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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
Theme: Law and order or private vengeance
Setting
1. Taurus Express (Baghdad-Istanbul) – first leg of Poirot’s trip
1 kitchen, 1 dining-car, 1 sleeping-car, 2 local coaches
2-day westward journey by train from Aleppo Syria to Stamboul Turkey
- Baghdad (Thursday)->Kirkuk->Mosul->Aleppo Syria (5am Sunday)->Cilician Gates/Taurus Mountains->Konya (11:30pm Sunday)->halt (2:30pm Monday) and restart (2:40pm Monday)->Haydapassar (2:45pm Monday)->cross the Bosphorus->Galata Brideg, Stamboul (7:40pm Monday)
2. Simplon Orient Express (Stamboul-Calais) – second leg of Poirot’s trip, where murder took place
Coaches
- Sleeping Cars
Istanbul-Calais coach (first-class luxury coach): murder venue
First-class compartments
Second-class compartments
Conductor: Pierre Michel
Athens-Paris coach: Mr. Bouc/Dr. Constantine/later on Mrs. Hubbard [No. 12]
Conductor: big blond
Bucharest-Paris coach: an old gentleman w/ a lame leg, well-known to the conductor
Conductor: stout burly
- Ordinary carriages (non-sleeping car): locked after dinner and no access to sleeping cars
- restaurant/dining car: case interview venue
3-day westward journey by train From Stamboul (Istanbul) Turkey to Calais France
- Istanbul (9:00pm Monday) -> Belgrade (8:45pm Tuesday)->depart Belgrade (due 9:15pm Tuesday)-> Train snow-stranded between Vincovci and Brod in Yugoslavia where murder occured
3. Season and weather: Winter, snowy, freezing cold
Dramatis Personae
A total of 14 passengers in the Istanbul-Calais coach, including 8 Men and 6 WOMEN of both first-class and second-class compartments
1. Mary Hermione Debenham (Miss Debenham) – English woman, age 26, traveling to London from Baghdad where she is a governess to 2 children; tall, slim, dark, poise & efficiency w/ knowledge of world and travelling; “the severe regularity of her features and the delicate pallor of her skin”, burnished black head w/ neat waves of hair; cool, impersonal, grey eyes; clear, legible writing; pale mauve dressing gown; [TURN OUT TO BE HELENA GOLDENBERG’S GOVERNESS AND COMPANION]
2. Colonel Arbuthnot – English, from India (perhaps Punjab) where he had ~30 yrs of experiences; tall, lean, brown skin, pushing 50; hair slightly grizzled round temples; stop one night to see Ur of the Chaldees and for 3 days in Baghdad; first met Miss Debenham from Kirkuk to Nissibin; smoke pipe; never been to nor wish to visit America; implicate possibly Princess Natalia Dragomiroff as the women in kimono (1:15am-1:45am); saw Hardman’s furtive look from his door; [TURN OUT TO BE JOHN ROBERT ARMSTRONG’S BEST FRIEND WHO SAVED ARBUTHNOT’S LIFE IN THE WAR]
3. Hercule Poirot – just completed a case that has saved the honour of the French Army and averted much bloodshed, done for a General who had once saved his life; had planned to have a stopover in Istanbul for several days of sightseeing but plan canceled, returning to London for the Kassner Case;
4. Cassetti (Samuel Edward Ratchett) – a very wealthy American between 60-70, the bland, unprepossessing, aspect of a philanthropist, slightly bald head, domed forehead, smiling mouth w/ very white set of false teeth, seemingly benevolent personality but underlying arrogance belied by small, deep set, crafty, cruel eyes, passing glance to Poirot all malevolence and unnatural tensity; slightly husky voice of a queer, soft, dangerous quality; have a small automatic handy; offered $20K to engage Poirot to handle a case but got rejected; fall teeth; smoke cigar; always take sleeping draught when travel by train or else unable to sleep; a small square cambric w/ initial H on floor in his compartment;
