It’s hard to believe that this book was published in 1928. It remains an engaging whodunit, featuring the inimitable Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. Poirot is aboard the titular Blue Train, bound for the French Riviera, when an American heiress, Ruth Kettering, is discovered brutally murdered, and a priceless ruby neckless missing. The police assume the husband is responsible, as he will inherit her fortune, but Poirot has his doubts. He confers with another traveller on board, Miss Katherine Grey, who comes from St Mary Mead in Kent, which is not to be confused with Miss Marple’s St Mary Mead which is located in a fictional county. Katherine had spoken with Ruth the evening before, and Poirot can see that Katherine is a woman who notices things that others might not.

Christie skilfully creates characters who the reader can believe in. Katherine Grey is particularly well drawn; we’ve all know someone like Katherine who ‘has spent a great deal of her life listening, and those who have listened do not find it easy to talk; they keep their sorrows and joys to themselves and tell no one’.

This is the first book that features Poirot’s valet George, who Poirot thinks aloud to. I particularly enjoyed this analogy he uses to explain how he gathers his facts:

‘The squirrel, my good Georges, collects nuts. He stores them up in the autumn so that they may be of advantage to him later. To make a success of humanity, Georges, we must profit by the lessons of those below us in the animal kingdom. I have always done so. I have been the good dog following up the scent, and not taking my nose from the trail. And also, my good Georges, I have been the squirrel. I have stored away the little fact here, the little fact there. I go now to my store and I take out one particular nut, a nut that I stored away - let me see, seventeen years ago. You follow me, Georges?’

“I should hardly have thought, sir,” said George, “that nuts would have kept so long as that, though I know one can d0 wonders with preserving bottles.”

Another perfect Agatha Christie, with the indomitable Miss Marple taking a support role in the investigation - but still ahead of the game!

“There is something about youth, M. Poirot, that is - that can be - terribly moving.”
Another outstanding mystery by Ms Christie. I really enjoyed the structure of this book, with the five unreliable narrators! Excellent reading.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Poirot mystery. The ‘dumb witness’ in question is Bob, the resident terrier who is not only feisty but plays a vital roll in the going-ons at Littlegreen House. Christie obviously has great affection for dogs and has created a memorable character in Bob.
I had to quietly chuckle at the reference to Australia being where a difficult cousin had to be sent - a step below Coventry!
Oh, and the mysterious ‘murder’ is, as usual, intriguing!

I totally enjoyed re-reading this famous Hercule Poirot mystery. In fact, I’d totally forgotten ‘who dunnit’, so it was a whole new adventure! Christie really is the Queen of Crime!

Not a favourite Poirot - too many dead bodies!
But it’s always fun to hang out with him and his little grey cells.

They don’t call Agatha Christie the Queen of Crime for nothing! This is another corker of a whodunit, with Miss Marple lending a hand to Scotland Yard, after her friend witnesses a murder on a train. So, suspend your disbelief that any policeman in his right mind would to advice from this fluffy little old lady, and just enjoy the ride. There is the usual array of eccentric poms, who all look suspicious, a mouldering manor house and a strangled woman - perfect!
A fabulous book for a plane trip - however, perhaps not a train trip?