Reading List: Six Agatha Christie Train Mysteries

The Queen of Crime loves to write a mystery set on a train. While The Murder on the Orient Express is her most famous work set on a train, here are five other deadly train rides penned by Agatha Christie.

The Mystery of the Blue Train (Hercule Poirot, 6)

Robbery and brutal murder aboard a luxury transport ensnares the ever-attentive Hercule Poirot in The Mystery of the Blue Train, from Queen of Mystery Agatha Christie

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. . . .

Amazon

Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot, 10)

Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Without a shred of doubt, one of his fellow passengers is the murderer.

Isolated by the storm, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer among a dozen of the dead man’s enemies, before the murderer decides to strike again.

Amazon

4:50 from Paddington (Miss Marple Mysteries, 7)

In Agatha Christie’s classic mystery 4:50 From Paddington, a woman in one train witnesses a murder occurring in another passing one…and only Miss Marple believes her story.

For an instant the two trains ran side by side. In that frozen moment, Elspeth McGillicuddy stared helplessly out of her carriage window as a man tightened his grip around a woman’s throat. The body crumpled. Then the other train drew away. But who, apart from Mrs. McGillicuddy’s friend Jane Marple, would take her story seriously? After all, there are no other witnesses, no suspects, and no case — for there is no corpse, and no one is missing.

Miss Marple asks her highly efficient and intelligent young friend Lucy Eyelesbarrow to infiltrate the Crackenthorpe family, who seem to be at the heart of the mystery, and help unmask a murderer.

The Girl in the Train: A Short Story (1924)

George Rowland, a bored playboy, disowned for the seventh time by his wealthy uncle, is on the train to London. When a beautiful girl bursts into his compartment, frantically begging to be hidden, his life changes dramatically.

The Plymouth Express: A Short Story (Hercule Poirot)

A dead heiress on a train, a murdered recluse, a wealthy playboy slain at a costume ball are but a few of the unfortunate victims of confounding crimes committed in the pages of Agatha Christie’s The Under Dog and Other Stories, a superior collection of short mystery fiction all featuring Hercule Poirot as the investigator. 

A beautiful heiress has been found dead on a train. A playboy has been stabbed through the heart during a costume ball. An elderly woman suspects that she is being slowly poisoned to death. A prince fears for his reputation when his fiancée is embroiled in another man’s murder. A forgotten recluse makes headlines after he is shot in the head.

Who but Agatha Christie could concoct such canny crimes? Who but Belgian detective Hercule Poirot could possibly solve them? It’s a challenge to be met—in a triumph of detection.

The Killings at Kingfisher Hill by Sophie Hannah (The New Hercule Poirot Mystery, 4)

A dead heiress on a train, a murdered recluse, a wealthy playboy slain at a costume ball are but a few of the unfortunate victims of confounding crimes committed in the pages of Agatha Christie’s The Under Dog and Other Stories, a superior collection of short mystery fiction all featuring Hercule Poirot as the investigator. 

A beautiful heiress has been found dead on a train. A playboy has been stabbed through the heart during a costume ball. An elderly woman suspects that she is being slowly poisoned to death. A prince fears for his reputation when his fiancée is embroiled in another man’s murder. A forgotten recluse makes headlines after he is shot in the head.

Who but Agatha Christie could concoct such canny crimes? Who but Belgian detective Hercule Poirot could possibly solve them? It’s a challenge to be met—in a triumph of detection.

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