Murder on the Orient Express
by Agatha Christie
Murder. Mystery. Suspense. Excitement. A book you can't put down. All of these comprise the thrilling mystery, Murder on the Orient Express. Written in a light manner, the reader is taken on an exhilarating adventure on the train called the Orient Express.
While Detective Poirot is traveling on the Orient Express, a despised gangster is murdered and it is up to Poirot to find the killer. Poirot, aware that the killer is still on the train, begins interviewing the passengers. Each has an alibi and seems unlikely to have committed the heinous crime, but with Poirot's proficient ability, there is a surprising conclusion.
Christie entertains the reader with delightful and memorable characters in an intricate story. By adding details and clues, readers find themselves trying to play detective. Twists, turns and sudden revelations make this all the more intriguing.
My only disappointment was it ended too soon; since I was so eager to find out the conclusion I read it very quickly. With each new clue and suspicious character, the reader is even more curious to determine who did it. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mysteries, or likes a really good book. So grab a copy and see if you can discover who was the killer in Murder on the Orient Express.
The "Orient Express," connecting as it does the English Channel with the Black Sea, is one of the most famous trains in Europe. An American friend of the writer, after having considered the claims of the "Flying Scotsman" and the "Twentieth Century Limited," admitted that the "Orient Express" might claim to be the most famous train in the world. With its connecting trains it passes over the railway systems of no fewer than thirteen different countries of the continent of Europe.
The "Orient Express" proper runs from Calais and Paris to Bucharest, passing through France, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania. Then there is the closely-associated "Simplon-Orient Express," which makes its way farther south, through Switzerland, Italy and Yugoslavia. From Nish, in Yugoslavia, there is a connection for Athens, while the main part goes on through Bulgaria to Istanbul (formerly known as Constantinople) in Turkey. Finally, returning to the north, the "Ostend-Vienna Express" connects with the "Orient Express" at the latter city, providing a through link with North Germany and Belgium. The "Orient Express" links up with the "Simplon-Orient Express" by a connection between Budapest and Belgrade. Such, in outline, are the ramifications of the "Orient Express" and its associated services.
Of all the International trains of Europe - and of the world for that matter - the "Orient Express" is the most international. Thirteen countries make a good total. The "Orient" is also the oldest-established of Europe's transcontinentals, for it was the first to be composed entirely of rolling-stock belonging to the International Sleeping Car Company. It began running between Paris and Vienna in 1883, barely a decade after sleeping-cars were first known in Europe. The cars of that date were six-wheelers, with four-berth compartments, and lighting was by means of old-fashioned German petroleum lamps. Travel in them, however, was by no means uncomfortable, for the berths were good enough once one had gone to bed, and by reason of their considerable weight (for those days) the cars ran fairly easily in spite of their rigid wheel-bases.
The "Orient Express" departs from Vienna bound for Paris
The locomotives were of the 2-4-0 type, usually with double frames, while the Austrian examples burnt brown coal, and had huge, basin-shaped tops to their chimneys. It must have been a jovial, but not very speedy-looking train. But in its fifty-two years (to 1935) of life the "Orient" has become a household word on the Continent, especially in Central Europe.
Before the Great War, the services provided by the "Orient" had attained something of their present ubiquity. Three times weekly the train left the Gare de l'Est in Paris for Constantinople, as it was then called. At Linz the train joined the route of the "Ostend-Vienna Express," following this to the Austrian capital. At Budapest. the Berlin-Constantinople sleeping-car was attached, then the train ran down to Turkey through Belgrade and Sofia. The war, needless to say, stopped the "Orient." Two battle fronts crossed its route; the Eastern Railway of France, on which its journey from Paris began, was cut in two by the Western Front. Beyond Vienna was the turmoil of fighting between Austria-Hungary and Russia, and between the armies of Serbia and Bulgaria and Turkey. Yet the cause of the suspension of the "Orient Express" was also that of the enlargement of the service after the war.
GLOSSARY FOR MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS
army: hadsereg
associated with : vmivel összekapcsolt, vmivel kapcsolatban van
barely: alig
basin-shaped: lavór/mosdó-alakú
battle front: csata front
berth: hálóhely, ágy
by no means: semmi esetre sem
by reason of sg: vmi miatt
claim: igény, követelés
closely: szorosan
clue: bűnjel, valaminek a kulcsa
compartment: fülke
conclusion: konklúzió, befejezés, következtetés
decade: évtized
delightful: elragadó, pompás
despised: megvetett
disappointment: csalódottság
eager: buzgó, mohó
enlargemenet: megnagyobbítás
entirely: teljes mértékben
excitement: izgalom, izgatottság
exhilarating: felvidító, üdítő
fairly: egészen, meglehetősen, korrek módon
for that matter: ez okból
frame: keret
heinous: förtelmes, szörnyű
household word: ismerősen csengő szó
in outline: nagy vonalakban
in spite of sg: vmi ellenére
intricate: bonyolult, komlikált, tekervényes
intriguing: ármánykodó
jovial: jovális, kedélyes, vidám
latter: későbbi, utóbbi
locomotive: mozdony
manner: mód, viselkedés, stílus
needles to say: szükségtelen megemlíteni
no fewer than: nem kevesebb, mint
old-fashioned: régimódi, ódivatú
proper: megfelelő
ramification: elágazás, ágazat
revelation: felfedezés, kinyilatkoztatás
rigid: hajthatatlan, merev, szigorú
six-wheeler: 6 kerekű
sleeping-car: hálókocsi
speedy-looking: száguldó-kinézetű
suspense: bozonytalanság, félbeszakítás, kétség
suspension: beszüntetés, felfülggesztés, megszüntetés
the Black Sea: Fekete Tenger
the oldest-established: a legrégebben alapított
thrilling: félelmetes, ijesztő
to admit: bevall
to attain: elnyer, megszerez, megvalósít
to be aware of sg: valaminek a tudatában lenni
to commit a crime: elkövetni egy bűntényt
to comprise: beszámít, magába foglal, tartalmaz
to connect sg with sg: vmit összeköt vmivel
to consider sg: figyelembe vesz vmit
to discover: felfedez, felfed
to grab sg: megragad valamit
to link up with: összeköt vmit vmivel
to provide: ellát, gondoskodik, szolgáltat
to reccomend: ajánl
transcontinental: transzkontinentális
turmoil: izgalom, nyugtalanság, zűrzavar
twist: csavar
ubiquity: mindenütt jelenvalóság
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