 Dust-jacket illustration of the first UK edition | |
| Author | Agatha Christie |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Unknown |
| Language | English |
| Series | Hercule Poirot |
| Genre | Crime novel |
| Publisher | Collins Crime Club |
Publication date | 1 January 1934 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
| Pages | 256 (first edition, hardcover) |
| Preceded by | Lord Edgware Dies |
| Followed by | Three Act Tragedy |
Murder on the Orient Express is a work of detective fiction by English writer Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 1 January 1934. In the United States, it was published on 28 February 1934,[1][2] under the title of Murder in the Calais Coach, by Dodd, Mead and Company.[3][4] The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6)[5] and the US edition at $2.[4]
The elegant train of the 1930s, the Orient Express, is stopped by heavy snowfall. A murder is discovered, and Poirot's trip home to London from the Middle East is interrupted to solve the case. The opening chapters of the novel take place primarily in Istanbul. The rest of the novel takes place in Yugoslavia, with the train trapped between Vinkovci and Brod, in what is now northeastern Croatia.
The American title of Murder in the Calais Coach was used to avoid confusion with the 1932 Graham Greene novel Stamboul Train, which had been published in the United States as Orient Express.[6]
- ^ United States, Department of the Treasury (1935). Catalog of Copyright Entries. New Series: 1934, Part 1, Volume 31. New Series. Washington D C: Copyright Office. p. 213. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
- ^ Coignard, Jerome (28 February 1934). "Books – and Their Makers". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Brooklyn, New York: Everything Brooklyn Media. p. 20. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
- ^ Cooper, John; Pyke, B A, eds. (1994). Detective Fiction – the collector's guide (2 ed.). London, England: Scolar Press. pp. 82, 86. ISBN 0-85967-991-8.
- ^ a b Marcum, Steve (May 2007). "American Tribute to Agatha Christie: The Classic Years 1930–1934". Retrieved 2 September 2018.
- ^ Peers, Chris; Spurrier, Ralph; Sturgeon, Jamie (March 1999). Collins Crime Club – A checklist of First Editions (2 ed.). North Lincolnshire, England: Dragonby Press. p. 14.
- ^ Wagstaff, Vanessa; Poole, Stephen, eds. (2004). Agatha Christie: A Readers Companion. London, England: Aurum Press Ltd. p. 88. ISBN 1-84513-015-4.