This French twisting mystery, Murder on the Orient Express is Agatha Christie's most famous book. This book is based on three real crimes, which may make it a little spooky! It takes place in the 1930's on the Orient Express train from Syria to Paris. The lovable protagonist who makes some of Agatha Christie's stories glow is the very honest Belgian inspector, Hercule Poirot. For a man of such small size and a fancy mustache his expertise wows you with every fact.

In the beginning of this mystery, Hercule Poirot gets a letter from his agency that he needs to return to home. He tries to book a seat on the Orient Express train, and in the winter it is expected that all the trains are nearly empty. Ironically, this train is fully booked! When a passenger does not show up, Poirot books the last seat along with thirteen other passengers. Each passenger on the train couldn't be more different, but maybe they are more connected then Poirot suspects. The train runs into a snowdrift in the middle of the night. Soon enough in the morning they find the wealthiest man on the trains body dead stabbed at least twelve times in his compartment, which is guessed to have occurred during the night. How did the murder get in the room if it was locked with a chain? Who was the murder? If your mind wants the answer, than definitely check out this book. Together Poirot, Dr. Constantine and Monsieur Bouc discover clues to identify the murder. I think the author did a fabulous job making each sentence filled with many clues, descriptions and each word carefully chosen for the sentence to give the write feeling. I felt like I became the detective as I read this story. You have to flip back a lot to connect it together in your mind. There were also times where my teeth were chattering and my hands were sweating, but you just keep reading. There are many surprises, suspicions and lies that I did not see coming! At times it may get boring and predictable, but it all builds up to a great ending. All the facts come together in the end to answer all your questions. The ending will shock you!

I would give this book the rating of three and a half, out of five (five being the highest).

This book is for anyone who wants a twisting mystery. It would be for ages nine and older to read.

There is a movie that has been made of this grabbing story. I think the author was trying to say that you cannot hide and run away from your wrongs because someone may find you!