The Mystery of the Blue Train

The Mystery of the Blue Train is a mystery novel by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom by William Collins & Sons on 29 March 1928 and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00. however, it will still be copyrighted in the United Kingdom until 1 January 2047, 70 years after the death of Agatha Christie.

Plot summary

Poirot boards Le Train Bleu, bound for the French Riviera. So does Katherine Grey, who is having her first winter out of England, after recently receiving a relatively large inheritance. On board the train Grey meets Ruth Kettering, an American heiress leaving her unhappy marriage to meet her lover. The next morning, though, Ruth is found dead in her compartment, a victim of strangulation.

The famous ruby, "Heart of Fire", which had recently been given to Ruth by her father, is discovered to be missing. Ruth's father, American millionaire Rufus Van Aldin, and his secretary, Major Knighton, persuade Poirot to take on the case. Ruth's maid, Ada Mason, says that she saw a man in Ruth's compartment but could not see who he was. The police suspect that Ruth's lover, the Comte de la Roche, killed her and stole the ruby, but Poirot does not think that the Comte is guilty. He is suspicious of Ruth's estranged husband, Derek Kettering, who was on the same train but claims not to have seen Ruth. Katherine says that she saw Derek enter Ruth's compartment. Further suspicion is thrown on Derek when a cigarette case with the letter "K" is found there.

Poirot investigates and finds out that the murder and the jewel theft might not be connected, as the famous jewel thief "The Marquis" is connected to the crime. Eventually, the avaricious Mirelle, who was on the train with Derek—with whom she had been having an affair but, now spurned, is seeking revenge against him—tells Poirot she saw Derek leave Ruth's compartment around the time the murder would have taken place. Derek is then arrested. Everyone is convinced the case is solved, but Poirot is not sure. He does more investigating and learns more information, talking to his friends and to Katherine, eventually coming to the truth.

He asks Van Aldin and Knighton to come with him on the Blue Train to recreate the murder. He tells them that Ada Mason is really Kitty Kidd, a renowned male impersonator and actress. Katherine saw what she thought was a boy getting off the train, but it was really Mason. Poirot realised that Mason was the only person claiming to have seen anyone with Ruth in the compartment, so this could have been a lie. He reveals that the murderer and Mason's accomplice is Knighton, who is really the ruthless "Marquis". He also says that the cigarette case with the K on it does not stand for 'Kettering', but for 'Knighton'. Since Knighton was supposedly in Paris, no one would have suspected him. Derek did go into the compartment to talk to Ruth once he saw she was on the train, but he left when he saw she was asleep. The police arrest Knighton and the case is closed.

Characters

Hercule Poirot, a private detective
Rufus Van Aldin, A murder mystery adventure featuring Bernède's own popular detective, Chantecoq, the story is set in Paris and the plot is completely different.

Literary significance and reception

The Times Literary Supplement gave a more positive reaction to the book than Christie herself in its issue of 3 May 1928. After recounting the set-up of the story, the reviewer concluded: "The reader will not be disappointed when the distinguished Belgian on psychological grounds... builds up inferences almost out of the air, supports them by a masterly array of negative evidence and lands his fish to the surprise of everyone".

The New York Times Book Review of 12 August 1928, said, "Nominally Poirot has retired, but retirement means no more to him than it does to a prima donna. Let a good murder mystery come within his ken, and he just can't be kept out of it."

British crime writer and critic Robert Barnard declared: "Christie's least favourite story, which she struggled with just before and after the disappearance. The international setting makes for a good varied read, but there is a plethora of sixth-form schoolgirl French and some deleterious influences from the thrillers. There are several fruitier candidates for the title of 'worst Christie'."

Allusions

Allusions to other works in the Christie canon include the following. One of the characters in Death on the Nile recognises Poirot because of his involvement in The Mystery of the Blue Train: "Miss Van Schuyler said: ' I have only just realised who you are, Monsieur Poirot. I may tell you that I have heard of you from my old friend Rufus Van Aldin." That line was retained in the television film, even though Death on the Nile was broadcast first.

The novel features a Wagon Lit conductor called Pierre Michel which is the same name of another Wagon Lit conductor who appears in Murder on the Orient Express – it is never revealed whether these two characters are one and the same or different.

The titular Blue Train appears again in Three Act Tragedy where Poirot boards the train with Sir Charles Cartwright to return to England.

