Book 32: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

I'm cheating on my little project here as the Russian book is giving me a harder time than expected.  I should have finished by now but am only about 160 pages in.  I'm going on a weekend vacation and don't really feel like working through Pasternak, so I'm taking a little break and reading a murder mystery.  It's pretty short at 256 pages and I'll probably try to finish it by the end of the long weekend so about 85 pages per day. 

REVIEW:  This is the second Agatha Christie mystery that I’ve read and I was impressed with this one as well.  I have this little game that I like to play with mystery novels where I write down a list of suspects and, every quarter of the book or so, I try to guess who is the guilty party.  I find that my choice generally changes as more evidence is uncovered.  I generally take it as a sign of a good mystery if the crime is solvable at the end of the book without additional “clues” being introduced at the last minute.  Christie is really good at laying out all of the information but still surprising you at the end.  Twice now, I’ve played my little game and didn’t even come close to guessing the guilty party.

This book wasn’t quite as good as the previous one I read as I felt the ending was a little bit unfair but that may just be sour grapes because she got me again.  I do really like the character of Hercule Poirot and I’m wondering if I would like her other main character, Miss Marple, as much.  Maybe I’ll explore that next.

Overall, it was a great little mystery and another interesting read.  I suppose there’s a reason that Agatha Christie has sold over 2 billion books.  It wasn’t quite as good as The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, however as the ending felt a little contrived and the mystery was laid out a bit too clinically. 

7 out of 10.