Part Two: Evidence

The second part of this novel was packed with a large amount of mind-boggling evidence, convicting multiple people. Instead of including every piece of evidence uncovered, I am going to use the pieces of evidence that support whom I believe murdered Mr. Ratchett. One person I believe is involved in the murder is Mrs. Hubbard. She is portrayed as an innocent grandmother that has been framed and faints at any sight of blood, as proven when she found the knife in her bag. I believe this is all an act and she helped the murderer out by allowing them through her room. This would result if she happens to not be the killer, and I am not crossing her off of the suspect list. She is one of the few Americans on the train and claims to not be related to the Armstrong case or to have been involved. The author is trying to have the reader believe that Mary is the murderer, which I am convinced is a distraction. The German maid is not the murderer, which I am quite positive of. The other person I believe could be the murderer is the Colonel. He is the only person on the train that admitted to smoking a pipe and a pipe cleaner was found in the room of Mr. Ratchett. The Colonel claims to have been with Mr. Ratchett's secretary. This must be his alibi, because it seems that the secretary did not have an emotional reaction to the death of his master. I believe Macqueen would gladly help a person murder Mr. Ratchett. The Colonel did not disclose his reasoning as to be on the train. The Colonel may have worked with Mrs. Hubbard and could have tried to keep her identity a secret when asked about a woman that walked by in a red kimono. He claims to have only smelled a fruity scent and gave away no description. In the end, my suspect list is still open to most travelers on the train, but the top two I suspect are Colonel Arbuthnot and Mrs. Hubbard. There is much left to read of the novel that could change the game, but as of now, I suspect these two to be involved.

Part One: Gathering Information

As with most novels, the first few pages of Murder on the Orient Express were puzzling, yet I persisted through. The book began in Syria, and M. Poirot is on a train with two other passengers, traveling to Stamboul. The other passengers, Mary Debenham and a Colonel from India, seemed to have known each other prior to the train. Poirot overhead the Colonel say he wished Mary were not apart of this. I began to wonder what Mary was apart of, and why didn't the Colonel want her to be apart of it? They get off of the train and Poirot arrives at his hotel where he receives a telegram, informing him there has been a case developing rather quickly and he was needed in London. He then cancels his room and asks the concierge to book him a first class sleeper on the Orient Express, departing at 9 p.m. He attends dinner where he finds a friend, M. Bouc. The two men eat together and notice two other men that seemed rather strange. The younger one went by Hector, and the elder by Mr. Ratchett. Poirot arrives to board the train and there were difficulties, causing him to take a bunk with Hector. The following day at lunch, Poirot observes the other passengers when Mr. Ratchett approaches him and asks him if he would like a case that could earn him "big money", because Mr. Ratchett had received threats. Poirot declines the case. Later, Poirot is upgraded to Bouc's compartment as he switched to the Athen's coach. The train departs and he overhears Mrs. Hubbard, an older woman, talk about how her room is connected to Mr. Ratchett's and that she is deathly afraid of him. That night, Poirot is awaken by a groan from Mr. Racthett's door. The attendant showed and was told that everything was fine, and Poirot fell back asleep. The night had many interruptions from other passengers and he notices the train is stopped due to snow. Later in the morning, he is called to an empty compartment my M. Bouc and is informed that somebody murdered Mr. Ratchett! He was found in his compartment, locked from the inside, and stabbed a dozen or so times in the chest. The window was open, but there were no footsteps in the snow. Poirot, a detective, takes on the case and interrogates Hector, and is going to assume he did not murder his employer. He then goes to find clues in the room and to inspect the body. Poirot enters with a doctor and they find that the body has a few slight scratches, a few major blows, a few that had to have been delivered with a left hand, and a few that had to have been delivered with a right. Were there two murderers? They also find a handkerchief with an H embroidered on it and a pipe cleaner. They additionally found two different matches, leading to believe someone other than the deceased burned something. Using a few tricks, Poirot discovers a burned piece of paper that read, "member little Daisy Armstrong", which was the name of a young girl that was murdered. After these clues, I began to put together a logical explanation in my head. I am going to assume that it was a man and a woman that murdered the man, and I believe Mrs. Hubbard was the woman. She is quite weak and the handkerchief had an H embroidered. It also explains how she could have entered, as the only thing between her room and his was a door that she locked. As for the man, I am not certain, but I surely believe that Mrs. Hubbard had something to do with the murder of Mr. Ratchett.