5. Hector Willard MacQueen - a likeable-looking American man of 30 from New York, Ratchett’s secretary (but more like a courier) for just over 1 yr; met Ratchett in Persia where Hector sought an oil concession and got the job in the hotel they both stayed; pleasant life w/ Ratchett “on perfectly good terms” but in truth DISLIKE AND DISTRUST him, believing R is cruel and dangerous; not believe Ratchett was real name and he was escaping someone or something and R started to getting letters from 2 weeks ago; his father district attorney in NY who handled the Daisy Armstrong kidnapping case; not smoke a pipe; [MET ARMSTRONGS IN THE OFFICE OF HIS FATHER, D.A. OF NY AND ADORED SONIA ARMSTRONG]
6. Edward Henry Masterman – Ratchett’s valet (gentleman’s gentleman), spare, neat Englishman of 39 from Clerkenwell London w/ pale, expressionless disapproving face of the well-trained servant; never been to the states; served Sir Henry Tomlinson in Grosvenor Square (went to East Africa) some yrs before working 9 months+ for Ratchett; dropped off 4am Day 1 b/c toothache; not a pipe but a cigarette smoker; “Keep himself to himself” personality; [TURN OUT TO BE COLONEL ROBERT (TOBY) ARMSTRONG’S BATMAN AND VALET]
7. Princess Natalia Dragomiroff – Russian widow living in Paris, traveling from Istanbul back home; been staying at Austrian Embassy w/ her maid; extremely rich, cosmopolitan, a personality, extremely ugly in a fascinating not repellent way; sit bolt upright; collar of large authentic pearls round neck, fully bejeweled hands, sable coat, small expensive black toque unbecoming to yellow, toad-like face w/ eyes like jewels; speak clear, distinct, loud w/ a slight grating quality, talk autocratically to restaurant attendant; “Ugly as sin, but she makes herself felt” (Bouc); suffer rheumatic pains; been to the States many times; [TURN OUT TO BE GODMOTHER TO SONIA ARMSTRONG (COLONEL JOHN ROBERT (TOBY) ARMSTRONG’S WIFE AND KIDNAPPED CHILD DAISY ARMSTRONG’S MOTHER), PERSONAL FRIEND TO LINDA ARDEN], Sonia Armstrong’s mother and the most famous tragic American actress (acting Lady Macbeth and Magda); Sonia has a younger sister who married an Englishman some yrs ago and moved to England, name escaping memory; blue satin dressing gown,
8. Hildegarde Schmidt (Fraülein Schmidt) - Princess Dragomiroff’s maid for 15 yrs; middle-aged, placid, eminently respectable, perhaps not over intelligent, dressed in black w/ a broad, kindly, expressionless face of placid stupidity, her family come from an estate of Princess Dragomiroff’s late husband in Germany; dark-blue flannel dressing gown; has a strong motherly soul, eyes welling up upon mention of child kidnapping; appear to be, but so denied, the owner of square of cambric; cook in Armstrong’s household [TURN OUT TO BE MRS. ARMSTRONG’S COOK]
9. Greta Ohlsson - tall, Swedish lady of 49 in plaid blouse, tweed skirt, a mass of faded greyish-yellow hair poorly arranged in large bun, wore glasses, long, mild, amiable sheep-like face, shortsighted using eyes; a matron in a missionary school near Stamboul and a trained nurse, not speak in English much, also speaks French; will stay w/ her sister and children in Lausanne Switzerland for a week or so en route to home Sweden for holiday; open Ratchett’s door by mistake and ashamed; a good comfortable dressing gown of Jaeger material a pale mauve abba such as you buy in the East; [TURN OUT TO BE DAISY ARMSTRONG’S NURSE]
10. Caroline Martha Hubbard (Mrs. Hubbard) – stout, pleasant-faced, elderly American widow talking in slow clear monotone nonstop; has a daughter who w/ her husband teaching in a big American college in Smyrna (Izmir) Turkey; first journey to the East; has plenty aspirin; gave mags to Swede to read; plan to sail to the states on Day T+2; found an unaccountable button lying on the book she read; heard woman’s voice in Ratchett’s room; C.M.H initial embroidered on her hanky not H; two dressing gowns: a pink flannel and one a kind of local affair in purple silk gifted by daughter; life-long teetotaler, all family abstainers; [TURN OUT TO BE LINDA ARDEN, MRS. ARMSTRONG’S MOTHER AND DAISY ARMSTRONG’S GRANDMA]
