Murder on the Orient Express

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Published: 1926
Narrated by: Kenneth Branagh
Series: Hercule Poirot #10
Length: 06:12 (274 pages)

I’ve been meaning to read this for ages now. When the latest film adaptation came out, I didn’t want to ruin the book by watching that first, so I figured now was the time, even if all I’ve heard about the adaptation are complaints about Kenneth Branagh’s moustache (which I find whimsical).

There’s a new Audible edition that is narrated by Branagh, so that seemed like the perfect place to start. I’ve listened to a couple of his narrations in the past, The Magician’s Nephew and Heart of Darkness, and they were both fantastic. He was just as good in this novel, although a couple of the accents did seem a little rough. It’s really not an easy book to narrate, though.

A murder takes place on the Orient Express the same night the train happens to become stuck in a snowdrift. Famed detective Hercule Poirot is on board and takes the opportunity of everyone being stuck on the train to interview each person who had access to the compartment. This is really the ‘whodunit’ in its purest form, without any distracting subplots. The event happens, we interview each passenger, and then we end with the reveal. Each passenger and backstory is interesting, the conclusion is satisfying, and it was just a pleasant read all the way through. This was my first experience with Poirot, apart from vague memories of occasionally catching David Suchet’s television series on PBS when I was a teenager, and he is a character I’m really looking forward to seeing again. He’s a bit pompous and a bit of a show-off but in an endearing way.

I’ll definitely be reading more from Agatha Christie. If her other books are anything like this, I could see these becoming my comfort reads – nothing too taxing, just a compelling puzzle with fascinating characters. I enjoyed her writing, her snarky descriptions, and how she paced the story. The fact that this was mostly interviews on a stationary train, but still managed to be gripping, is a feat in itself. I will say that I’d hate for Agatha Christie to ever describe me in a novel. She can be scathing in her descriptions.

Many of her novels are on Audible, so I’m sure I’ll listen to a few. Dan Stevens narrating And Then There Were None and David Suchet narrating Death on the Nile, in particular, stood out to me.