Murder on the Orient Express A murder is discovered, and Poirot's trip home to London from the Middle East is interrupted to solve the murder. The US title of "Murder in the Calais Coach" was used to avoid confusion with the 1932 Graham Greene novel "Stamboul Train" which had been published in the United States as "Orient Express". After taking the Taurus Express from Aleppo in Syria to Istanbul, private detective Hercule Poirot arrives at the Tokatlian Hotel. There he receives a telegram prompting him to return to London. He instructs the concierge to book a first-class compartment on the Simplon-route Orient Express service, leaving
Murder on the Orient Express Murder". In December 2014, the novel was included in "Entertainment Weekly"'s list of the Nine Great Christie Novels. The kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's son in 1932 inspired that element in Christie’s novel two years later. An innocent, but perhaps loose-lipped, maid employed by Lindbergh's parents was suspected of involvement in the crime. After being harshly interrogated by police, she committed suicide. Two less notable events helped inspire her novel: Agatha Christie’s first journey on the Orient Express in late 1928, and a blizzard near Cherkeskoy, Turkey, that marooned an Orient Express for six days just a few months