11. Rudolph Andrenyi (Count Andrenyi) – Hungarian diplomat, big, handsome man of 30+, well-made, 6ft tall, broad shoulders, slender hips; well-dressed in fine English tweeds, big fair moustache and sth in line of the cheekbone, worn English clothes of loose tweed, NOT English, from Hungarian Embassy, been in Washington for 1 yr as attaché; smoke cigarette and cigar not pipe; sign w/ difficult-to-read foreign language
12. Elena [Helena] Maria Goldenberg Andrenyi (Countess Andrenyi, HELENA GOLDENBERG) – the Hungarian diplomat’s wife for only 1 yr, age 20, timid, extremely charming, tight-fitting little black coat & skirt, white satin blouse, small chic black toque, beautiful foreign-looking face, dead white skin, large brown, dark, almond-shaped, lovely eyes w/ very long black lashes, scarlet lips in foreign fashion parted a little, jet-black hair; look exotic and beautiful, smoke cigarette in long holder, manicured hands w/ deep red nail; wore large emerald set in platinum; coquetry in glance and voice; always take sleeping draught (trional) when travel by train; sign w/ graceful slanting handwriting; corn-coloured chiffon dressing gown; grease spot on her diplomatic passport; [TURN OUT TO BE HELENA GOLDENBERG, LINDA ARDEN’S YOUNGER DAUGHTER, YOUNGER SISTER OF SONIA ARMSTRONG (MRS. ARMSTRONG), AUNT TO THE KIDNAPPED DAISY ARMSTRONG], AMERICAN IN ACTUALITY
13. Antonio (Tonio) Foscarelli – a naturalized American; big, sunny-looking, swarthy, voluble Italian pick teeth with gusto; has urgent biz in Milan; been to the states (Chicago included) on and off for past 10 yrs; agent for Ford Motor; spill the beans about everything, GUSH OUT, good-natured childish face, chauffeur in Armstrong’s household; [TURN OUT TO BE ARMSTRONGS’ CHAUFFEUR]
14. Cyrus Bethman Hardman - big flamboyant American in a loud check suit; age 41, travelling salesman for type-writing ribbons en route from Stamboul to Paris, chews gum deftly, a big, fleshy, coarse-featured face, good humored expression, always travel first-class at firm’s expenses; turns out traveling salesman is merely a front or disguise, true identity: a private sleuth or operative from McNeil’s Detective Agency in New York; know MacQueen well in his father’s (district attorney) NY office but MacQueen may or may not know him; smoke cigarette not pipe; Ratchett told him a small man, dark, with a womanish kind of voice was trying to kill Ratchett (first time such a small man was revealed)
15. Conductor Pierre Michel – French Wagon Lit conductor of first-class coach (Poirot’s own conductor), tall, sallow man of middle age, brown-uniformed; work for CIWL 15+yrs; live near Calais; thoroughly respectable and honest, unremarkable for brains (Bouc) [TURN OUT TO BE SUSANNE’S FATHER]
16. Mr. Bouc – a short, stout/rotund, elderly, fellow Belgian, director of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons Lits (CIWI); knew Poirot many yrs; traveling from Istanbul to Lausanne Switzerland
17. Dr. Constantine – little dark Greek man
18. Chef de train (chief conductor) – big man in blue uniform
19. Athens-Paris coach conductor - big blond
20. Bucharest-Paris coach conductor - stout burly
Chronology
1. Ratchett received last threatening letter at Istanbul: (AM Monday Day T-2)
2. Ratchett retired to room immediately after dinner before train left Belgrade: (before 9:15pm Tuesday Day T-1)
3. Train left Belgrade: (9:15pm Tuesday Day T-1)
4. Masterman left Ratchett w/ sleeping draught beside him: (about 9:40pm)
5. MacQueen last saw Ratchett in R’s compartment, taking notes re: tiles & antique pottery bought in Persia, then left Ratchett (~10:00pm Tuesday Day T-1)
6. Poirot went to bed in his compartment No. 1: (~10:15pm Tuesday Day T-1)
7. Greta Ohlsson went to Mrs. Hubbard for aspirin, Mrs. Hubbard asked Greta Ohlsson to check if the communicating door was bolted (10:30-10:45pm Tuesday Day T-1)
8. Greta Ohlsson entered into Ratchett’s room mistakenly (last seen alive): (about 10:40pm)