Adaptations

Television

The novel was adapted for television in 2006, It was "[r]eset in the late 1930s to match the rest of the Poirot TV series". This was the first of the adaptations of Poirot novels by BBC Radio.

Graphic novel

A graphic novel with the content of this Christie work was published in 2005, in French, entitled Le train bleu, This was translated from the edition first published in France.

Publication history

1928, William Collins and Sons (London), 29 March 1928, Hardcover, 296 pp
1928, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), 1928, Hardcover, 306 pp
1932, William Collins and Sons, February 1932 (As part of the Agatha Christie Omnibus of Crime along with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The Seven Dials Mystery and The Sittaford Mystery), Hardcover (Priced at seven shillings and sixpence)
1940, Pocket Books (New York), Paperback, 276 pp
1948, Penguin Books, Paperback, (Penguin number 691), 250 pp
1954, Pan Books, Paperback (Pan number 284)
1956, Pocket Books (New York), Paperback, 194 pp
1958, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins), Paperback, 248 pp
1972, Greenway edition of collected works (William Collins), Hardcover, 286 pp,
1973, Greenway edition of collected works (Dodd Mead), Hardcover, 286 pp,
1974, Dodd, Mead and Company (As part of the Murder on Board along with Death in the Clouds and What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!), Hardcover, 601 pp,
1976, Ulverscroft Large-print Edition, Hardcover, 423pp, OCLC 2275078
2006, Easton Press, Hardcover/Leather, 278 pp
2007, Poirot Facsimile Edition (Facsimile of 1928 UK First Edition), HarperCollins, 5 March 2007, Hardback

Circumstances of its writing

As described by the staff of Agatha Christie Limited,<blockquote>The writing of this book (part of which took place on the Canary Islands in early 1927) was an ordeal for Agatha Christie. The events of 1926 with the death of her mother and her husband's infidelity had left a deep psychological scar on Christie. Now separated from Archie and in need of funds, she turned back to writing... The story itself, even though derived from the 1923 Poirot short story The Plymouth Express, did not come easily to her and she referred to this novel in her autobiography stating that she "always hated it".</blockquote>

It later had an effect on her in the midst of wartime when, nervous that at some future point she might be in need of funds and need a fallback, she wrote Sleeping Murder and locked it securely in a bank vault for future publication. Curtain was written at the same time and similarly locked away, but publication of this latter book would not be possible until the end of her writing career, as it recounts the death of Poirot.

Serialization

The Mystery of the Blue Train was first serialized in the London evening newspaper The Star in thirty-eight un-illustrated instalments from Wednesday 1 February to Thursday 15 March 1928. The entire first two chapters were omitted from the serialization and it therefore contained only thirty-four chapters. There were slight amendments to the text, either to make sense of the openings of an instalment (e.g. changing "She then..." to "Katherine then..."), or omitting small sentences or words, especially in the opening instalment where several paragraphs were omitted. A reference to the continental Daily Mail at the start of chapter six (chapter eight in the book) was changed to "the newspaper" to avoid mentioning a competitor to The Star. Three chapters were given different names: chapter nine (eleven in the book) was called Something Good instead of Murder, chapter twenty-six (twenty-eight in the book) was called Poirot hedges instead of Poirot plays the Squirrel and chapter twenty-eight (chapter thirty in the book) was called Katherine's letters instead of Miss Viner gives judgement. The final chapter, called By the Sea in the book, was unnamed in the serialization.

Book dedication

Christie's dedication of the read, "To the two distinguished members of the O.F.D. – Carlotta and Peter", which, according to Agatha Christie Limited Staff and others, references the "difficult time" in 1926 of her mother's death and her husband's infidelity, and where "O.F.D." refers to the "Order of the Faithful Dogs". also referenced are the breakdown of her marriage to Archibald Christie, and her famous ten-day disappearance in December that year. These were events which disturbed her for the remainder of her life, and Christie learned that people she expected to be allies in her time of need turned away from her. One person who didn't was Charlotte Fisher (born c. 1901 – died 1976), who had been employed by Christie in 1924 as both her own secretary and as a governess to her daughter Rosalind.

Peter was also the subject of the dedication of Dumb Witness (on the dustjacket of which he is pictured), published in 1937, one year before his death. Charlotte Fisher, together with her sister Mary, also received a second dedication in a book in And Then There Were None in 1939.