Murder on the Orient Express door Agatha Christie

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS
1.2: Author, theme and characters
Author: Agatha Christie is the world's best-known mystery writer. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 45 languages. Agatha Christie was born in Torquay, England on September 1890. In 1914 she married Colonel Archibald Christie. They had one daughter, Rosalind, before their divorce in 1928. In Agatha's writing career, she wrote 79 novels. She also wrote over a dozen plays, including the Mousetrap, which opened in London on November 25, 1952, and is now the longest continuously-running play in theatrical history. Theme: This is a detective story, because there is a crime and the detective, Hercule Poirot, has to find out who has done the crime. All the passengers in the Orient Express had a connection to the Armstrong family and that is the reason why the crime has committed. Characters: Daisy Armstrong: Daisy was kidnapped and killed when she was three years old. Her murderer, Cassetti, has never been arrested Hercule Poirot: He is the main character in this book. M. Poirot is a Belgian detective who is very famous in Britain. He has a upward curled moustache. His remarks are quite sharp. M. Poirot has a good eye for people analyses people well. Hercule Poirot has to find the murderer of M Ratchett (Cassetti) in the Orient Express. M. Bouc: He's a Belgian and is the director of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagon Lits. M. Bouc has to help M. Poirot to find out who was the murderer of Cassetti. Dhr. Constantine: Dhr. Contantine is a Greek. He is the doctor who examined the dead body of Cassetti. He also has M. Poirot to find out who was the murderer of Cassetti. M. Ratchett (Cassetti): He appeared to be an unpleasant person. He acted to be a nice man, but his eyes told Poirot that Ratchett wasn't a nice man at all. Ratchett is a very rich man. He got murdered in the Orient Express and by research Poirot found out his real name was Casetti. Cassetti was known to be a killer who killed many people in the USA. He was also the murderer of little Daisy Armstong and with that he was actually responsible for the death of five people in the Armstrong household. With Daisy's death he had so many enemies that he had left the USA. 1.2: Author, theme and characters
Mrs. Hubbard: She is an American lady. An elderly woman and always telling everybody about her daughter. She was a very busy person and always exaggerating. In the end Poirot finds out she is the actress Linda Arden, Daisy Armstrong's grandmother. Mary Debenham: She's an English governess and a very attractive young lady of about 28 years old. Poirot suspected her of any knowledge in the crime, because he overheard a conversation between Mary and Colonel Arbuthnot, another passenger. They talked about "when it's over" before the murder and when the murderer happened it made Poirot suspicious of Mary and the Colonel. Mary and the Colonel both refuse to explain these words. In the end she appears to have been the governess of Daisy Armstrong and having a secret affair with Colonel Arbuthnot. They wanted it to be kept a secret at the time, because it was supposed to look none of the passengers on the train knew each other. Colonel Arbuthnot: He's a British good-looking man. He's the only passenger who smokes pipes. He has a secret affair with Miss Debenham. His connection with the Armstrong family was the hardest to prove. When Poirot found out he and Miss Debenham had an affair his connection was clear. Pierre Michel: He's the Wagon Lit Conductor and is a Frenchman and lives near Calais. He has been employed by the company for over fifteen years. He is respectable and honest and remarkable for brains. First it seems Pierre Michel had no connection with the Armstong family, so he should be innocent. In the end Poirot finds out, Michel had one daughter, Susanne the nurse-maid who threw herself from a window. Hector MacQueen: MacQueen was the secretary of M. Ratchett over a year. He knew Ratchett got threatening letters, but he does't know why he got this letters. He doesn't know very much about Ratchett. MacQueen didn't like M. Ratchett and he distrusted him. He thinks it was a cruel and dangerous man. MacQueen had always adored Mrs. Armstrong. Henry Masterman: Masterman was the valet of Ratchett. He's thirty-nine years old and lives in Clerkenwell. One of the things he has to do all days is to fold or hang up Ratchett clothes. In the end Masterman admits he was Colonel Armstrong's batman in the war and afterwards he was his valet in New York. Greta Ohlsson: Greta Ohlsson is a Swedish lady of forty-nine years old. She has a long mild sheep-like face with glasses and yellowish-grey hair. She told Poirot she was a matron in a missionary school near Stamboul. She was a trained nurse. In the end Poirot finds out Greta Ohlsson was the nurse who was taken care of Daisy Armstrong. Natalia Dragomiroff: She's a Russian princess. She has a small face. She's ugly and she has eyes like jewels, dark and imperious. She is full of energy and an intellectual force that could be felt at once. Her voice is deep. She is