9. Greta Ohlsson got into bed after getting aspirin from Mrs. Hubbard: (10:55pm)
10. Princess Dragomiroff read in bed and turned out light to sleep, only sleepless due to rheumatism: (11pm)
11. Train left Vincovci, the last stop before the standstill: (00:18am Wednesday Day T )
12. Train runs into a snowdrift and came to a standstill: (0:30am Wednesday Day T)
13. Poirot awoke by groan/cry next door and found train standstill: (~0:35am Wednesday Day T)
14. The train ran into snowdrift and no one can left train thereafter (0:30am Day T)
15. Poirot switched off light and tried to sleep again; meanwhile Ratchett rang bell: (0:37am Day T)
16. Ratchett said to Conductor Michel in idiomatic French “Ce n’est rien. Je me suis trompé” last seen alive: (0:37-0:40am Day T)
17. Princess Dragomiroff rang bell for maid Fraulein Schmidt: (~0:45am Day T)
18. The death of Mr. Ratchett occurred per Dr. Constantin: (~1:00am but positively 0:37am-2:00am Day T)
19. Ratchett’s gold watch discovered at crime scene had broke and stopped, hands pointing to; (1:15am)
20. Poirot couldn’t fall asleep again and lay awake staring at ceiling, hearing Ting…Ting…Ting: (1:15am)
21. Fraulein Schmidt left Princess Dragomiroff’s room for her own compartment, first fetch a rug for princess (when she, sending rug to mistress, ran into a small, dark, a little moustache, w/ womanish voice ), pouring her mineral water, and the return again to her room for sleep (~1:15am)
22. Conductor Michel spoke w/ Mrs. Hubbard; she insisted a man in her compartment: (~1:17-1:18am)
23. Poirot spoke w/ Conductor Michel, obtained mineral water, drank, and tried to sleep again, and again awoke by a thud against the door of sth heavy falling…opened door, to his right some way down corridor a woman in scarlet dragon kimono retreating from him…Conductor Michel entering up figures on large sheets of paper, all deadly quiet…Poirot retired to be sleep and wake up until morning: (~1:25am)
24. Colonel Arbuthnot left MacQueen’s room after breaking up conversation: (1:45am, Day T)
25. Mary Debenham opened her door and saw someone in scarlet dragon kimono and shingle cap some way down the corridor; she’s also tallish, slim, (5:00am, Day T)
26. Poirot woke up in the morning, train remain standstill by heavy snow: (9:00am, Day T)
27. Poirot went to dining car for breakfast: (9:45am)
28. Conductors switch off the lights: (~10:00am)
29. Michel opened the door to Ratchett’s compartment, found it locked and chained on the inside, Ratchett was stabbed in 12 places (3 or more stabs fatal/1-2 merely scratchy), window open & cold: (11:00am)
30. Poirot was convened by Bouc and revealed the murder and group discussion follows comprising Bouc, Dr. Constantine, Chef de train, Michel, Poirot: (11:30am)
Setting
1. Taurus Express (Baghdad-Istanbul) – first leg of Poirot’s trip
1 kitchen, 1 dining-car, 1 sleeping-car, 2 local coaches
2-day westward journey by train from Aleppo Syria to Stamboul Turkey
- Baghdad (Thursday)->Kirkuk->Mosul->Aleppo Syria (5am Sunday)->Cilician Gates/Taurus Mountains->Konya (11:30pm Sunday)->halt (2:30pm Monday) and restart (2:40pm Monday)->Haydapassar (2:45pm Monday)->cross the Bosphorus->Galata Brideg, Stamboul (7:40pm Monday)
2. Simplon Orient Express (Stamboul-Calais) – second leg of Poirot’s trip, where murder took place
Coaches
- Sleeping Cars
Istanbul-Calais coach (first-class luxury coach): murder venue
First-class compartments
Second-class compartments
Conductor: Pierre Michel
Athens-Paris coach: Mr. Bouc/Dr. Constantine/later on Mrs. Hubbard [No. 12]
Conductor: big blond
Bucharest-Paris coach: an old gentleman w/ a lame leg, well-known to the conductor
Conductor: stout burly
- Ordinary carriages (non-sleeping car): locked after dinner and no access to sleeping cars
- restaurant/dining car: case interview venue
3-day westward journey by train From Stamboul (Istanbul) Turkey to Calais France
