276°
Posted 20 hours ago

Murder On The Christmas Express: All aboard for the puzzling Christmas mystery of the year

£7.495£14.99Clearance
ZTS2023's avatar
Shared by
ZTS2023
Joined in 2023
82
63

About this deal

Whatever you unwrap for Christmas, you had better hope it’s this book. This is 21st-century cosy Christmas crime that doesn’t shy away from the darkness. Eighteen passengers, seven stops, one killer Christmas read' JANICE HALLETT I cannot even begin to explain how frustrating it is and how negatively it impacts my feelings about a book when the publisher presents is as something it isn’t. And in this case it’s worse than just misleading the reader, it’s dressing content that is very upsetting to a segment of readers up in a cute Christmas outfit. Which is gross and irresponsible marketing.

Countess Helena Andrenyi: the sister of Sonia Armstrong, notable as the only one of the 12 suspect passengers who did not take part in the murder. Count Rudolph Andrenyi: husband of Countess Andrenyi, who took his wife's place as the twelfth murderer. Coignard, Jerome (28 February 1934). "Books – and Their Makers". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Brooklyn, New York: Everything Brooklyn Media. p.20 . Retrieved 23 March 2015. N'Duka, Amanda (25 January 2017). "Manuel Garcia-Rulfo Boards 'Murder On The Orient Express'; Vivica A Fox Joins 'The Mafia Aint Dead' ". Deadline Hollywood. Los Angeles, California: Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved 27 January 2017.

Table of Contents

Princess Natalia Dragomiroff: a Russian princess who's ultimately revealed to be Sonia Armstrong's godmother. The Full 'Murder on the Orient Express' Cast Includes Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley, Michelle Pfeiffer, More (UPDATE)". Moviefone. 29 September 2016 . Retrieved 3 October 2016. Busch, Anita (5 January 2017). "Willem Dafoe Joins Ensemble Cast Of Fox's 'Murder On The Orient Express' ". Deadline Hollywood. Los Angeles, California: Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved 5 January 2017. This book should come with multiple trigger warnings, it includes the topics of rape, domestic violence, pregnancy/birth trauma, right from the start. Too many topics shoe-horned into one novel means that the book just seems confused, with fairly unlikeable characters as well. Roz is the saving grace, but only just! main point is that the themes of domestic abuse and sexual violence, while important to discuss, were too much for this novel. before reading it seems like a bit of festive crime fiction, so the heavy topics would throw people off. setting it at christmas time was unnecessary. didn’t like the detective honestly. took way too long to get into the murder and detective part (about half way through the book) because there were too many other things the book was trying to do. made it slow and too long, repeats itself a lot, and there’s a lot of telling not showing which created some strange dialogue.

The story begins well when the night train to the Scottish Highlands is derailed by a fallen tree and any chance of rescue is many hours away. Unfortunately there is a killer on board and several murders occur one after another. Also on board is ex cop Roz Parker and she begins the search for the murderer. Yes this does sound like the perfect description of a cosy mystery. Agatha Christie's Poirot: Tom Conti, Sophie Okonedo, Paterson Joseph, Rula Lenska & Art Malik star in a new adaption of Murder on the Orient Express". An Audible Original Drama. 21 October 2017 . Retrieved 2 September 2018– via Seen It. The kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's son in 1932 inspired that element in Christie's novel two years later. The novel used many elements of the real life case: a young child, firstborn of the family, was kidnapped for ransom directly from the crib, the parents were famous, the father was a well-known pilot and the mother pregnant, and the ransom was paid but the child found dead soon after. An innocent, but perhaps loose-lipped, maid employed by Lindbergh's parents was suspected of involvement in the crime. After being harshly interrogated by police, she committed suicide. [13] Edward Henry Masterman: Ratchett's valet, a remote and haughty man, who was Col. Armstrong's batman in the war and valet in New York. The perfect book to read on a train . . . A thrilling journey from start to finish. Highly recommended' ELLY GRIFFITHSPoirot Facsimile Edition (Facsimile of 1934 UK first edition), 4 September 2006, Hardcover, 256 pp. ISBN 0-00-723440-6

