Murder on the Orient Express analysis project By: Melanie Rayner and Chris Peycelon

Unfamiliar vocabulary words concocter: n. a prepared mix of ingredients(facts) hymeneal: n. wedding songs credo: n. a statement of beliefs or aims that guides someone’s actions irremediable: n. not able to be cured or repaired cavorting: v. to caper or prance about delineation: v. to describe in words verisimilitude: n. a philosophical or theoretical that distinguishes truth and falsity gemütlich: adj.(German) cozy or personal culpability: n. measure of how much a person is held morally responsible expenditure: n. the act of expending or spending

20 characteristics of mystery novels 1.The reader and the detective must equally be able to solve the mystery 2.All of the deception must be played equally on the reader and the detective by the criminal 3.There must be no love interest between the detective or anyone else 4.The detective cannot be the culprit 5.The culprit must be directly caught; not by chance

20 characteristics (continued) 6. The novel must have a detective 7.There has to be a corpse 8.The crime cannot be solved supernaturally. It must be solved normally 9.There can only be one detective 10.The culprit must play and important part in the novel

20 characteristics (continued) 11.The culprit cannot be a servant 12.There can only be one culprit 13.The crime cannot be committed by a group, society, or organization 14.The murder must be committed rationally 15.The truth in a crime must be obvious

20 characteristics (continued) 16.There can be no long descriptive passages 17.The criminal must feel no guilt or remorse 18.The crime cannot be accident or suicide 19.The motive for a crime must be personal

Rule #3 The classic list of rules for the detective story “3. There must be no love interest. The business in hand is to bring a criminal to the bar of justice, not to bring a lovelorn couple to the hymeneal altar.” Explanation: Rule 3 is important to any detective novel. Christie’s novel follows this rule because not once do you feel or sense any romantic attractions between Poirot and any other character.

Rule #4 The classic list of rules for the detective story “4. The detective himself, or one of the official investigators, should never turn out to be the culprit. This is bald trickery, on a par with offering someone a bright penny for a five dollar gold piece. It’s false pretenses.” Explanation: Murder on the Orient Express follows rule #4 perfectly. On pages 234 to 245, Mrs. Hubbard explains how the murder was committed after Poirot finishes stating his two solutions. This tells you that neither M. Bouc, Poirot, or Dr. Constantine were guilty.

Rule #5 The classic list of rules for the detective story “5. the culprit must be determined by logical deductions-not by accident or coincidence or unmotivated confession. To solve a criminal problem in this latter fashion is like sending the reader on a deliberate wild-goose chase, and then telling him, after he has failed, that you had the object of his search up your sleeve all the time. Such an author is no better than a practical joker.” Explanation: This rule stays true to Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. Starting on page 231, Poirot demonstrates his logical connections of the case to the passengers, and that shows you that he is a “brilliant man” and that he did not discover the solution by chance.

Rule #7 The classic list of rules for the detective story “7. There simply must be a corpse in a detective novel, and the deader the corpse the better. No lesser crime than murder will suffice. Three hundred pages is far too much pother for a crime other than murder. After all, the reader’s trouble and expenditure of energy must be rewarded.” Explanation: The corpse in this novel is Mr. Casetti. His clothing was described as “stained with rusty patches”(Christie 54).

Rule #17 The classic list of rules for the detective story “17. A professional must never be shouldered with the guilt of a rime in a detective story. Crimes by housebreakers and bandits are the province of the police departments-not of authors and brilliant amateur detectives. A really fascinating crime is one committed by a pillar of a church, or a spinster noted for her charities.” Explanation: Mrs. Hubbard, the head of the murder, showed no guilt or remorse. She even stated “I would have stabbed that man twelve times willingly”(Christie 245). The book follows all of these rules well.

Does Murder on the Orient Express fit within the rules? This book fits in exquisitely. On example is rule #19. the crime was not only brutal, but it was personal. Every person on the train had their own reason to kill Cassetti. In this rule, it was stated that the reader must have a window for their emotions. The whole basis of the vengeful crime was the murder of Daisy Armstrong, a little American girl.

Works cited Christie, Agatha. Murder on the Orient Express. Toronto: Bantam, Print. Van Dine, S.S. "Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories." American Magazine Sept. 1928: n. pag. Web.