- Istanbul (9:00pm Monday) -> Belgrade (8:45pm Tuesday)->depart Belgrade (due 9:15pm Tuesday)-> Train snow-stranded between Vincovci and Brod in Yugoslavia where murder occured
3. Season and weather: Winter, snowy, freezing cold
Dramatis Personae
A total of 14 passengers in the Istanbul-Calais coach, including 8 Men and 6 WOMEN of both first-class and second-class compartments
1. Mary Hermione Debenham (Miss Debenham) – English woman, age 26, traveling to London from Baghdad where she is a governess to 2 children; tall, slim, dark, poise & efficiency w/ knowledge of world and travelling; “the severe regularity of her features and the delicate pallor of her skin”, burnished black head w/ neat waves of hair; cool, impersonal, grey eyes; clear, legible writing; pale mauve dressing gown; [TURN OUT TO BE HELENA GOLDENBERG’S GOVERNESS AND COMPANION]
2. Colonel Arbuthnot – English, from India (perhaps Punjab) where he had ~30 yrs of experiences; tall, lean, brown skin, pushing 50; hair slightly grizzled round temples; stop one night to see Ur of the Chaldees and for 3 days in Baghdad; first met Miss Debenham from Kirkuk to Nissibin; smoke pipe; never been to nor wish to visit America; implicate possibly Princess Natalia Dragomiroff as the women in kimono (1:15am-1:45am); saw Hardman’s furtive look from his door; [TURN OUT TO BE JOHN ROBERT ARMSTRONG’S BEST FRIEND WHO SAVED ARBUTHNOT’S LIFE IN THE WAR]
3. Hercule Poirot – just completed a case that has saved the honour of the French Army and averted much bloodshed, done for a General who had once saved his life; had planned to have a stopover in Istanbul for several days of sightseeing but plan canceled, returning to London for the Kassner Case;
4. Cassetti (Samuel Edward Ratchett) – a very wealthy American between 60-70, the bland, unprepossessing, aspect of a philanthropist, slightly bald head, domed forehead, smiling mouth w/ very white set of false teeth, seemingly benevolent personality but underlying arrogance belied by small, deep set, crafty, cruel eyes, passing glance to Poirot all malevolence and unnatural tensity; slightly husky voice of a queer, soft, dangerous quality; have a small automatic handy; offered $20K to engage Poirot to handle a case but got rejected; fall teeth; smoke cigar; always take sleeping draught when travel by train or else unable to sleep; a small square cambric w/ initial H on floor in his compartment;
5. Hector Willard MacQueen - a likeable-looking American man of 30 from New York, Ratchett’s secretary (but more like a courier) for just over 1 yr; met Ratchett in Persia where Hector sought an oil concession and got the job in the hotel they both stayed; pleasant life w/ Ratchett “on perfectly good terms” but in truth DISLIKE AND DISTRUST him, believing R is cruel and dangerous; not believe Ratchett was real name and he was escaping someone or something and R started to getting letters from 2 weeks ago; his father district attorney in NY who handled the Daisy Armstrong kidnapping case; not smoke a pipe; [MET ARMSTRONGS IN THE OFFICE OF HIS FATHER, D.A. OF NY AND ADORED SONIA ARMSTRONG]
6. Edward Henry Masterman – Ratchett’s valet (gentleman’s gentleman), spare, neat Englishman of 39 from Clerkenwell London w/ pale, expressionless disapproving face of the well-trained servant; never been to the states; served Sir Henry Tomlinson in Grosvenor Square (went to East Africa) some yrs before working 9 months+ for Ratchett; dropped off 4am Day 1 b/c toothache; not a pipe but a cigarette smoker; “Keep himself to himself” personality; [TURN OUT TO BE COLONEL ROBERT (TOBY) ARMSTRONG’S BATMAN AND VALET]
