Who Committed "Murder on the Orient Express"? Quiz

Answer:

"Murder on the Orient Express" is now regarded as a classic of crime fiction, both for its storytelling and for its unexpected resolution. The plot transposes the typical mystery trope of a 'closed door' murder to the unusual setting of a luxury train. This is achieved by having the train stranded in the middle of nowhere due to a snowstorm. Leaving even the master sleuth Hercule Poirot perplexed for a while, the murder initially seems unsolvable, but not for long.

A passenger, Mr. Ratchett, is murdered in the middle of the night with all other travellers, seemingly strangers to each other, having cast iron alibis. It later turns out that the fellow travellers were not only known to each other but had a strong motive for wanting Ratchett dead. Ratchett, whose real name was Cassetti, was an American gangster. Years earlier, he had kidnapped the young daughter, Daisy, of the Armstrong family, collected a hefty ransom and then revealed that she had been killed already. This led to a series of tragic events culminating in the death of both grieving parents, Colonel Armstrong and his wife Sonia. Meanwhile, Ratchett had managed to use loopholes and escape punishment.

These twelve therefore got together, formed a self-proclaimed jury and decided to mete out punishment to the criminal. Their connection to the Armstrong family is as follows:
*Colonel John Arbuthnot - Close friend of the baby's father, Colonel Armstrong.
*Count Rudolph Andrenyi - His wife, Countess Helena Andrenyi, was the sister of Sonia Armstrong, Daisy's mother. While Helena did not participate in the stabbing, the Count took her place.
*Mary Debenham - Former governess of Daisy Armstrong
*Princess Natalia Dragomiroff - Godmother of Sonia Armstrong
*Caroline Hubbard - Grandmother of Daisy Armstrong
*Hector MacQueen - Son of the Armstrong family lawyer
*Cyrus Hardman - A former American cop. He had been in love with Daisy's nursery maid. The maid had been a suspect and the investigation had caused her to commit suicide. She was later found to have been innocent.
*Pierre Michel - Father of the nursery maid who had taken her own life.
*Antonio Foscarelli - Former chauffeur of the Armstrong family.
*Greta Ohlsson - Former nurse of Daisy Armstrong
*Hildegarde Schmidt - Former cook of the Armstrongs.
*Edward Henry Masterman - Fought with Colonel Armstrong during the war and later worked as his valet.

In one of the rare instances, it appears that Poirot believed the punishment meted out was justified. He offered an alternate solution of an old Mafia enemy of Cassetti entering the train during the night, killing him and leaving, as an explanation to be provided to the police, thus letting the twelve off the hook.

This riveting mystery has been adapted multiple times for film and television. Unfortunately, while the murder is fictional, the kidnapping aspect is based on the true story of the Lindbergh family. The infant son of Charles Lindbergh, famous aviator who made the first non-stop transatlantic flight, was kidnapped and killed despite the family paying the ransom. This crime also led to the US Congress enacting the Federal Kidnapping Act (also known as "Little Lindbergh Law") making transporting a kidnapping victim across state lines a federal crime.