Jury, judge, and executioner

Book Review:  Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

After solving a case in Syria, detective Hercule Poirot boards the Orient Express to return to London.  The train is uncharacteristically full for the time of year and the mix of passengers is surprising as well: a Princess, a governess, a Colonel, and a salesman are among the 15 passengers.

One of the passengers, a wealthy American, asks for Poirot's help -- he believes that his life is in danger.  Poirot does not like the look of the man, however, and declines.  The next morning, the man is discovered in his locked compartment, dead, having been stabbed 12 times.  And the train is stopped in its tracks, indefinitely -- a large snowdrift bars the way.  With no outside resources available, Poirot relies on his intuition and his deductive reasoning to solve the murder.

Despite some stereotyping, I thought this was a fascinating read.  There are a couple of details Poirot doesn't reveal until the end but the reader has everything needed to solve the mystery.  I was angry at myself that I didn't.  The same things bothered me that bothered Poirot -- I just didn't make the same connection.