The Mystery of the Blue Train

by Agatha Christie

The train hurtled through the night, bearing its wealthy, coddled passengers toward the opulent pleasures of the South of France. But one of them would never again wake to the warm Mediterranean sun.

When her aged employer dies, Katherine Gray finds herself in a maelstrom of murder and greed surrounding the famous Heart of Fire ruby.

• ISBN10: 0425130266
• ISBN13: 9780425130261
• Publish Date: 1 December 1991 (first published 1 January 1928)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 30 January 2010
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Edition: Open market ed
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 224
• Language: English

Reviews

Poirot gently uncrossed his knees, withdrew his gaze from the ceiling, and looked the young man full in the face. “My name is Hercule Poirot,” he said quietly, “and I am probably the greatest detective in the world.

Christie, Agatha. The Mystery of the Blue Train: Hercule Poirot Investigates (Hercule Poirot series Book 6) (p. 149). William Morrow Paperbacks. Kindle Edition.

I love Hercule Poirot. It's hard not to. Not only is he a fantastic detective he's a total character.

I never prophesy,” he declared pompously. “It is true that I have the habit of being always right—but I do not boast of it.

Christie, Agatha. The Mystery of the Blue Train: Hercule Poirot Investigates (Hercule Poirot series Book 6) (p. 85). William Morrow Paperbacks. Kindle Edition.

He may not boast but he won't hesitate to preen.

“He is a great admirer of yours, M. Poirot,” she said, and she related some of the things that Knighton had said. It amused her to see the little man plume himself like a bird, thrusting out his chest, and assuming an air of mock modesty that would have deceived no one.

Christie, Agatha. The Mystery of the Blue Train: Hercule Poirot Investigates (Hercule Poirot series Book 6) (p. 178). William Morrow Paperbacks. Kindle Edition.

There's nothing like reading Hercule Poirot investigate. There's amusing lines, complex mysteries and interesting characters - even if they're not always likeable.


The Mystery of the Blue Train was a strange one. I can't say it's my favourite but it's not a total loss either. My main disappointment came from having to wait until Chapter 10 to see Hercule make an appearance. I did enjoy the mystery though - I guessed bits and pieces and was totally lost on a bunch of others. And I always enjoy Hercule besting everyone.

“Can you tell us nothing more, M. Poirot?” urged the Commissary. “At present, no,” said Poirot, “but I may have news awaiting me at my hotel.” M. Carrège looked uncomfortable. “If the Marquis is concerned in this—” he began, and then stopped. “It upsets our ideas,” complained M. Caux. “It does not upset mine,” said Poirot. “On the contrary, I think it agrees with them very well.

Christie, Agatha. The Mystery of the Blue Train: Hercule Poirot Investigates (Hercule Poirot series Book 6) (p. 233). William Morrow Paperbacks. Kindle Edition.

3 stars.

[clairelm]

Another fantastic Poirot book, I definitely did not see that ending coming!

[Aidan Brack (Mysteries Ahoy)]

This dull mystery plot has never really sparked any excitement in me. Sadly this time is no different.

Read the full review at Mysteries Ahoy!

[brokentune]

‘A mirror shows the truth, but everyone stands in a different place for looking into the mirror.’

I have always thought of The Mystery of the Blue Train as a strange story - not a first rate mystery, not a complete mess, but most definitely not a memorable Christie classic.

As Christie herself tells us in her autobiography, she was not fond of this story either - partly because she didn't feel like she managed to flesh out the characters so they would come alive on the page, and partly because she wrote this story under the pressures of having to earn a paycheck after the separation from her first husband.

I felt more strongly than ever that everything I was saying was idiotic! (Most of it was, too.) I faltered, stammered, hesitated, and repeated myself. Really, how that wretched book ever came to be written, I don’t know! To begin with, I had no joy in writing, no elan. I had worked out the plot–a conventional plot, partly adapted from one of my other stories. I knew, as one might say, where I was going, but I could not see the scene in my mind’s eye, and the people would not come alive. I was driven desperately on by the desire, indeed the necessity, to write another book and make some money. That was the moment when I changed from an amateur to a professional. I assumed the burden of a profession, which is to write even when you don’t want to, don’t much like what you are writing, and aren’t writing particularly well. I have always hated The Mystery of the Blue Train, but I got it written, and sent off to the publishers. It sold just as well as my last book had done. So I had to content myself with that–though I cannot say I have ever been proud of it.

Agatha Christie - An Autobiography (pp. 357-358). HarperCollins Publishers. Kindle Edition.

And indeed, for me, too, there is little that stood out in the characters when I first read the story, and the crime and it's motive are, while horrible, fairly uninteresting.

As a result, I have always looked at this story as a first draft of what would become one of my favourite Christie classics - Murder on the Orient Express.

On this most recent re-read, however, details that were not strictly connected with the whodunnit revealed themselves that gave the story another layer, that connected this odd little story to the rest, and the best, of the Christie universe.

If you look closely, you can find that one of the characters, Katherine Grey, does not only have the spark of the brightest of Christie's young things but she's also come from that most intriguing of little villages - that cradle of human psychology in the Christie universe - St Mary Mead, home of a certain fierce and judgmental little old lady whom I can't stand but who, one has to admit, has a certain flair for snooping out crime.

This is as close as we get to Marple and Poirot ever meeting in the same book. They don't (and Christie herself was not in favour of them meeting), but The Mystery of the Blue Train seems like one of the key steps in Christie's development of the Marple series, even if this was perhaps not what the author intended.

The full force of Marple would hit the reading public two years later in Murder at the Vicarage, but there are some hints at village life that seem to have already been on Christie's mind when penning Blue Train. For the Christie enthusiast - or Agathyte as a friend, Moonlight Reader, has christened us fans - this is a delicious little detail that makes the book worth reading if it lacks much of the intelligent and complex plotting of a great Christie novel.

[clq]

Another Hercule Poirot story, and a relatively standard mystery. A woman gets killed. On a train of course. Who did it? The husband? The lover? The Butler? Who knows? Well, Poirot does. Not one of the best Christie's I've read, nor very original. Still, this book isn't bad. It continues to impress me how well Christie does dialogue. Even long-winded conversations between characters (of which there are quite a few in this book) somehow stay interesting and entertaining, yet plausible. I've come to expect that an Agatha Christie-book will keep me happy for the time it takes me to read it, and this one did. Just.