I am still giving the book 3 stars for the good parts - a clever mystery, intriguing setting, lots of action and a surprise at the end. I liked Roz and enjoyed the role she played in solving the crime as well as preventing total anarchy on board the train! This is the perfect Christmas book. Get it for yourself to read when the nights are cold and dark and give it as a present. To everyone!’ MARTYN WAITES Die ehemalige Polizisten Roz hat von ihren Kollegen eine Fahrt erster Klasse im Weihnachts-Express nach Schottland geschenkt bekommt. Sie möchte zu ihrer Tochter und deren Partnerin. Die beiden erwarten minütlich ihr erstes Kind und Roz hofft, pünktlich zur Geburt dort zu sein. Das Schneegestöber behindert jedoch den Bahnverkehr und der Zug startet mit Verspätung. Auf der Fahrt denkt Roz immer wieder an die Vergangenheit und dass sie es nicht leicht mit ihrer Mutter hatte und mit ihrer Tochter. Schottland soll ein Neuanfang werden. Nach und nach lernt sie die anderen Passagiere kennen. Einige sind ihr sofort sympathisch, auf andere Bekanntschaften könnte sie auch verzichten. The perfect Christmas read . . . and puzzles galore for both readers and the players of the game’ W.C. RYAN Anderson, Isaac (4 March 1934). "Murder on the Orient Express (review)". The New York Times Book Review. New York City: New York Times Company. p.11.All told I would be happy to recommend to anyone looking for a Christmas based crime novel. There are a number of themes involved in the story but I really enjoyed Murder on the Christmas Express. Alongside the theatrical element is of course the food. We can’t tell you which you’ll be more impressed by, the immersive experience or the four course dinner that runs alongside it. So we’ll leave that decision up to you. There are a variety of meal options so vegetarians, vegans, and anyone with religious dietary requirements won’t have to worry about missing out. The menu comes from a BBC MasterChef professional, so you know you’re in for a one of a kind treat. On a lighter note, Roz has made a concoction called tablet for the journey, a sort of Scotch whisky-laden fudge from her mother's own recipe book. Roz constantly refers to this recipe book and to tablet and the recipe even appears at the end of the novel. The character Cyrus Hardman (the former American police officer turned private detective) has been largely amalgamated with the chauffeur Foscarelli (in as much as regards being the lover of the dead maid) and Dr. Constantine (who in the novel is unrelated to the murders) becomes a co-conspirator, depicted as having been the Armstrong family's doctor in America.

The piece of paper helps Poirot work out the murderer's motive. Many years earlier, American gangster Cassetti kidnapped three-year-old Daisy Armstrong. Cassetti collected a significant ransom from the wealthy Armstrong family, then revealed that he had already killed the child. Sonia Armstrong, Daisy's mother, who was pregnant with her second child, went into premature labor upon hearing the news and died, along with the baby. Her grieving husband, Colonel Armstrong, shot himself, and Daisy's French nursemaid, Susanne, was accused of aiding Cassetti and committed suicide, only to be found innocent afterwards. Cassetti escaped justice through corruption and legal technicalities, and fled the country. Poirot concludes that Ratchett was actually Cassetti. Whoever had answered the conductor was not Ratchett, as Ratchett did not speak French. Two less notable events helped inspire her novel: Agatha Christie's first journey on the Orient Express in late 1928, and a blizzard near Çerkezköy, Turkey, that marooned the Orient Express for six days just a few months later, in February 1929. [13] The 18 suspects are an interesting bunch, but their characterisation is sketchy and I found it quite hard to form an opinion on the identity of the murderer and their motives. But Benedict is bang up to date with the inclusion of same sex couples, a person called Sam who uses the pronoun they, and a famous social media influencer. I learned quite a lot! When I started this novel, I expected a nice Christmas cozy with all the trimmings but this is definitely not that. First, the only connection to Christmas is the time of year but it hardly factors into the story. Second, it was a long and sometimes draggy ride to the first murder which doesn’t occur until about a third of the way into the story. And there is nothing cozy here. This is a very dark tale with several references to rape, sexual, emotional and physical assaults as well as descriptions of a high risk pregnancy.

Review

As in the 2017 film, MacQueen's father was the prosecutor rather than the Armstrongs' lawyer, whose career was ruined after he was threatened into acquitting Cassetti. The adaptation's treatment of Ratchett's murder is much darker in comparison with the novel. The killers gather in his cabin and stab him one by one while he is drugged but awake, rather than stabbing him independently while he is unconscious. The ending dwells on Poirot's horror at the act of mob justice and his moral conflict, in view of his Catholic faith and commitment to the law, when he decides not to tell the Yugoslavian police what he knows.

Asda Great Deal

Free UK shipping. 15 day free returns.
Community Updates
*So you can easily identify outgoing links on our site, we've marked them with an "*" symbol. Links on our site are monetised, but this never affects which deals get posted. Find more info in our FAQs and About Us page.
New Comment