BOOK REVIEW - MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

Poirot, a man dedicated to the profession of detective, travels on a train to Syria. He spends a few days on the train when, suddenly; they send him a letter telling him to return to England because he had a very urgent case. At that moment, Poirot, took the train towards England, called, Orient Express. There was something suspicious in that train, it was winter and there were no rooms to spend the days, normally that train in winter was always almost deserted. So, Bouc, his old friend and train director, gives him a room with another man named Mc Queen, who seems a bit disgusted to have a partner. Poirot spends a few days in the same room as Mc Queen, until at a stop, Bouc tells Poirot that they have added a car where there is a room, tells him to get his own and he would go to the car added with a doctor named Constantine. Poirot accepts his proposal and stays with his first class room. In the next room there was a millionaire man named Ratchett, who asks Poirot for help because he says they are threatening him, Ratchett shows him the gun he has to defend himself, but Poirot does not accept the millionaire man's request. That same night, Poirot hears a noise in Ratchett's room. He does not care and keeps sleeping until the train unexpectedly stops because of a snowstorm. Poirot could not sleep anymore, so he was about to ring the bell to ask for mineral water but at that moment another bell rang, coming from the end of the corridor. There was a woman saying to the manager of the car, Michel, that there was someone in her apartment and she was scared, that lady was named Hubbard, an American lady. When the lady finally calmed down, another bell rang, coming from the department of Ratchett, when the attendant of the car was heading towards the apartment, a voice was heard saying in French: It's nothing, I was wrong. That was when Poirot decided to call the manager to ask for his mineral water. The next morning, Poirot woke up and spoke with Bouc in his apartment. He explained the reason for the train stop and also that a crime had been committed on the train, Ratchett was dead. Poirot decided to take charge of the case and investigate. He decided to investigate his room first, which was locked inside and they had to fix it in order to get inside. In the room Ratchett was lying on the bed with twelve stabs on his body. They found remains of burned letters that Poirot managed to see the word Armstrong, a pipe cleaner and a handkerchief in which there was an embroidered H in the corner. A watch was also found in the pocket of Ratchett's pyjama pants, marked 01:15, according to Constantine, the doctor, that was the possible time of Ratchett's death. After inspecting the entire room, Poirot recalled the Armstrong case, a case that happened a few years ago in America, a little girl, Daisy, was murdered. As soon as Poirot discovered that, he began to listen to each passenger's statements. Some passengers claimed they had seen a woman in a scarlet kimono and dragons embroidered on it. Others declared that the handkerchief was not theirs or that they did not smoke with a pipe, until they discovered who was responsible for the handkerchief and who smoked a pipe. Little by little, Poirot discovered the true identity of each of the passengers, including Ratchett, who was actually Cassetti, responsible for the death of Daisy Armstrong and who was now dead.

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