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The Train Store - The Mystery of the Blue Train (Digest) (Hercule Poirot)
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List Price: $6.99
Our Price: $3.32
Your Save: $ 3.67 ( 53% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Berkley
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780425210789
ISBN: 0425210782
Label: Berkley
Manufacturer: Berkley
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: 2006-07-05
Publisher: Berkley
Reading Level: Young Adult
Studio: Berkley
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Robbery and Murder on the Blue Train
Comment: This 1928 novel describes a world that is gone, no one writes such stories today. An American millionaire buys expensive jewels from a private dealer. When he is threatened by robbers he shoots at them (they had the right to keep and bear arms before WW II). These rubies are given to his daughter Ruth, who has an unhappy marriage to a poor aristocrat with a rich title; both lead separate lives. Ruth will travel on the Blue Train to Nice (and visit an old boy friend). It happens that Hercule Poirot is also on that train, and so is Derek Kettering, Ruth's husband. After leaving Lyons Ruth Kettering is found dead, strangled with her face battered beyond recognition. Her rubies were stolen. Poirot aids the police, and does an investigation for Rufus Van Aldin, Ruth's multimillionaire father. Other characters are introduced; they play a part in this story, and reflect those times.
The police arrest the obvious suspect. Poirot is able to find the real killer by doing a better background investigation. [I had a hunch by Chapter 28 using 'common sense' from reading what was in the text to guess the solution.] Poirot's solution does not depend on physical evidence such as fingerprints, blood spatter, or locating the stolen rubies! It is based on circumstantial evidence, comparing the differences in spoken testimony. This is a clever solution that depends on certain facts (or clues) placed in the earlier chapters. Any victim whose face was battered beyond recognition would have blood spatter around the body, unmentioned here. [What object did the battering?] This battering suggests great hatred of the victim. Poirot solved the crime with a theory that accounted for all the known facts.
Note how the closed compartments of European first class trains allowed crimes that can't occur in an open coach. Readers of true crime stories know that love or money (lust or greed) often lead to murder. Both are in this story. Was the introduction of Katherine Grey just padding, a false clue, or another of Christie's personal statements?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Top Christie Poirot formula mystery
Comment: A very rich man-of-the-world acquires a tremendously priceless gem off the Black Market for his somewhat flighty, almost divorced, daughter. But this famous and valuable bauble carries a grim curse which has proved fatal for its previous owners!
The young lady leaves town on The Blue Train to covertly rendezvous with her lover, a man of dubious character and of whom her father does not at all approve. But that turns out to be the least of dad's worries since his pride-and-joy never makes it alive to her destination. And guess what? The jewel is stolen too!
A second young and attractive lady, recently the beneficiary of a notable inheritance, was the last to see this unfortunate gal before she was murdered. She's traveling to visit with relatives who would like to share a chunk of the pecuniary cheese. This gal remains linked to the case, regardless of how much she'd rather not be a principal incidental to the heinous incident.
The number of suspects, who were also secreted on The Blue Train, go far beyond the young lady's swarthy lover -- and since the police appear to be stumped, the father calls in the world's top detective, Hercule Poirot, to investigate and resolve this dark and complicated matter.
Here, Christie weaves a tale of mystery, international intrigue, and a journey into the Black Market in which jewel thieves operate. And typical to Christie's style, the character development is superb and the main story is bulging with interesting and relevant sub-plots. This is one of Christie's best efforts, clearly in the top 10 percent of her writings.
My highest recommendation.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Top Christie Poirot formula mystery!
Comment: A very rich man-of-the-world acquires a tremendously priceless gem off the Black Market for his somewhat flighty, almost divorced, daughter. But this famous and valuable bauble carries a grim curse which has proved fatal for its previous owners!
The young lady leaves town on The Blue Train to covertly rendezvous with her lover, a man of dubious character and of whom her father does not at all approve. But that turns out to be the least of dad's worries since his pride-and-joy never makes it alive to her destination. And guess what? The jewel is stolen too!
A second young and attractive lady, recently the beneficiary of a notable inheritance, was the last to see this unfortunate gal before she was murdered. She's traveling to visit with relatives who would like to share a chunk of the pecuniary cheese. This gal remains linked to the case, regardless of how much she'd rather not be a principal incidental to the heinous incident.
The number of suspects, who were also secreted on The Blue Train, go far beyond the young lady's swarthy lover -- and since the police appear to be stumped, the father calls in the world's top detective, Hercule Poirot, to investigate and resolve this dark and complicated matter.
Here, Christie weaves a tale of mystery, international intrigue, and a journey into the Black Market in which jewel thieves operate. And typical to Christie's style, the character development is superb and the main story is bulging with interesting and relevant sub-plots. This is one of Christie's best efforts, clearly in the top 10 percent of her writings.
My highest recommendation.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Writer, Poor Book
Comment: There's an old saying "Even Homer nods". Agatha Christie's nod was "The Mystery of the Blue Train".
The plot manages to be both weak and overly complicated; it is 'fair play' but just barely. The characters are not up to Christie's usual standards, but they are not too bad. The pace of the story is awful -- not just slow, but aimless, and totally lacking in humor -- in a word 'flat'. My guess is Miss Christie had a good short story but had to produce a novel; and so she strung it out.
I've read and re-read all Agatha Christie's novels and short stories, and in my opinion she is the best detective story writer ever. Sadly "The Mystery of the Blue Train" is not Christie at her best, or even at her good.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Christie did a much better job on The Orient Express
Comment: An heiress murdered, her newly acquired rubies stolen, a lover, estranged husband & mistress, a young girl who has inherited money and Poirot all get entangled in the affair; it's a mess. MURDER ON THE BLUE TRAIN plods along at a snail's pace and it is actually a pleasure to reach the end. The murder victim doesn't earn our compassion or contempt, the side trips into the life of our newly moneyed young heroine are tedious and Poirot muddles through without his usual aplomb. Even when the killer is revealed, it lacks the usual drama of Poirot's theatrics; it's almost an afterthought. Christie does a much better job when she puts Poirot on the Orient Express.
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Editorial Reviews:
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On the luxurious Blue Train, beautiful American heiress Ruth Kettering's dire predictions come true-she's murdered. With few clues, Hercule Poirot must look into Ruth's startling secret life.
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