7. Princess Natalia Dragomiroff – Russian widow living in Paris, traveling from Istanbul back home; been staying at Austrian Embassy w/ her maid; extremely rich, cosmopolitan, a personality, extremely ugly in a fascinating not repellent way; sit bolt upright; collar of large authentic pearls round neck, fully bejeweled hands, sable coat, small expensive black toque unbecoming to yellow, toad-like face w/ eyes like jewels; speak clear, distinct, loud w/ a slight grating quality, talk autocratically to restaurant attendant; “Ugly as sin, but she makes herself felt” (Bouc); suffer rheumatic pains; been to the States many times; [TURN OUT TO BE GODMOTHER TO SONIA ARMSTRONG (COLONEL JOHN ROBERT (TOBY) ARMSTRONG’S WIFE AND KIDNAPPED CHILD DAISY ARMSTRONG’S MOTHER), PERSONAL FRIEND TO LINDA ARDEN], Sonia Armstrong’s mother and the most famous tragic American actress (acting Lady Macbeth and Magda); Sonia has a younger sister who married an Englishman some yrs ago and moved to England, name escaping memory; blue satin dressing gown,
8. Hildegarde Schmidt (Fraülein Schmidt) - Princess Dragomiroff’s maid for 15 yrs; middle-aged, placid, eminently respectable, perhaps not over intelligent, dressed in black w/ a broad, kindly, expressionless face of placid stupidity, her family come from an estate of Princess Dragomiroff’s late husband in Germany; dark-blue flannel dressing gown; has a strong motherly soul, eyes welling up upon mention of child kidnapping; appear to be, but so denied, the owner of square of cambric; cook in Armstrong’s household [TURN OUT TO BE MRS. ARMSTRONG’S COOK]
9. Greta Ohlsson - tall, Swedish lady of 49 in plaid blouse, tweed skirt, a mass of faded greyish-yellow hair poorly arranged in large bun, wore glasses, long, mild, amiable sheep-like face, shortsighted using eyes; a matron in a missionary school near Stamboul and a trained nurse, not speak in English much, also speaks French; will stay w/ her sister and children in Lausanne Switzerland for a week or so en route to home Sweden for holiday; open Ratchett’s door by mistake and ashamed; a good comfortable dressing gown of Jaeger material a pale mauve abba such as you buy in the East; [TURN OUT TO BE DAISY ARMSTRONG’S NURSE]
10. Caroline Martha Hubbard (Mrs. Hubbard) – stout, pleasant-faced, elderly American widow talking in slow clear monotone nonstop; has a daughter who w/ her husband teaching in a big American college in Smyrna (Izmir) Turkey; first journey to the East; has plenty aspirin; gave mags to Swede to read; plan to sail to the states on Day T+2; found an unaccountable button lying on the book she read; heard woman’s voice in Ratchett’s room; C.M.H initial embroidered on her hanky not H; two dressing gowns: a pink flannel and one a kind of local affair in purple silk gifted by daughter; life-long teetotaler, all family abstainers; [TURN OUT TO BE LINDA ARDEN, MRS. ARMSTRONG’S MOTHER AND DAISY ARMSTRONG’S GRANDMA]
11. Rudolph Andrenyi (Count Andrenyi) – Hungarian diplomat, big, handsome man of 30+, well-made, 6ft tall, broad shoulders, slender hips; well-dressed in fine English tweeds, big fair moustache and sth in line of the cheekbone, worn English clothes of loose tweed, NOT English, from Hungarian Embassy, been in Washington for 1 yr as attaché; smoke cigarette and cigar not pipe; sign w/ difficult-to-read foreign language
12. Elena [Helena] Maria Goldenberg Andrenyi (Countess Andrenyi, HELENA GOLDENBERG) – the Hungarian diplomat’s wife for only 1 yr, age 20, timid, extremely charming, tight-fitting little black coat & skirt, white satin blouse, small chic black toque, beautiful foreign-looking face, dead white skin, large brown, dark, almond-shaped, lovely eyes w/ very long black lashes, scarlet lips in foreign fashion parted a little, jet-black hair; look exotic and beautiful, smoke cigarette in long holder, manicured hands w/ deep red nail; wore large emerald set in platinum; coquetry in glance and voice; always take sleeping draught (trional) when travel by train; sign w/ graceful slanting handwriting; corn-coloured chiffon dressing gown; grease spot on her diplomatic passport; [TURN OUT TO BE HELENA GOLDENBERG, LINDA ARDEN’S YOUNGER DAUGHTER, YOUNGER SISTER OF SONIA ARMSTRONG (MRS. ARMSTRONG), AUNT TO THE KIDNAPPED DAISY ARMSTRONG], AMERICAN IN ACTUALITY
