Just after midnight, a snowdrift stopped the Orient Ecpress in its tracks. The luxurious train was surprisingly full for the time of year, but by the morning there was one passenger fewer. An American lay dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside...Red herrings galore are put in the path of Hercule Poirot to try to keep him off the scent, but in adramtic denouement he succeeds in coming up with not one but two solutions to the crime.

作者简介

Agatha Christie was born in 1890 and created the detective Hercule Poirot in her debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920). She achieved wide popularity with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) and produced a total of eighty novels and short-story collections over six decades.

　　阿加莎·克里斯蒂被誉为举世公认的侦探推理小说女王。她的著作英文版销售量逾10亿册，而且还被译成百余种文字，销售量亦逾10亿册。她一生创作了80部侦探小说和短篇故事集，19部剧本，以及6部以玛丽·维斯特麦考特的笔名出版的小说。著作数量之丰仅次于莎士比亚。

　　阿加莎·克里斯蒂的第一部小说《斯泰尔斯庄园奇案》写于第一次世界大战末，战时她担任志愿救护队员。在这部小说中她塑造了一个可爱的小个子比利时侦探赫尔克里·波格，成为继福尔摩斯之后侦探小说中最受读者欢迎的侦探形象。1926年，阿加莎·克里斯蒂写出了自己的成名作《罗杰疑案》（又译作《罗杰·艾克罗伊德谋杀案》）。1952年她最著名的剧本《捕鼠器》被搬上舞台，此后连续上演，时间之长久，创下了世界戏剧史上空前的纪录。

　　1971年，阿加莎·克里斯蒂得英国女王册封的女爵士封号。1975年，英格丽·褒曼凭借根据阿加莎同名小说《东方快车谋杀案》改编的影片获得了第三座奥斯卡奖杯。阿加莎数以亿计的仰慕者中不乏显赫的人物，其中包括女王伊丽莎白二世和法国总统戴高乐。

　　1976年，她以85岁高龄永别了热爱她的人们。

精彩书评

Library Journal These are the initial eight volumes in what will grow to 24 over two years in Black Dog's new "Agatha Christie Collection." The books are all decent-quality hardcovers for a bargain price. If you're regularly replacing your Christies, gives these more durable editions a try. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. Library Journal This dramatization of Christie's famous murder mystery is admirably presented by the BBC. Hercule Poirot unravels a murder when the train from Istanbul to Paris--the Orient Express--is stopped by a snow drift in the Balkans. Using his flawless logic and innate ability to evaluate the evidence, Poirot solves the mystery and the dilemma faced by the occupants of the coach. The various narrators who portray the story's numerous characters are uniformly excellent, and the sound quality is good. Recommended for most mystery collections.-- Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., Providence More Reviews (4) Fewer Reviews Chicago Daily Tribune “[Moves] smoothly and entertainingly to its surprise conclusion.” New York Herald Tribune “Nothing short of swell. [Christie] is probably the best suspicion scatterer and diverter in the business.” New York Times “What more…can a mystery addict desire?” Times Literary Supplement (London) “Need it be said—the little grey cells solve once more the seemingly insoluble. Mrs Christie makes an improbable tale very real, and keeps her readers enthralled and guessing to the end.”