Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express

Amy Lee (The Open University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1934

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Crime and Detective
Novel

Resources

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Murder on the Orient Express

is one Agatha Christie’s best-known works. The story is loosely based on the Lindbergh kidnap case in America in 1932. On 21 March 1932, the infant son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh was kidnapped from their home in Hopewell, New Jersey. The kidnappers asked for a ransom of 50,000 U.S dollars, but after it was paid, the child was found dead. Bruno Richard Hauptmann was arrested and executed for the murder. Besides this real-life story, the book is also influenced by Christie’s personal fascination with trains – witness the number of murder cases set on trains in her repertoire – and especially with the exotic Orient Express which travels across the continents.

At the beginning of the story, Hercule Poirot has just completed a delicate task in Syria, and

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1335 words

Citation: Lee, Amy. "Murder on the Orient Express". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 January 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3395, accessed 26 April 2024.]

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