13. Antonio (Tonio) Foscarelli – a naturalized American; big, sunny-looking, swarthy, voluble Italian pick teeth with gusto; has urgent biz in Milan; been to the states (Chicago included) on and off for past 10 yrs; agent for Ford Motor; spill the beans about everything, GUSH OUT, good-natured childish face, chauffeur in Armstrong’s household; [TURN OUT TO BE ARMSTRONGS’ CHAUFFEUR]
14. Cyrus Bethman Hardman - big flamboyant American in a loud check suit; age 41, travelling salesman for type-writing ribbons en route from Stamboul to Paris, chews gum deftly, a big, fleshy, coarse-featured face, good humored expression, always travel first-class at firm’s expenses; turns out traveling salesman is merely a front or disguise, true identity: a private sleuth or operative from McNeil’s Detective Agency in New York; know MacQueen well in his father’s (district attorney) NY office but MacQueen may or may not know him; smoke cigarette not pipe; Ratchett told him a small man, dark, with a womanish kind of voice was trying to kill Ratchett (first time such a small man was revealed)
15. Conductor Pierre Michel – French Wagon Lit conductor of first-class coach (Poirot’s own conductor), tall, sallow man of middle age, brown-uniformed; work for CIWL 15+yrs; live near Calais; thoroughly respectable and honest, unremarkable for brains (Bouc) [TURN OUT TO BE SUSANNE’S FATHER]
16. Mr. Bouc – a short, stout/rotund, elderly, fellow Belgian, director of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons Lits (CIWI); knew Poirot many yrs; traveling from Istanbul to Lausanne Switzerland
17. Dr. Constantine – little dark Greek man
18. Chef de train (chief conductor) – big man in blue uniform
19. Athens-Paris coach conductor - big blond
20. Bucharest-Paris coach conductor - stout burly
Chronology
1. Ratchett received last threatening letter at Istanbul: (AM Monday Day T-2)
2. Ratchett retired to room immediately after dinner before train left Belgrade: (before 9:15pm Tuesday Day T-1)
3. Train left Belgrade: (9:15pm Tuesday Day T-1)
4. Masterman left Ratchett w/ sleeping draught beside him: (about 9:40pm)
5. MacQueen last saw Ratchett in R’s compartment, taking notes re: tiles & antique pottery bought in Persia, then left Ratchett (~10:00pm Tuesday Day T-1)
6. Poirot went to bed in his compartment No. 1: (~10:15pm Tuesday Day T-1)
7. Greta Ohlsson went to Mrs. Hubbard for aspirin, Mrs. Hubbard asked Greta Ohlsson to check if the communicating door was bolted (10:30-10:45pm Tuesday Day T-1)
8. Greta Ohlsson entered into Ratchett’s room mistakenly (last seen alive): (about 10:40pm)
9. Greta Ohlsson got into bed after getting aspirin from Mrs. Hubbard: (10:55pm)
10. Princess Dragomiroff read in bed and turned out light to sleep, only sleepless due to rheumatism: (11pm)
11. Train left Vincovci, the last stop before the standstill: (00:18am Wednesday Day T )
12. Train runs into a snowdrift and came to a standstill: (0:30am Wednesday Day T)
13. Poirot awoke by groan/cry next door and found train standstill: (~0:35am Wednesday Day T)
14. The train ran into snowdrift and no one can left train thereafter (0:30am Day T)
15. Poirot switched off light and tried to sleep again; meanwhile Ratchett rang bell: (0:37am Day T)
16. Ratchett said to Conductor Michel in idiomatic French “Ce n’est rien. Je me suis trompé” last seen alive: (0:37-0:40am Day T)
17. Princess Dragomiroff rang bell for maid Fraulein Schmidt: (~0:45am Day T)
18. The death of Mr. Ratchett occurred per Dr. Constantin: (~1:00am but positively 0:37am-2:00am Day T)
19. Ratchett’s gold watch discovered at crime scene had broke and stopped, hands pointing to; (1:15am)
20. Poirot couldn’t fall asleep again and lay awake staring at ceiling, hearing Ting…Ting…Ting: (1:15am)
21. Fraulein Schmidt left Princess Dragomiroff’s room for her own compartment, first fetch a rug for princess (when she, sending rug to mistress, ran into a small, dark, a little moustache, w/ womanish voice ), pouring her mineral water, and the return again to her room for sleep (~1:15am)
