[This is Day 21 of #Booktober! Stay tuned for more recommendations!]
What It Is: The most famous Hercule Poirot mystery by Agatha Christie, following the gentleman detective as he investigates a murder that takes place on a passenger train travelling from Istanbul to Paris and seeks to discover which of the dozen or so passengers is guilty of the foul deed.
Why You Should Read It: Agatha Christie is arguably the queen of early-20th-century mystery writers, and one of her most beloved characters is the Belgian sleuth with the impressive moustache, Hercule Poirot. If you’ve never read Christie or her Poirot stories, then Orient Express is a must-read. This story is a great example of a “locked room” mystery, in which a crime has been committed but everyone has an alibi and there’s no possible way it could have been carried out. The finale that pulls all the suspects into one room for a final shake-up from the detective has basically become a trope by now, but the trope originated from stories like this one (as well as Dashiell Hammett’s “Thin Man,” but we don’t need to quibble). It’s an intriguing whodunit that’s perfect for fans of the genre as well as new readers trying out something outside their typical fare.
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