Murder on the Orient Express

The train arrives in Haydapassar. Poirot checks into his room at the Tokatlian Hotel. In the Tokatlian Hotel dining room, Poirot meets a friend of his, M. Bouc, another Belgian and the director of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons Lits train company. As they dine, Poirot and Bouc notice two American men at the table next to them: Mr. Ratchett, a man of 60 to 70, and his younger secretary, Hector MacQueen. Bouc and Poirot agree that Mr. Ratchett is an unsavory character. Poirot tells Bouc: “When he passed me in the restaurant, I had a curious impression. It was as though a wild animal—an animal savage, but savage! you understand—had passed me by” (17). After lunch, Poirot and Bouc board The Orient Express, which begins its three-day journey across Europe.

The next day, Poirot joins Bouc in the restaurant car for lunch. The men remark on the diversity of nationalities present, with Bouc saying, “…it lends itself to romance, my friend. All around us are people, of all classes, of all nationalities, of all ages […] They sleep and eat under one roof, they cannot get away from each other” (24). The narrator describes the others in the car through Poirot’s gaze: “A big swarthy Italian was picking his teeth with gusto. Opposite him a spare, neat Englishman had the expressionless disapproving face of the well-trained servant. Next to the Englishman was a big American in a loud suit…” (24). When Bouc leaves Poirot, Poirot is approached by Mr. Ratchett who reveals that he’s been receiving death threats. Mr. Ratchett wants to hire Poirot to figure out who’s behind them but Poirot refuses, telling Mr. Ratchett, “I do not like your face” (31).

It’s the second day of the journey for the Orient Express, which has by now made its way to Belgrade. Poirot notices the nationalistic barriers between the travelers breaking down on day two. The English Colonel Arbuthnot is talking to the American Hector MacQueen, while an American woman, Mrs. Hubbard is conversing with a Swedish woman, Greta Ohlsson. Mrs. Hubbard also talks to Poirot, noting that she’s afraid of Mr. Ratchett. That night, Poirot is awakened from his sleep by a groan from the train compartment next to his—Mr. Ratchett’s compartment. When the train conductor, Pierre Michel, knocks on Mr. Ratchett’s door, Mr. Ratchett responds in French that everything is fine. Poirot looks at his watch: It’s 23 minutes to one o’clock in the morning.

Poirot struggles to fall asleep again and is lying awake when he hears Mrs. Hubbard—who has the compartment on the other side of Mr. Ratchett—ring the bell to summon the conductor. Poirot hears the conductor and Mrs. Hubbard in conversation. Afterward, Poirot rings his bell to summon the conductor, Pierre Michel, to ask for a glass of mineral water. The conductor tells Poirot that Mrs. Hubbard was convinced there was a man in her room; the conductor finds this claim ludicrous, as the compartments are small and there’s nowhere for someone to hide. Following the conversation, Poirot attempts again to sleep. However, he’s interrupted by a thud outside his door. He opens his door and sees, “down the corridor a woman wrapped in a scarlet kimono was retreating from him. At the other end, sitting on his little seat, the conductor was entering up figures on large sheets of paper. Everything was deathly quiet” (39). Poirot goes back to sleep until morning.

The next morning, the passengers are all in the restaurant car, discussing their predicament: The train is stranded, stuck because of snow. This inconvenience has united them, despite their national differences. Poirot is in the restaurant car, speaking with Mary Debenham, when he’s summoned by Bouc. Bouc reveals that Mr. Ratchett has been murdered in the night. Dr. Constantine, a Greek doctor, is also present when Bouc reveals the news. Bouc notes that the window to Mr. Ratchett’s compartment was left open, as if to suggest that the murderer fled outside. However, if this were truly the case, there would be footprints in the snow outside the window—which there aren’t. The open window is a false clue. Bouc asks Poirot to take the case and Poirot agrees. Bouc concludes: “The murderer is with us—on the train now….” (49).

Poirot begins his investigation by interviewing Mr. Ratchett’s secretary, Hector MacQueen. MacQueen is not surprised that his employer has been killed, noting that Mr. Ratchett had begun receiving threats. MacQueen knows little of his employer’s background and suggests, “I don’t think Ratchett was his real name. I think he left America definitely in order to escape someone or something” (54). MacQueen provides Poirot with some of the threatening letters that Ratchett received. Looking at the handwriting, Poirot notes that each letter was written by multiple people, with each person writing one word of the message. MacQueen says that he last saw Mr. Ratchett alive the previous evening before bed.

Poirot tells Bouc:

He seems honest and straightforward. He did not pretend to any affection for his employer as he probably would have done had he been involved in any way. […] I cannot see this sober, long-headed MacQueen losing his head and stabbing a victim twelve or fourteen times. It is not in accord with his psychology—not at all (58).

However, when Bouc suggests that they eliminate MacQueen from their list of suspects, Poirot counters, “I suspect everybody till the last minute” (58).

Poirot and Dr. Constantine enter the compartment of Mr. Ratchett to examine the body and look for clues. Dr. Constantine concludes that Mr. Ratchett was stabbed 12 times, with varying degrees of force. It also appears that he was stabbed by both a right-handed and left-handed person. Poirot suggests there are two murderers—likely one man and one woman.

Poirot and Dr. Constantine find a series of clues that are so obvious, Poirot suggests they may have been planted to mislead any investigation. There is a woman’s handkerchief with an “H” stitched on it, a pipe cleaner, and a gold watch in Mr. Ratchett’s breast pocket with the time stopped at 1:15 in the morning, suggesting this is the time that Mr. Ratchett died. Poirot is skeptical of these easy clues, saying that the handkerchief’s placement is “Exactly as it happens in the books and on the films” (64-65).

Other clues include some charred scraps of paper and two matches. Poirot notes that the two matches are different kinds and suggests one was used to burn some paper, the scraps of which remain in the ashtray. Poirot is able to decode some words on the scraps of paper: “—member little Daisy Armstrong” (69). Poirot realizes that “Mr. Ratchett” is Cassetti, a gangster responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Daisy Armstrong.

One question that preoccupies Dr. Constantine and Poirot is how the murderer escaped Mr. Ratchett (Cassetti)’s compartment. There are only three options: Through the window, through the door, or through the “communicating door” that leads to Mrs. Hubbard’s compartment.

Poirot and Dr. Constantine tell Bouc what they’ve discerned. Poirot explains the details of the Armstrong kidnapping case. The Englishman Colonel Armstrong, a Wall Street millionaire, married Sonia, the daughter of Linda Arden, a famous American actress. Colonel Armstrong and Sonia Armstrong had a child, a girl, Daisy, who was kidnapped for a ransom. After the Armstrongs paid the ransom, they learned that Daisy was already dead. The case was highly publicized.

Further, Sonia Armstrong was pregnant when learned of Daisy’s death, and the shock of the news led to a miscarriage and her death. The broken-hearted Colonel Armstrong then shot himself. The girl’s “French or Swiss nursemaid,” facing (false) accusations that she’d been involved in the kidnapping, threw herself out of a window and died (72). Six months later, Cassetti was arrested as the head of the gang behind the abduction. However, thanks to his wealth and powerful connections, he was acquitted on a technicality. Bouc agrees to clear the restaurant car for Poirot, so Poirot can question the people on the train to identify the murderer(s).