a personal friend of Linda Arden, the actress. In the end Poirot finds out the princess was the housekeeper in the Armstrong household. Count Andrenyi: He is at least six feet in height, with broad shoulders and slender hips. He has a long moustache. The count is not a fine-looking man seen face to face. In the end Poirot finds out the count has took place for his wife. Countess Andrenyi: Her maiden name is Helena Goldenberg. Poirot finds out the Countess is the sister of Mrs. Armstrong. She's the only one of the passengers who's innocent. Antonio Foscarelli: He's a big Italian agent for Ford motor cars. He speaks a lot. In the end Poirot finds out he was the chauffeur of the Armstrong's. Bethman Hardman: He's an American of forty-one years old. He had a big, fleshy, coarse- featured face, with a good-humoured expression. His passport says he's a salesman for typewriting ribbons, but that passport is a bit of bluff. In real he is a detective in New York. He says he had no connection with the Armstrong family.But when Poirot thought about that, it couldn't be. He had been in love with Susanne. Hildegarde Schmidt: She's the lady's maid of Princess Dragomiroff. She seemed a placid creature altogether. Perhaps not over intelligent. She has a broad, kindly face. In the end Poirot finds out she was the cook in the Armstrong household. 1.1: Summary

Lieutenant Dubosc and M. Poirot stand together on the station, because M. Poirot has to go with the Taurus Express to Stamboul. When he's in the train, there are only two other passengers. Colonel Arbuthnot and Miss Debenham, both English. Because Hercule Poirot has nothing better to do, he amused himself by studying one of the English passengers. It's a young lady about twenty-eight years old. After a little while the other passenger, Colonel Arbuthnot, entered the cabin and took a seat by the lady. At lunch time, they shared a table together. They ignored Hercule Poirot. The next day, the train is stopping, because something had caught fire under the dining-car. Miss Debenham is in panic, because she will miss her connection, the Orient Express. Ten minutes later, the train started again. When the train arrived at the Galata Bridge, Poirot drove straight to his hotel, the Tokatlion Hotel. There he has received a telegram. A development has come unexpectedly and he must come back immediately. Poirot will take the Orient Express to London. Before going he went to the restaurant for having dinner. M. Bouc was there too. He's a Belgian director of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagon Lits and he also travels with the Orient Express. In the restaurant were not many people. Poirot was interested in two of them: An American man about thirty years old, and a man between sixty and seventy years old. The man looked at Poirot for a second and just for that second there was a strange look in his eyes. When Poirot wanted to go, he had a problem. There was no first-class room anymore. Even the room of the conductor was taken. At least he got a second-class room, which he shared with M. MacQueen. Then, the Orient Express started his trip. The next morning, M. Poirot and M. Bouc have breakfast. Poirot had not seen the other passengers before, so he take a look at the other passengers. There are passenger of all classes and nationalities. After a short while, all the passengers has gone, except Poirot and another man, M. Ratchett. Poirot took the seat opposite him and began to talk with Ratchett. Ratchett knows Poirot is a detective and he has a job for him. Ratchett is a very rich man and he will give Poirot a lot of money for the job. Poirot has to protect Ratchett, because he has enemies and he think he will be murdered by someone in the Orient Express. And his hand brought a little gun out of his pocket. Poirot is not interested in this case, so he won't do the job. Poirot moved to another compartment. A first-class room. When Poirot walked through the corridor, he passed the room of Ratchett. He looks very angry. Then, Poirot had a little talk with Mrs. Hubbard, an American lady. She thinks Ratchett is a very strange man and it won't surprises her if he turns out to be a murderer. Mrs. Hubbard says good-night to Poirot and they went each to their own compartment. Poirot's compartment is next to Ratchett's compartment. In the middle of the night, Poirot got awake by a cry and at the same time a bell rang. It was Ratchett. He has had a nightmare. It's difficult for Poirot to go sleep again. He could hear Ratchett's movings. Then he heard footsteps which passed the corridor. Another bell rang. It was Mrs. Hubbard's. She thought there was a man in her room. Poirot was just sleeping, when something again woke him. He looked, but there was nothing, except a woman in a red kimono with dragons on it. When he awoke the next morning, the train was in a stilstand. The train has become in a snowdrift. They have to stay several days. Poirot is talking to Miss Debenham, when someone ask him to come. Ratchett lies dead in his bed. He was killed with a knife at twelve places. Poirot wants to speak all passengers, because the murderer has to be with them on the train. First he was spoken