-alone novels, I feel that I missed the background story of the main character. I didn’t know anything about Hercule’s backstory or what he is like, and thought he came off very standoffish in this novel. In fact, I didn’t really resonate with any of the characters in it, which makes it that much harder to immerse in their stories.

The detective is travelling home back to England, following a trip to the Middle East. His ride aboard the Orient Express however is disturbed, when the train comes to a halt, following heavy snowfall. An American tycoon is found dead the next morning, and Poirot is tasked with identifying the murderer still onboard an unmoving luxury train.

The promise of this book is incredibly intriguing, to be able to confine the scene to a single location was a brilliant move, one which unfortunately wasn’t executed well in my opinion. I enjoy crime novels I can follow, with the breadcrumb trail left behind for me to engage with. Unfortunately, the more I read ‘Murder on the Orient Express’, the less and less of that was present. Instead, I found myself bored frankly, with Hercule’s constant guessing game and his ego boosting in the process. ‘How could he have possibly known that’ was a question I asked myself many times while reading this novel.

No answer came.

I must say though, I think time plays a big factor in this book’s reception. With its inappropriate vocabulary use, I don’t think this book aged well, but also I don’t think it has what people are looking for in crime novels nowadays, at least for me. It failed to provide the thrill and it was neither humorous nor realistic enough, despite clear, enormous efforts that were put into planning out the storyline (have to give credit where it’s due).

I’m glad I tried it out and don’t have to wonder about it anymore, but safe to say ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ wasn’t my cup of tea.