Editing Murder on the Orient Express (section)

==Reception==
The ''[[Times Literary Supplement]]'' of 11 January 1934 outlined the plot and concluded that "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."<ref>{{Cite news |date=11 January 1934 |title=Murder on the Orient Express (review) |page=29 |work=[[The Times Literary Supplement]] |location=London, England}}</ref>

In ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'' of 4 March 1934, Isaac Anderson wrote, "The great Belgian detective's guesses are more than shrewd; they are positively miraculous. Although both the murder plot and the solution verge upon the impossible, Agatha Christie has contrived to make them appear quite convincing for the time being, and what more than that can a mystery addict desire?"<ref>{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=Isaac |date=4 March 1934 |title=Murder on the Orient Express (review) |page=11 |work=[[The New York Times Book Review]] |location=New York City}}</ref>

The reviewer in ''[[The Guardian]]'' of 12 January 1934 noted that the murder would have been "perfect" (i.e. a [[perfect crime]]) had Poirot not been on the train and also overheard a conversation between Miss Debenham and Colonel Arbuthnot before he boarded; however, Poirot's {{"'}}little grey cells' worked admirably, and the solution surprised their owner as much as it may well surprise the reader, for the secret is well kept and the manner of the telling is in Mrs Christie's usual admirable manner."<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 January 1934 |title=Murder on the Orient Express (review) |page=5 |work=[[The Guardian]] |location=London, England}}</ref>

Robert Barnard said that this novel was "The best of the railway stories. The Orient Express, snowed up in [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], provides the ideal 'closed' set-up for a classic-style exercise in detection, as well as an excuse for an international cast-list. Contains my favourite line in all Christie: 'Poor creature, she's a Swede.' Impeccably clued, with a clever use of the [[Cyrillic script]] (cf. ''[[Poirot's Early Cases#"The Double Clue"|The Double Clue]]'').  The solution raised the ire of [[Raymond Chandler]], but won't bother anyone who doesn't insist his detective fiction mirror real-life crime."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barnard |first=Robert |title=A Talent to Deceive – an appreciation of Agatha Christie |date=1990 |publisher=Fontana Books |isbn=0-00-637474-3 |location=New York City |pages=199–200 |author-link=Robert Barnard}}</ref> The reference is to Chandler's criticism of Christie in his essay, ''[[The Simple Art of Murder]]''. [[H.R.F. Keating]] included the novel in his list of "100 Best Crime and Mystery Books".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.classiccrimefiction.com/keating100.htm|title=H.R.F. Keating 100 Best Crime and Mystery Books|website=Classic Crime Fiction}}</ref> In 1995, the novel was included in [[Mystery Writers of America]]'s [[The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time|The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time]] list.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.librarything.com/bookaward/The+Top+100+Mystery+Novels+of+All+Time+Mystery+Writers+of+America |title=Book awards: The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time Mystery Writers of America |publisher=The Library Thing |accessdate=12 April 2017}}</ref> In December 2014, the novel was included in ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]''{{'}}s list of the Nine Great Christie Novels.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=26 December 2014 |title=Binge! Agatha Christie: Nine Great Christie Novels |pages=32–33 |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |publisher=[[Meredith Corporation]] |issue=1343–44 |location=New York City}}</ref>