Murder on the Orient Express The story's first true publication was the US serialisation in six instalments in the "Saturday Evening Post" from 30 September to 4 November 1933 (Volume 206, Numbers 14 to 19). The title was "Murder in the Calais Coach", and it was illustrated by William C. Hoople. The UK serialisation appeared after book publication, appearing in three instalments in the "Grand Magazine", in March, April, and May 1934 (Issues 349 to 351). This version was abridged from the book version (losing some 25% of the text), was without chapter divisions, and named the Russian princess as Dragiloff instead of Dragomiroff. Advertisements
Murder on the Leviathan murder to start the action. The novel is set in 1878. The story opens with the murder in Paris of Lord Littleby, all seven of his servants and two children of servants. All were poisoned except for Littleby, who was bludgeoned with an ancient Indian artifact, a golden statuette of Shiva, which belonged to Lord Littleby and was stolen from his room, along with an old Indian shawl. French detective Gustave Gauche, in charge of the investigation, boards the passenger ship "Leviathan". Gauche knows that the murderer must be one of the first-class passengers, because one of the special golden