the mystery of the bule train

7/29/2019 The Mystery of the Bule Train

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Agatha Christie


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Agatha Christie

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie was a British crime

writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She alsowrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is

best remembered for her 66 detective novels and more than 15short story collections, most of which revolve around theinvestigations of such characters as Hercule Poirot, Miss JaneMarple and Tommy and Tuppence.


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Christie had long been a fan of detective novels, havingenjoyed Wilkie Collins , The Woman in White and TheMoonstone as well as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's early SherlockHolmes stories. Deciding to write her own detective novel,

entitled The Mysterious Affair at Styles, she created adetective named Hercule Poirot to be her protagonist. A former

Belgian police officer noted for his twirly.


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moustache and egg-shaped head, Poirot had been a refugee whohad fled to Britain following Germany's invasion of Belgium; in

this manner, Christie had been influenced by the Belgianrefugees whom she had encountered in Torquay.

Christie's second novel, The Secret Adversary(1922),featured new protagonists in the form of detective couple Tommyand Tuppence; again published by The Bodley Head, it earned

her 50. She followed this with a third novel, once againfeaturing Poirot, entitledMurder on the Links(1923), as well

as a series.


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of Poirot short stories commissioned by Bruce Ingram, editorofSketchmagazine.When Archie was offered a job organising aworld tour to promote the British Empire Exhibition, the coupleleft their daughter with Agatha's mother and sister andtravelled to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and

Hawaii.The couple learnt to surf prone in South Africa andin Waikiki became some of the first Britons to surf standing up.


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Agatha Christie's first novelThe Mysterious Affair at Styleswas published in 1920 and introduced the long-running character

detective Hercule Poirot, who appeared in 33 of Christie'snovels and 54 short stories.

Like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with Sherlock Holmes, Christiewas to become increasingly tired of her detective Poirot. Infact, by the end of the 1930s, Christie confided to her diary

that she was finding Poirot insufferable," and by the 1960sshe felt that he was "an ego-centric creep.".


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However, unlike Doyle,

Christie resisted thetemptation to kill her detective

off while he was still popular.

She saw herself as anentertainer whose job was to

produce what the public liked,and the public likedPoirot. Feeling tied down,

stuck with a love interest, shedid marry off Hastings in anattempt to trim her cast

commitments


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The nystery of the blue train

The Mystery of the Blue Trainisone of my favourite Poirotmysteries, partly due to the setting,and partly because the charactersand their behaviour are interesting

(and often amusing).


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The novel begins in Paris, with the purchasing of a rubynecklace containing the fabulous Heart of Fire by theAmerican millionaire Rufus van Aldin. An attempt is made thatevening to waylay and rob him, but the attempt fails, and thereader is introduced to an enigmatic character who goes by the

name of The Marquis, and to Mr Papadopoulous, dealer inantiques, art and jewels. Van Aldin returns to London unharmedand pays a visit to his daughter Ruth, who is unhappily anddetachedly married to the Hon. Derek Kettering.


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Van Aldin presents her with the necklace, and advises her toseek a divorce from her husband on the grounds of infidelity.

Also introduced are Derek Kettering himself, and his mistress the dancer, Mireille who is able to tell Derek that his wife(with whom he evidently does not live), will be travelling

shortly to the Riviera on the fabled Blue Train.


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Katherine Grey, who has recently and unexpectedly inherited a lotof money from the elderly lady towhom she was a companion, also is

planning to travel to the south ofFrance on the Blue Train, and will

be staying with a cousin, LadyTamplin


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Christie arranges all the characters on board the train withcare, and manages to introduce Katherine to both Ruth and

later, to Hercule Poirot, with whom she strikes upconversation. It is only when the train arrives at Nice that

the grisly murder of Ruth Kettering, and the theft of herruby necklace are discovered. Poirot offers his assistance tothe local police, and Van Aldin himself, hurriedly summoned

from London, asks his aid, which Poirot is pleased to provide.


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Then follows a nice unravelling of the plot, with everyonehaving motive more or less Derek himself, who would havecome into a lot of money on his wifes death; the Comte de laRoche, Ruths lover, a con-man who evidently planned to robRuth of the ruby, but in such a way that she could never

admit to it; the mysterious Marquis; and Mireille, whowanted a rich lover (and would not have been averse to

wearing the rubies). Katherine aids Poirot in hisinvestigations, finds two admirers Kettering and Van Aldinssecretary, Richard Knighton and returns to England.


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I think the charm in this novel is in the logic and carewith which Christie plots the eventual denouement is aptif dramatically revealed; however, she does play fair with

the reader in having provided all the clues. The setting isnicely evoked, with sufficient detail that one feels in the

warm sun of the Riviera, but without that detailoverwhelming the novel, and there are several minorcharacters whom Christie allows to be amusing or

instructive. Katherine is an appealing heroine, and Irather like the awkward Lennox Tamplin, Lady Tamplins

daughter.


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Book reviewAgatha Christie didnt enjoy writing The Mystery of the BlueTrain. In her autobiography she wrote that it had not been easy

writing it and that she had always hated it:To begin with I had no joy in writing, no lan. I had worked out

the plot a conventional plot, partly adapted from one of myother stories. I knew, as one might say, where I was going, but Icould not see the scene in my minds eye, and the people would not

come alive. I was driven on by the desire, indeed the necessity, towrite another book and make some money.


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That was the moment when I changed from being an amateur toa professional. I assumed the burden of a profession, which is to

write even when you dont want to, dont much like what you are

writing and arent writing particularly well. (pages 368-9)

As she was writing this book at the time of her disappearance

and divorce from her first husband, Archibald Christie itshardly surprising. It may not be her best book, but its still a

good read. Ruth Kettering, the daughter of millionaire RufusVan Aldin, is married to Derek, against her fathers advice.


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Agathas views on divorce are clear when Van Aldintells Ruth she should divorce Derek, who he thinks

is no good, rotten through and through and had onlymarried her for her money, saying:


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Have you got the grit to admit to all the world that youvemade a mistake. Theres only one way out of this mess,

Ruthie. Cut your losses and start afresh. (page 20)Later Ruth is found strangled in her compartment in the

Paris-Nice train, known as thetrain bleu, on its arrival inNice and the fabulous ruby, the Heart of Fire that VanAldin had given her, has been stolen. Fortunately Hercule

Poirot is also travelling on the train and he of courseunravels the mystery.


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There are a number of suspects ranging from Derek and hismistress, the dancer Mirelle, who had both the motive and theopportunity, to Ruths lover, the Comte de la Roche, suspectedof stealing the jewels


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I liked the reflections on detective novels through aconversation Poirot has with another passenger on the train,

Katherine Grey, from St Mary Mead who has inheritedmoney from her employer. She is reading aromanpolicierwhen they meet at dinner and Poirot comments thatthey always sell well. She replies that may be because theygive the illusion of living an exciting lifeand thatnothing of

that kind ever happens to me. From then on however, she isdrawn into the mystery along with Poirot, that


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small man, distinctly foreign in appearance, with a rigidly waxedmoustache and an egg-shaped head which he carried rather on oneside. (page 80)


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The movie

The mystery of the blue train


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Bibliography

- http://ela21.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/the-mystery-of-the-blue-train-agatha-christie/

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie


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Emanuela

XII-th D

the mystery of the bule train

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