Murder on the Orient Express

Hello all!

For this week’s blog post I will be telling you about the main characters in my mystery novel, Murder on The Orient Express by Agatha Christie. This weekend I finished the book, and I have read 347 out of 347 pages, which means I have read 278 pages. This week I got a bit carried away with reading, as I have also read/finished the Clockwork Prince, and I am halfway through City of Lost Souls. Not that it has anything to do with the book project, but Ms. S, I am demonstrating my love of reading and the fact that I read way over and beyond 40 pages this week, and I believe that 40 pages is a meagre amount, and we should be required to read a lot more. Now that the preamble is over and done with, I present to you the protagonist and antagonist- Hercule Poirot and Samuel Ratchett.

First and foremost, the protagonist- Hercule Poirot. He is one of the most well-known literary detectives in the world, and the main character of the famous ‘Poirot’ series by Agatha Christie. ‘Poirot’ is probably her most famed series, with 35 mystery books centred around Poirot, her most celebrated character. Poirot is a middle aged Belgian detective who lives in London. Since he is Belgian and works in London, he speaks both English and French proficiently and will often make random remarks in either language. In this story he is on the Orient Express returning from his holidays in the Middle East, and happens to end up on the train because there is urgent duty in London, which he has to return to immediately. Hercule Poirot has very characteristic looks, which he is well known for. He is quite short and not exactly thin, and usually wears a bowler hat. He is also has a think small black mustache, which is his most well-known characteristics. Poirot is an amazing thinker, who thinks very logically and also creatively, and he never ever misses a detail. He always solves his cases, I believe (I haven’t read all of the books, neither do I wish to do so.) Poirot is an amiable person, and he is in no way shy. He has good relations with his clients and suspects, and he will talk to suspects and ask them questions without making them uncomfortable or incriminating them. He is internationally renowned for his detective skills.

Now, our antagonist, Mr Samuel Ratchett, alias Cassetti.  In this book, it is not the murderer, but the person who was actually murdered. Once I finished reading the book I realized that the antagonist couldn’t be anyone else on the train, and to be honest, I believe he had it coming. Mr. Ratchett was on the train passing for an American Billionaire. After he was murdered (stabbed 12 times) his true identity came out. He was Mr. Cassetti, a wanted criminal for kidnapping Daisy Armstrong, daughter of the famous actress, Linda Arden. He also killed much of her family. Mr Rachett or Cassetti, then disappeared.  Mr. Ratchett is an old man, who doesn’t look very nice, neither is he very amiable for likable in any way. His physical attributes aren’t described in any detailed way while he is still alive. Not many people like him, and there are a lot of possible people who are out to kill him.

To be honest, I was not totally impressed with the book. I thought it was OK, but everything in the evidence and questioning sections were lies so I will have a problem finding clues that make sense. All of the detective work was done by Poirot and it was all mental, so I can’t really explain how any of the evidence or anything adds up in the first place.