Agatha Christie's The Mystery of the Blue Train
About the Story
Agatha Christie was born in southwest England to a wealthy family. Growing up, Christie enjoyed reading mystery novels by Wilkie Collins and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) is based on Christie’s 1923 short story, “The Plymouth Express” and features the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, who became one of Christie’s most famous characters. Christie wrote most of the novel in 1926 when she was in Canary Islands and dedicated the book to the two members of her O.F.D (Order of Faithful Dogs): Peter, her beloved terrier, and Charlotte Fischer, Christie’s secretary. The novel features the first appearance of Mr. Goby, a recurring character, and the first description of the village of St. Mary Mead. The author of 66 detective novels and 15 short story collections, Christie is best known for her bestselling novels And Then There Were None and Murder on the Orient Express as well as her play The Mousetrap. In 1922 the Calais-Mediterranean Express train’s teak carriages were replaced with blue steel and gold trim and the train became known as the Blue Train. The Blue Train offered single compartments designed for those traveling alone, which was considered a major innovation at the time. The single compartments often had doors that could open to adjoining suites. The dining car could serve 42 passengers at a time. English clientele departed London’s Victoria Station to catch the midday ferry to Calais, where they boarded the Blue Train. The Blue Train then took them to Paris, where other passengers would board for a 7:30 departure. This gave passengers time to settle into the compartments and dress for dinner before continuing on to various stops in the French Riviera including Cannes, Nice, and Monaco.
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