# data[].attributes.body
Some more obvious than others.
Lead Poirot to his two conclusions.

# data[].attributes.body
Written in third person.
Audience never directly hears Poirot's thoughts.

# data[].attributes.body
Poirot is not necessarily the "good guy".

# data[].attributes.body
Detective. Victim. Client. Murderer(s).

# data[].attributes.body
Classical Closed Circle.
The Hostile World.

# data[].attributes.body
There is a crime, investigation, and clues.

# data[].attributes.body
Complicated plot lines.
Many contextual clues.
Requires attentive audience.

# data[].attributes.body
Agatha Christie challenges a few crime fiction conventions.

# data[].attributes.body
Agatha Christie reinforces many of the conventions of crime fiction.

# data[].attributes.body
How does the text reinforce or challenge the conventions of the genre it is written in?

# data[].attributes.body
Ominous conversation overheard by Poirot.
Between Miss Debenham and Colonel Arbuthnot.
Occurred on the Taurus Express (before the Orient).

# data[].attributes.body
“...Mrs. Hubbard had told us that lying in bed she had been unable to see whether the communicating door was bolted or not, and so had asked Miss Ohlsson to see for her. Now - though her statement would have been perfectly true if she had been occupying compartment No. 2, 4, 12 or any even number, in which the bolt is directly under the handle of the door - in the uneven numbers such as compartment No. 3 the bolt is well above the handle and could not therefore be masked by the sponge-bag in the least…”

Poirot explaining how he knew Mrs. Hubbard was lying.

# data[].attributes.body
“The bolt is just underneath the handle - the sponge-bag masks it. You could not see from where you were lying whether the bolt was turned or not.”

Poirot's observation; in compartment No. 12

# data[].attributes.body
He looked thoughtfully at the door in front of him, then, lifting off the sponge-bag, he tried the handle. The door did not budge. About a foot above the handle was the door bolt. Poirot drew back and tried again, but still the door remained fast.

Discrete clue; door bolt is above the handle. Mrs. Hubbard's compartment.

# data[].attributes.body
Hanging on the handle of the door that gave access to the next compartment was a large-checkered sponge-bag. Below it on the floor, just where it had fallen from Mrs. Hubbard’s hand, was a straight-bladed dagger - a cheap affair, sham Oriental with an embossed hilt and a tapering blade. The blade was stained with patches of what looked like rust.

Makes audience believe Mrs. Hubbard was framed.

# data[].attributes.body
Quite regular.
Enough to understand events, not too detailed.
Some contextual clues.

# data[].attributes.body
Do not forget that the snow has upset all the murderer’s original plan. Let us imagine, for a little minute, that there is no snow, that the train proceeded on its normal course.

# data[].attributes.body
“The train has stopped. We have run into a snowdrift. Heaven knows how long we shall be here.”

# data[].attributes.body
The cold was bitter, and though the platform itself was protected, heavy snow was falling outside.

# data[].attributes.body
It was five o’clock on a winter’s morning in Syria. Alongside the platform at Aleppo stood the train grandly designated in railway guides as the Taurus Express. It consisted of a kitchen and dining-car, a sleeping car and two local coaches.

# data[].attributes.body
“Are you really a detective, then?”
“At your service, Madame.”
She asked curiously:
"I thought there were no detectives on the train when it passed through Yugo-Slavia - not until one got to Italy.”
“I am not a Yugo-Slavian detective, Madame. I am an international detective.”
“I belong to the world, Madame,” said Poirot dramatically. He went on, “I work mainly in London. You speak English?” he added in that language.
"I speak a leetle, yes.”
Her accent was charming.

# data[].attributes.body
Her small toad-like face look even yellower than the day before. She was certainly ugly, and yet, like the toad, she had eyes like jewels, dark and imperious, revealing latent energy and an intellectual force that could be felt at once.

# data[].attributes.body
Victim sustained 12 stabs wounds.
Twelve people in a jury.
Twelve murderers.

# data[].attributes.body
At the small table, sitting very upright, was one of the ugliest old ladies he had ever seen. It was an ugliness of distinction - it fascinated rather than repelled. She sat very upright. Round her neck was a collar of very large pearls which, improbable though it seemed, were real. Her hands were covered with rings. Her sable coat was pushed back on her shoulders. A very small expensive black toque was hideously unbecoming to the yellow, toad-like face beneath it.

# data[].attributes.body
Amused.
Intrigued.
Mysterious.
Sarcastic.

# data[].attributes.body
Hercule ponders evidence.
Reveals his two solutions to ALL passengers.

# data[].attributes.body
Poirot (and M. Bouc) interview passengers.
Obtain alibis and evidence.
Poirot find possible motives.

# data[].attributes.body
Introduction.
Meeting Poirot.
Learning how he got onto Orient Express.
The murder occurs overnight.

# data[].attributes.body
Three distinct Parts:
1. The Facts
2. The Evidence
3. Hercule Poirot Sits Back and Thinks

# data[].attributes.body
Some clues aren't directly addressed until solution.

# data[].attributes.body
All clues lead to conclusion, in multi-man murder.

# data[].attributes.body
Victim revealed to be villainous.
Most significant events occurred at night in midst of a blizzard.

# data[].attributes.body
Limited to Poirot (detective), M. Bouc (client), and passengers.

# data[].attributes.body
Matching alibis.
Executed elaborately planned murder.
Left ingenious false clues.

# data[].attributes.body
Average intelligence.
Often confused by detective.
Wants to know; Who done it?

# data[].attributes.body
Used alias Ratchett.
Revealed to be Cassetti; villainous man tied to Armstrong Case.

# data[].attributes.body
Clever.
Adept logical thinker.
Notices discrete clues during interviews.
Realistic.

# data[].attributes.body
Reportedly used by murderer to frame Mrs. Hubbard.

# data[].attributes.body
Found in Mrs. Hubbard's sponge-bag.

# data[].attributes.body
Why is it smudged?
Who smudged it?
What is it hiding?

# data[].attributes.body
Not a known passenger.
Cannot have left train.
Seen on night of murder.

# data[].attributes.body
A woman in a red kimono.
With golden embroidered dragons.
Tall and slim.

# data[].attributes.body
More obvious clues given to audience/
woven into story

# data[].attributes.body
Tight Construction.
Foreshadowing.
Detail and Tense Atmosphere.

# data[].attributes.body
The detective.
The victim.
The client.
The murderers.

# data[].attributes.body
Classic Closed Circle & The Hostile World

# data[].attributes.body
Brutality of murder.
Multiple stabbings.
Intensity of Armstrong case.
Victim was a murderer.

# data[].attributes.body
Less obvious clues revealed by Poirot/ woven into story

# data[].attributes.body
Conducted by Hercule Poirot; private investigator.
Part 2 of book dedicated to interviews.
Heavily relies on Poirot's intuition.

# data[].attributes.body
Not immediate.
Victim introduced alive.
Murder occurs overnight.

# data[].attributes.body
A murder.
A detective.
A train.
A snowdrift.
Who done it?

# data[].attributes.body
Crime Fiction - Conventions