to M. MacQueen, secretary of Ratchett. M. Bouc and Dr. Constantine were with him. MacQueen has to tell everything he know about Ratchett. He doesn't know very much about him, but he don't believe Ratchett is his real name. He thinks Ratchett has escaped for a reason, but he doesn't know which reason. He also thinks Ratchett was successful until a week ago. From that moment he got threatening letters. One of them MacQueen has never seen. Poirot thinks the letters were wrote by two or more persons. He tells MacQueen, Ratchett asked him for help. MacQueen was suprised with that. He disliked Ratchett, but he had no reasons for that. Poirot doesn't think he is the murderer, but he doesn't pronounce him at least innocent of the crime. Poirot and Dr. Constantine are taking a look at the victim and at any mysterious clues in the room. The window is open, but there are no footsteps in the train, so the murderer is still in the train. There are no fingerprints in the room. Dhr. concluded two or more than to persons have murdered Ratchett, because some wounds have been stucked with the right hand and some with the left hand. Poirot has an explanation: The First Murderer stabbed his victim and left the compartment, turning of the light. The Second Murderer came in in the dark, didn't see that his or her work had been done and stabbed at least twice at the dead body. In the room are other clues. An empty class, which is the explanation of the victim's inertia, because Ratchett didn't try to defend himself with the gun. There was also a pipe-cleaner in the room, but Ratchett didn't smoke pipes. Poirot found also a handkerchief with the initial 'H' on it. Probably it's a woman's handkerchief. In the room were also two burnt pieces of paper. Poirot needs two old-fashioned woman's hat-boxes. Dr Constantine will bring them. With the hat-boxes Poirot can see what was on the burnt paper. There stood: 'member little Daisy Armstrong'. Poirot's eyes were shining. Now, he knows Ratchett's real name. It's 'Cassetti'. Cassetti murdered little Daisy Armstrong and with that he had make a lot of enemies and that was the reason he left America. Colonel Armstrong was married with the daughter of Linda Arden, a famous actress. They had one child, a girl, but when she was three years old she was kidnapped. After they paid a lot of money, Daisy's dead body was found. Mrs. Armstrong was expecting another baby, but by shock the baby was born dead, and she died too. M. Armstong shot himself. The nursemaid, Susanne, was suspected of the crime and she threw herself from a window and was killed. Susanne was innocent. First Poirot is taking the evidence of the Wagon Lit Conductor, Pierre Michel. He has to tell everything he had seen and heard that night. Poirot ask him where he was at a quarter past one. Piere Michel was on his little seat at the end of the corridor. Poirot thinks it would be good to have another word with Hector MacQueen. When Poirot tells him about Ratchett's real name and the Armstrong case, MacQueen is pissed. He thinks if ever a man deserved what he got, Cassetti is the man. MacQueens father handled the Armstrong case and Hector saw Mrs. Armstrong more than once. MacQueen has also to tell Poirot everything he had seen and heard that night. M. Masterman was the valet of Ratchett. he went to Ratchett every evening to do a few things, like hang up his clothes and give him his sleeping draught. That night Ratchett was a little upset, because he found a threatening letter in his compartment. He asked Masterman he had done it, but he didn't. After leaving Ratchett's compartment that night, Masterman went to bed and read a little. He didn't hear anything unusual that night. Mrs. Hubbard has to tell Poirot something very important. There was a man in her compartment that night. She's very sur and she has a proof for that. In her room, she had found a button from the tunic of a Wagon Lit attendant. But that button is not Pierre Michel's or from another conductor. Poirot doesn't believe there was a man with her, but the button is an interesting evidence. When Mrs. Hubbard would leave Poirot, he says she dropped her handkerchief with the 'H', but it isn't hers. Greta Ohlsson, who shared a room with Miss Debenham, is a Swedish lady. Probably she was the last person who saw Ratchett alive that night. She opened his door by mistake and he was reading a book. After that mistake she went to her own compartment and slept until the morning. Natalia Dragomiroff, the Russian Princess, is a personal friend of Linda Arden. Mrs. Armstrong was Natalia's god-daughter. Mrs. Armstrong has another sister, but Natalia doesn't know her name and where she is. Natalia thinks Ratchett has deserved to be murdered. Count and Countess Adrenyi were the next persons. The Count entered the dining-car alone. He doesn't know the real identity of Ratchett and he also doesn't know exactly what's meant by the Armstrong case. The Count slept the whole night and he hasn't remarked anything unusual. A couple of minutes later, Elena Maria Goldenberg, the Countess, entered the dining-car. She also heard nothing that night. She had taken a sleeping draught. Colonel Arbuthnot is the only