Dear Agatha Christie,
I recently read your murder novel "Murder on the Orient Express". I think it was well written but definitely has outstanding pros and cons.
Firstly, the pros. While reading, I realized that you have a certain way of sending your readers on a wild goose chase. On every page you give more evidence that seems more important than anything else, making you suspect a whole new character. The best part being every page is followed by yet another, it scrabbles your mind and scrabbles the protagonist's mind too. That leads me to the next point; your characters are believable. Although Mr. Poirot was surprisingly calm with the situation at hand, it was explained that he had to be. When there's a murder on an isolated train, the detective would be the one who thinks rationally. My favorite part of the book however, is that you have a demeanor that could totally allow you to talk down to your readers, but you never take that opportunity. Instead, you take us along Poirot's thought process, down to the list where he wrote everything in which he was thinking. My favorite example of this is for the character by the name of Colonel Arbuthnot.
Colonel Arbuthnot- British subject. Berth No. 15. First class.
Motive: None.
Alibi: Midnight to 2 a.m. Did not leave compartment. (Substantiated by MacQueen and conductor.)
Evidence Against Him or Suspicious Circumstances: Pipe Cleaner.
{Christie, 209}
This my favorite and clearest of your examples in which you thoroughly show Poirot's thoughts and help your readers summarize and articulate all of the information you gave them during the interviews with every passenger.
The cons for this book weren't very evident, however they were there. I know you can write a murder mystery, but if I hadn't known beforehand from your famous novel "And Then There Were None", I would've imagined you had just taken the easy way out when it came to your conclusion. Regardless, I know you're an author who loves to weave, so I understood why you did what you did.
Thank you greatly for writing this book!
--Your Reader
Here's a trailer for the movie based off of this book. It's quite old and reminds me of Clue!! I'm glad I finished this book and I'm eager to start a new book.
I recently read your murder novel "Murder on the Orient Express". I think it was well written but definitely has outstanding pros and cons.
Firstly, the pros. While reading, I realized that you have a certain way of sending your readers on a wild goose chase. On every page you give more evidence that seems more important than anything else, making you suspect a whole new character. The best part being every page is followed by yet another, it scrabbles your mind and scrabbles the protagonist's mind too. That leads me to the next point; your characters are believable. Although Mr. Poirot was surprisingly calm with the situation at hand, it was explained that he had to be. When there's a murder on an isolated train, the detective would be the one who thinks rationally. My favorite part of the book however, is that you have a demeanor that could totally allow you to talk down to your readers, but you never take that opportunity. Instead, you take us along Poirot's thought process, down to the list where he wrote everything in which he was thinking. My favorite example of this is for the character by the name of Colonel Arbuthnot.
Colonel Arbuthnot- British subject. Berth No. 15. First class.
Motive: None.
Alibi: Midnight to 2 a.m. Did not leave compartment. (Substantiated by MacQueen and conductor.)
Evidence Against Him or Suspicious Circumstances: Pipe Cleaner.
{Christie, 209}
This my favorite and clearest of your examples in which you thoroughly show Poirot's thoughts and help your readers summarize and articulate all of the information you gave them during the interviews with every passenger.
The cons for this book weren't very evident, however they were there. I know you can write a murder mystery, but if I hadn't known beforehand from your famous novel "And Then There Were None", I would've imagined you had just taken the easy way out when it came to your conclusion. Regardless, I know you're an author who loves to weave, so I understood why you did what you did.
Thank you greatly for writing this book!
--Your Reader
Here's a trailer for the movie based off of this book. It's quite old and reminds me of Clue!! I'm glad I finished this book and I'm eager to start a new book.
Excellent post! I love the way you wrote it, and it made me really consider reading this book. Nice job!
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