The Mystery of the Blue Train

By: Agatha Christie

Narrated by: Gabrielle de Cuir, Stefan Rudnicki, John Rubinstein

New York Times Book Review pick

“Trust the train, Mademoiselle, for it is le bon Dieu who drives it. […] And trust Hercule Poirot. He knows.”

Unhappy with her marriage, Ruth Kettering, a pampered American heiress, is on her way to meet her lover in the French Riviera, but she will never reach her destination. When the train stops in Nice, the heiress is found dead and without her precious jewels aboard Le Train Bleu. But in the midst of robbery, murder, and tragedy, famed detective Hercule Poirot is there to solve the mystery.

The gruesome murder is believed to have been performed by Ruth’s estranged husband, but Poirot believes there is more to the story. On top of the motive of murder, Poirot must consider the theft of the famous ruby, “Heart of Fire,” that was given to Ruth by her father, the American millionaire Rufus Van Aldin. And it is her father’s secretary, Major Knighton, who convinces Poirot to unmask the perpetrator of the crime. Poirot receives conflicting stories from the key players, witnesses, and suspects aboard the train, and so to find the murderer, the Belgian detective must stage a reenactment of the fatal journey.

Public Domain (P)2024 Blackstone Publishing

Excitement on a Train

The story is very different from many. It allows you to think along the lines of the women involved with the crime that starts with the love of jewelry.

not consistent

quite annoying when Van Allen continually changed actor voices. this took away from the story

Inconsistent voice actors

I’m still giving the story a five star rating because it’s Agatha Christie and she literally can’t write anything bad in my opinion… but the continuous changes in voice actors for various characters made it extremely hard to follow the story and concentrate. I have listened to many, many Agatha Christie audiobooks, and this is the worst one I’ve listened to. 

100% enjoyable

I loved this story! I love that the story didn’t begin with Poirot, but rather with someone from St Mary Meade and she is the one who eventually leads us to Poirot.

Worthwhile

Great story but the frequent switching of character voices was annoying. And one of the plot lines was not resolved effectively.