person on the train who smokes pipes. In Ratchet's compartment, Poirot had found a pipe-cleaner. Ratchett smoked only cigarettes. At the time of the crime, Colonel Arbuthnot was with MacQueen. They both said Pierre Michel passed their compartment, but Michel has declared he didn't.When the Colonel went to his own compartment, the door next to him wasn't quite closed. That's a little strange, but the Colonel doesn't think it's a very important thing. The next person Poirot will interview is M. Hardman. Once he shared a table with an Italian and Masterman. Hardman doesn't know anything about the crime, but he ought to know something. Hardman is also a detective, but nobody in the train knows. Hardman and Ratchett had seen eachother before. They made appointments. Hardman has to see nobody got him on an earlier travel. Ratchett didn't tell Hardman anything about his enemies, just the fellow, a small man-dark-with a womanish voice, was out for his blood and meant to get it. Hardman doesn't know who Ratchett really was. That night, Hardman was awake the whole night. No strangers passed his door. Hardman gave Poirot very interesting evidence, but his discription of Ratchett's enemie applies to no one on the train. Now, poirot will have a word with the Italian, Antonio Foscarelli. he is an agent for Ford motor cars. The Italian speaks a lot, but he hasn't tell Poirot anything unusal he remarked that night. Before Poirot interviewed Mary Debenham, she already knew Ratchett's real name, because Mrs. Hubbard told it her. Mary is not very distressed of the crime. That night she slept all night, so she has Poirot nothing to tell. The last person is Hildegarde Smidt, Princess Dragomiroff's maid. That night she went to the princess and when she went back to her own compartment, the conductor came out of one of the compartments, but it wasn't Pierre Michel. It was another conductor, who she had never seen before. The one she saw was small and dark. He had a little moustache and his voice was like a woman's. After all the evidences of the passengers there are a few facts: Ratchett (Cassetti) was stabbed at twelve places and died last night. The crime was probably committed at a quarter-past one and the murderer is still in the train. In the night of the crime, there were two strangers on the train. A Wagon Lit attendant and a woman in a red kimono. But where are these clothes? Poirot has a little idea. The kimono is in the luggage of one of the men and the uniform will be in the luggage of Hildegarde Smidt. At that moment the door of the dining-car flew open and Mrs. Hubbard came in. She had found a big knife with blood in her bag and she fainted in Bouc's arms. When Mrs. Hubbard was revived, she refuse to sleep in her compartment anymore, so Michel has to move her luggage to another compartment. In her luggage Poirot doesn't find the red kimono of the uniform. Now, Poirot has to look in all the luggage of all passengers. The uniform with the missing button was found in the luggage of Hildegarde Smidt, but she says she didn't put it in there. None of the passengers had the red kimono. When Poirot went to his own compartment to fetch some cigaretttes, he found at the top of his luggage, the thinscarlet kimono with dragons. After the evidences of the luggage and of all pasengers, the big question is: Which of the passengers murdered Ratchett? MacQueen said Ratchett couldn't speak French, but in the night of the crime at twenty-three minutes to one, a voice from Ratchett's compartment was speaking in French, he had a nightmare. That means, at that time there was a person in Ratchett's compartment who could speak French. But the crime was committed half an hour earlier. The murderer put the watch at 1.15, so everybody has an alibi for that time. There are ten questions that need explanation: 1. From who is the handkerchief with the initial 'H'? 2. Was the pipe-cleaner dropped by colonel Arbuthnot or by someone else? 3. Who wore the scarlet kimono? 4. Who wore the uniform of a Wagon Lit Conductor? 5. Why do the hands of the watch point to 1.15? 6. Was the murder committed at that time? 7. Was it earlier? 8. Was it later? 9. Is it sure that Ratchett was stabbed by more than one person? 10. What other explanation of this wounds can there be? The handkerchief can be from Mrs. Hubbard, Miss Mary Hermione Debenham and Hildegarde Schmidt. Poirot, Bouc and Dr. Constatine aal think it's not from Hildegarde Schmidt, because it must be a handkerchief of a member of the first class and Hildegarde travels second class. They think someone else dropped the pipe-cleaner, because Colonel Arbuthnot admitted freely he smokes pipes and using that type of cleaner. The three men have no idea who wore the scarlet kimono and they also don't know who wore the uniform. There are four people in the train who are able to wore the uniform: Masterman, Miss Debenham, Princess Dragomiroff and Countess Andrenyi. It must be one of these four, unless it's someone from outside. Poirot thinks it was not the Wagon Lit Murderer who tempered with the watch, but the one in the kimono to make an alibi for herself. At the question at what time the crime committed, the answer is: earlier than 1.15. The First Murderer came earlier than 1.15, the Second Murderer came after 1.15. Poirot's knows for sure Ratchett was stabbed by more than one person. There is no other explanation of the wounds. After the three men thought a while, Poirot has an explanation. The handkerchief with the 'H' is probably from the Countess. Her name is Elena, but on her passport there is a dirty mark at the first type of her name. The 'H'. The murderer has to be someone who was intimately connected with the Armstrong family. That was be found by the two burnt parts of the threatening letter. Poirot also found out, the real name of Linda Arden is Goldenberg. Helena (Goldenberg) Andrenyi is the sister of Mrs. Armstrong. And that's the reason why Princess Dragomiroff lied