22. Conductor Michel spoke w/ Mrs. Hubbard; she insisted a man in her compartment: (~1:17-1:18am)
23. Poirot spoke w/ Conductor Michel, obtained mineral water, drank, and tried to sleep again, and again awoke by a thud against the door of sth heavy falling…opened door, to his right some way down corridor a woman in scarlet dragon kimono retreating from him…Conductor Michel entering up figures on large sheets of paper, all deadly quiet…Poirot retired to be sleep and wake up until morning: (~1:25am)
24. Colonel Arbuthnot left MacQueen’s room after breaking up conversation: (1:45am, Day T)
25. Mary Debenham opened her door and saw someone in scarlet dragon kimono and shingle cap some way down the corridor; she’s also tallish, slim, (5:00am, Day T)
26. Poirot woke up in the morning, train remain standstill by heavy snow: (9:00am, Day T)
27. Poirot went to dining car for breakfast: (9:45am)
28. Conductors switch off the lights: (~10:00am)
29. Michel opened the door to Ratchett’s compartment, found it locked and chained on the inside, Ratchett was stabbed in 12 places (3 or more stabs fatal/1-2 merely scratchy), window open & cold: (11:00am)
30. Poirot was convened by Bouc and revealed the murder and group discussion follows comprising Bouc, Dr. Constantine, Chef de train, Michel, Poirot: (11:30am)
Really suspenseful- she did a great job of making you wonder the whole time who did it!!
This is one of Ms. Christie's most famous works, the other being "And Then There Were None". I've been wanting to read this one for so long., and I saw it available at the library. I think I already knew the solution before I started, or started to suspect it as I read, but the book was still enjoyable.
One thing I really like about these books is how the reader gets to know all the characters through Poirot's questioning and observations. I love psychology and human behavior, so this sort of police work is right up my alley. Reading Poirot puzzle this one out was so interesting to me. I wanted to find out his next insight or hear from the next witness.
I also like how it's never gory. The focus is on the people, their behavior, Poirot's reactions to them, and the ultimate solution. If anything is sensationalized, it's behavior or characters' connections. And I like that Poirot doesn't care about the money as long as the case interests him.
There's not much more I can say. Agatha Christie is the queen of crime for a reason. I'll always be happy to read one of her books.
One thing I really like about these books is how the reader gets to know all the characters through Poirot's questioning and observations. I love psychology and human behavior, so this sort of police work is right up my alley. Reading Poirot puzzle this one out was so interesting to me. I wanted to find out his next insight or hear from the next witness.
I also like how it's never gory. The focus is on the people, their behavior, Poirot's reactions to them, and the ultimate solution. If anything is sensationalized, it's behavior or characters' connections. And I like that Poirot doesn't care about the money as long as the case interests him.
There's not much more I can say. Agatha Christie is the queen of crime for a reason. I'll always be happy to read one of her books.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
My first Agatha Christie — I’ve seen the movie, so maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I’d chosen a book I didn’t know the plot of. It took a little bit for me to get interested in it — very dialogue heavy, and left me feeling I should have paid more attention in that one French class I took 15 years ago. I did appreciate that it wasn’t too scary or suspenseful, because that made it an easy before bed read.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
fast-paced
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No