The Mystery of the Blue Train

I’ve been watching Agatha Christie’s Poirot on the “BritBox” streaming service. I found The Mystery of the Blue Train episode (Series 10, episode 1) both intriguing and puzzling.

So, I read the book, which my lovely wife gave me for Christmas!

The book and the TV episode tell essentially the same story. The book’s ending was a little different than the TV show’s, but the same folks dunnit. I don’t see how Poirot got to his conclusions in either story. I think the class structure of English society is supposed to inform both Poirot and us in figuring things out.

The book has more depth on some characters (like Katherine Grey, Rufus Van Aldin), and less on others (Mason, Major Knighton, Lenox). Mirelle is quite different in the book, and so are Van Aldin’s motivations. This is almost certainly just an aspect of translating the story to a TV screen and single episode length.

Suchet’s Poirot makes the story better, no doubt about it. Poirot’s mannerisms and facial expressions underline key plot points. Quite a lot of Poirot’s lines in the book make it into the TV show episode. I found myself “hearing” them in Suchet’s french accent as I read the book.

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