Book reviews

"Murder on the Orient Express" (Agatha Christie, 1934)

Nothing like a good old-fashioned crime and detective book during a sea-side break!

Although I actually started reading it on the train to our final destination, and they almost had to (figuratively) pry the book from my hands because I just wanted to keep reading it and find out who was the murderer (or murdererS).

This was the first Hercules Poirot book I read as I had only read Miss Marple books previously. It's quite different! I found quite amusing the sense of self-deprecation that pervades the descriptions of English people in the novel (coming from an English author...!).

All in all a very entertaining novel and given that it's almost 100 years old, it has not really dated much. Yes, the fashions and the settings are "old fashioned" and obsolete, but the language is still really fresh and energetic, and the lines and dialog flow like the action is right in front of you. No wonder I was using any possible excuse to read a chapter or two in between holiday activities!

Lots of trivia (and spoilers!) at the wikipedia page.