Christie, Agatha - The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928)

Review by Nick Fuller

4/5

Although Christie's least favourite work, this, a reworking of "The Plymouth Express", is very far from being a bad work. While the plot is rather dated - concerning, as it does, a fabulous jewel, a super criminal, elegant (i.e., titled) adultery with two unpleasant foreigners, the Riviera and more than a touch of snobbery - it is done with the author's usual style, sophistication and ability to convince. Poirot is in good form, although perhaps a shade too omniscient, shrewd and avuncular (shades of Mr. Satterthwaite); he needs a foil to humanise him, and such remarks as, 'There are two people who know... One is le bon Dieu...and the other is Hercule Poirot' seem rather megalomanic. The solution is very clever, involving the guilt of the most unlikely person and an ingenious alibi relying on impersonation (the ancestor of Evil under the Sun), anticipating the master-works of the 1930s.

Note that throughout the 1930s, reviewers thought that this, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Death in the Clouds and Murder on the Orient Express were her best works.