Returning from an important case in Syria, Hercule Poirot boards the Orient Express in Istanbul. The train is unusually crowded for the time of year and Poirot is able to secure a place only with the help of his friend Monsieur Bouc, a director of the company which operates the Express. When a Mr. Harris fails to show up, Poirot takes his place, to the surprise of his roommate Mr. McQueen. However, on the second
night, Poirot gets a
compartment to himself.
On the second night out from Istanbul, at about twenty-three minutes before 1:00 am, Poirot wakes to the sound of a loud noise. It seems to come from the compartment next to his, which is occupied by Mr. Ratchett. When Poirot peeks out his door, he sees the
conductor knock on Mr. Ratchett''s door and ask if he is all right. Mr. Ratchett replies in French that he is fine, and the conductor moves on to answer a bell down the
passage. Poirot decides to go back to bed but he is disturbed by the fact that the train is unusually still and his mouth is dry. As he lies awake, he hears Mrs. Hubbard ringing the bell urgently. When Poirot then rings the conductor for a glass of water, he learns that Mrs. Hubbard was afraid that someone had been in her compartment. He also learns that the train has stopped due to a snowstorm. Poirot dismisses the conductor and tries to go back to sleep, only to be wakened again by a thump on his door. This time when Poirot gets up and looks out of his compartment, the passage is completely silent, and he sees nothing except the back of a woman in a scarlet kimono retreating down the passage in the distance.
The next day he awakens to find that Mr. Ratchett is dead, having been stabbed twelve times in his sleep. However, the
clues and circumstances are very mysterious. Some of the stab wounds are very deep and some are glancing blows. Furthermore, some of them appear to have been inflicted by a right-handed person and some by a left-handed person.
Poirot finds several more clues in the victim''s cabin and on board the coach, including a linen handkerchief with the letter "H" on it, a pipe cleaner, and a button from a conductor''s uniform. All of these clues suggest that the murderer or murderers were somewhat sloppy. However, each clue seemingly points to different suspects, which suggests that some of the clues were planted.
By reconstructing some bits of a burned letter, Poirot soon discovers that Mr. Ratchett was a notorious fugitive from the U.S. named Cassetti. Some years earlier, Cassetti kidnapped three-year-old heiress Daisy Armstrong. Though the Armstrong family paid a large ransom for Daisy''s release, Cassetti murdered the little girl regardless and fled the country with the money. Daisy''s mother, Sonia Armstrong, was pregnant when she heard of Daisy''s death. The shock sent her into premature labor, and both she and the child died. Her husband, Colonel Armstrong, shot himself out of grief. Mrs. Armstrong''s maid, Susanne, was suspected by the police, despite her protests. She threw herself out of a window of the Armstrong house and died after which she was proved innocent.
As the evidence mounts, it continues to point in wildly different directions and it appears that Poirot is being challenged by a master mind. A critical piece of missing evidence - the scarlet kimono worn the night of the murder by an unknown woman — turns up in Poirot''s own luggage.
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