After I read this, I found out that this was apparently Agatha Christie's least favourite Poirot story. While I personally think that her worst Poirot is 'The Clocks' I have to agree that this is not a good book. In fact, it's actively bad. There isn't anything that draws you in to the story and while I actually liked the revelation of the murderer, that was the only thing that I liked and it's not enough to make me like the rest of the book any better. Also, there had to be a better way to let Katherine figure out who the murderer is, because this was just plain dumb. ( )

Somehow I don't remember reading this Hercule Poirot, but I'm sure that I must have because when I was working my way through Agatha Christie's extensive backlist, I thought that I hadn't missed any Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple. This one is one of the earlier Hercule Poirot's, but it has all the trademarks of an Agatha Christies mystery. There are plenty of red herrings, and plenty of suspicious people, and a highly intelligent female. but Hercule Poirot manages to disentangle all the intricate steps of this planned murder of an American millionaire's only daughter who was found murdered on a train to Nice, It is made to look like a simple robbery- murder, but Hercule determines that there is much more than that to this cruel murder. I must be honest and say that I didn't figure out the whole story behind the murder, but I did correctly identify in my mind one of the perpetrators. This was an enjoyable listen, and Hugh Fraser does an excellent job of narrating the story. I must admit that I'm enjoying re-visiting these Agatha Christie books by audiobook. It opens up a whole new dimension. ( )

This started off a little slow, and introduced a lot of characters; it was hard to keep track of them at first. Also, the point of view kept shifting, and we didn't actually see much of Poirot.

The second half picked up a bit, and I didn't completely solve the mystery, so it was a solid read, overall.

However, it did contain some profanity, including God's name used as an exclamation. ( )

"I was wrong about that young man of yours. A man when he is making up to anybody can be cordial and gallant and full of little attentions and altogether charming. But when a man is really in love he can't help looking like a sheep. Now, whenever that young man looked at you he looked like a sheep. I take back all I said this morning. It is genuine." ( )

She got me again. I can sometimes identify the culprit before she reveals it but not on this one. There is a rich heiress in an unhappy marriage, a famous ruby, a powerful father to the unhappy daughter and a philandering husband (never mind that Mrs. Kettering is on the train to redezvous with her former lover, who is also a potential killer). Was Mrs. Kettering killed for her jewels or did her estranged husband seek to insure he would retain her wealth having discovered she is seeking a divorce? Or is her father enraged that she has taken up again with her former lover who he felt was unfit? It is a delightful read with false trails aplenty and I always enjoy the train as a settng. She has once again assembled a cast of likely culprits providing one and all with a motive or desire for the death that keeps the reader looking for suspects. But this one has a major red herring that threw me. I won't spoil it, but it is a good mystery and a great read! ( )