about Helena's marriage and where the sister was. She knew Helena was on the train and that Poirot suspected her. Poirot has again a word with the Count and the Countess. When Poirot tells them the truth they become very white and Helena admits the truth. Helena says she has probably the best motive for killing Ratchett, but she didn't. The Count says, he also didn't. The reason for changing the name is that the Count couldn't stand the thought his wife should be arrested. At the question: is this your handkerchief? The countess says it isn't hers. By the Armstrong's at home, there was a nursery-maid, Susanne, who threw herself from a window. There was a nurse, Mrs. Strengelberg, and there was a governess/secretary, Miss Freebody. Since Helena was on the train, she didn't seen anyone she recognised from that time. When the Count and the Countess had left the dining-car and Poirot, Bouc and Constantine talked about the case, Princess Dragomiroff came in. She says the handkerchief is hers. Her handkerchiefs are always initialled in Russia characters. 'N' is 'H' in Russian. She has no idea how her handkerchief came to be lying in Ratchett's compartment. Before the Orient Express started, Miss Debenham and Colonel Arbuthnot said to eachother: 'Not now. When it's all over. When it's behind us.' Miss Debenham refused to explain those words. She said it's a private matter. Miss Debenham has also to come for a second interview, because of something Poirot has found out: Miss Debenham lived by the Armstrong's. She was the governess (Miss Freebody). In London there was a shop, called Debenham & Freebody. The Countess wouldn't betraited Miss Debenham and the first name that comes up in her mind is Freebody. Miss Debenham admits it. There is another surprising thing. The big Italian was the chauffeur of the Armstrong's. Many times Foscarelli told Poirot he didn't kill Ratchett. The next person is the Swedish lady, Greta Ohlsson. She was the nurse (Mrs. Strengelberg), who was taken careof Daisy Armstrong. When Greta Ohlsson left the dining-car, the valet, Masterman, came in. He told Poirot, he was colonel Armstrong's batman in the war and afterwards he was his valet in New York. He begs Poirot not to suspect Antonia Foscarelli, because he's a very nice man. Now, nine of the twelve passengers have admit they had a connection with the Armstrong family. Hardman is the next person. He says he never had any connection with the Armstrong house. After those second interviews Poirot knows who was the murderer, without speaking again with Princess Dragomiroff and the lady's maid. Poirot knows for sure the Princess was the housekeeper in the Armstong house and Hildegarde Schmidt was the cook. Poirot asked Masterman to essemble everyone in the dining-car. There are two possible solutions in this case. The first solution: The murderer joined the train in a Wagon Lit uniform at Belgrade or Vincovci. He murdered Ratchett, put his uniform in Mrs. Hubbard's compartment, without knowing he lost a button, and left the train just before it run in the snowdrift. But Poirot knows this is a wrong explanation. There is a second solution: In the train are varried nationalities. Only in America there might be a household of so many varried nationalities. It turns out, each passenger had been a certain part in the Armstrong drama, except Hardman, who said he had no connection with the Armstrong family. But when Poirot thought about it, hardman's story is absurd. He had been in love with Susanne. After all the evidences and interviews, Poirot has the solution: All the passengers in the train were involved in the crime. There are twelve passengers in the train and Ratchett was stabbed at twelve places. All the twelve passengers condemned Ratchett to death and that makes the whole case clear. Every passenger stabbed once, but the only one Poirot hasn't suspected was Pierre Michel, the Wagon Lit Conductor. If he is also guilty, there are thirteen people and twelve wounds. That turns out one of the passengers is innocent. Countess Andrenyi. The Count took his wife's place. Pierre Michel must in some way been connected with the Armstrong family. The nursery- maid, Susanne, was his daughter, his only daughter. Now, M.Bouc and Dr. Constantine have to chose the right solution. They both prefer the first solution, because is some way, they comprehend the situation. So, the passengers were eliminated of the case.