The Mystery of the Blue Train (Hercule Poirot, #6) by Agatha Christie

  

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Clean

 

When the luxurious Blue Train arrives at Nice, a guard attempts to wake serene Ruth Kettering from her slumbers. But she will never wake again—for a heavy blow has killed her, disfiguring her features almost beyond recognition. What is more, her precious rubies are missing.

The prime suspect is Ruth’s estranged husband, Derek. Yet Hercule Poirot is not convinced, so he stages an eerie reenactment of the journey, complete with the murderer on board. . . .

I found it a little odd that there are two murder mysteries on trains by Agatha Christie. It made me wonder if she disliked this one so much, that she decided to write something she thought was better, which would be Murder on the Orient Express. I have no idea, but I heard this wasn't one of her favorite books. For me, I thought it was pretty good. Not one of the best I've read in the series, but still good. Of course, any Poirot mystery is bound to be better than the average mystery out there. Except for maybe The Big Four, which I skipped because I heard it was dreadful. 

This was a pretty twisty book and it took a while to figure things out. Some of the happenings in the beginning of this were not real clear until I got further into the book. I kept wondering how the mysterious man fit into the story. Eventually though, everything began to make sense. One thing I wasn't a fan of was that it took a very long time for Poirot to appear. Also, this book lacks the humor that was present in the others I've read. 

As usual, I watched the TV show after reading the book. This one was the worst adaptation so far. The story was completely changed, and for the life of me, I don't know why. The one good thing, was that I really liked the actress that played Katherine. Several other roles seemed woefully miscast. I recommend skipping this one if you really liked the book. 

 

“Trains are relentless things, aren't they, Monsieur Poirot? People are murdered and die, but they go on just the same. I am talking nonsense, but you know what I mean."
"Yes, yes, I know. Life is like a train, Mademoiselle. It goes on. And it is a good thing that that is so."