"Murder on the Orient Express" Quiz

Answer: Aleppo

Poirot has just solved a case, and now he's going to set off for Istanbul, where he plans to stay for two days. As we all know, he doesn't get to see the Hagia Sophia. The case that Poirot and the young lieutenant are referring to during their conversation on the platform isn't described in a novel, but we can assume that Poirot is returning from the location where he solved the cases of Linnet Doyle ("Death on the Nile"), Louise Leidner ("Murder in Mesopotamia"), and Mrs. Boynton ("Appointment With Death"). So these three cases occured during the same trip.

Answer: Mary Debenham and Colonel Arbuthnot

He can overhear a conversation between these two, yet they pretend not to know each other very well. That's the first thing that confuses Poirot on his ride... there are more to come...

Answer: M. Bouc

M. Bouc is one of the managing directors of the line. He also takes the Orient Express, yet he sleeps in another carriage. M. Bouc tries to get a compartment for Poirot, and he is surprised to see that all the compartments are already occupied. But one of the passengers doesn't show up, and Poirot ends up in compartment No. 6/7, together with Ratchett's secretary. Colin Lamb is a character from "The Clocks" (and most likely Superintendent Battle's son), Adam Goodman is an agent who plays a role in "Cats Among The Pigeons". Hastings doesn't appear in this story.

Answer: Hector MacQueen

Hector MacQueen, a nice and friendly young American, is the private secretary of Samuel Ratchett, the unpleasant man who has a secret and therefore doesn't survive his trip.

Answer: he doesn't like his face

Poirot sees Ratchett first when he is with M. Bouc in a restaurant in Istanbul. He tells his friend that he feels like a predator just passed him, and he doesn't like Ratchett at all. Ratchett, who also takes the Orient Express, asks Poirot the next morning to investigate something for him. Poirot doesn't want to know what he is asked to do, so he simply refuses. Ratchett asks him why, and Poirot replies that he doesn't like Ratchett's face.

Answer: between Vincovci and Brod

The night Ratchett is murdered, some passengers keep the conductor, Pierre Michel, busy. Mrs. Hubbard claims to have seen a man in her compartment, and a mysterious lady wearing a kimono knocks on Poirot's door, only to be seen walking down the corridor. When Poirot asks Michel for a bottle of water, Michel tells him about Mrs. Hubbard, and then says that the train got stuck in the snow. Poirot asks where they are, and Michel replies "Between Vincovci and Brod".
The next morning, Ratchett's body is discovered.

Answer: Dr. Constantine

He tells Poirot that the victim has been stabbed twelve or fifteen times - sometimes with the left hand, sometimes with the right hand... Dr. Tanios is a character from "Dumb Witness" (a.k.a. "Poirot Loses A Client").

Answer: Cassetti

Ratchett was Cassetti, a criminal who kidnapped and murdered several children in America - among them little Daisy Armstrong. Poirot finds a piece of a letter which mentions Daisy's name- that's how he knows who Ratchett is.

Answer: Daisy Armstrong

Little Daisy Armstrong has been murdered by Cassetti, but he didn't get punished because of a mistake in the proceedings. She was the daughter of Colonel Armstrong and his wife Sonja, the daughter of the famous actress Linda Arden. Have you noticed that Agatha Christie obviously couldn't decide what Armstrong's first name was? Arbuthnot refers to him as "Toby Armstrong", Elena Andrenyi calls him "Robert", and Linda Arden says that his name was John. Funny...

Answer: Greta Ohlsson

That's part of the plan. Greta Ohlsson was asked to check if the door that led from Mrs. Hubbard's compartment into Ratchett's is locked, and she was supposed to say it was, although it wasn't. This was due to the fact that the murderer should escape through Mrs. Hubbard's compartment... Unfortunately, Poirot was on the train and he soon discovered that something's not right there.

Answer: pukka sahib

That means that Mary Debenham belong to the same social class as the colonel.

Answer: private investigator

He belongs to McNeill's Detective Agency in New York, and he was employed by Ratchett. He was asked to check if everything's okay and no one tried to murder Ratchett... At least that's what he says. What was more important about him was that he watched the whole corridor the whole night, so that he could tell that no innocent person got accidentally involved.

Answer: small, dark-haired, high-piched voice

Hardman and MacQueen said that Ratchett described the man. In fact, they made him up.

Answer: Hermione

Because of the handkerchief that was found in Ratchett's compartment, Poirot checks each woman who has the initial H somewhere in her name. The handkerchief, however, turns out to belong to Princess Dragomiroff, whose first name is Natalia - but N is H in Russian.

Answer: his own

A challenge... and Poirot takes it.

Answer: Sonia Armstrong's sister

Elena's real name is Helena, and she was Linda Arden's younger daughter. Suzanne, the nanny, was Pierre Michel's daughter, and engaged to Hardman. She committed suicide because she was suspected to have helped Cassetti.

Answer: chauffeur

He loved Daisy, just like all the rest did.

Answer: Elena Andrenyi

... although Elena had - apart from Linda Arden - the strongest reason to hate Ratchett. Her husband Rudolf went with the others instead.

Answer: True

Sonja Armstrong's mother was a well known and very talented actress, and she played the role of the likeable yet chaotic American woman excellently.

Answer: first

... although the second one is correct. But Poirot understands everything, and he decides not to reveal the real murderers. That's how justice is done this time.