The Plymouth Express AffairAgatha ChristieOmniClassics · Literature
The Plymouth Express Affair
Agatha ChristieA body beneath a railway seat brings Poirot into a case of wealth, jewelry, and conflicting accounts.
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About the book
A naval officer boarding the Plymouth Express discovers the body of a well-dressed woman hidden beneath a seat. She is identified as the daughter of the wealthy Ebenezer Halliday, who asks Hercule Poirot to investigate alongside the police. The victim's troubled marriage and valuable possessions suggest obvious lines of inquiry, but the circumstances of her journey require closer attention. Poirot and Hastings consider movements, witnesses, and the sequence of events along a route that is less simple than its destination might imply. Christie gives the short mystery the economy of a timetable: apparently straightforward details gain importance when placed in relation to one another. The challenge is to distinguish an attractive explanation from one that accounts for the evidence.
- Evidence and inference
- Wealth and motive
- Travel and deception
Why read it
Follow a compact Poirot investigation in which careful reconstruction matters more than the most conspicuous suspicion.
English short story featuring Hercule Poirot