The blue express (novel)
The blue express (original title The Mystery of the Blue Train , earlier spelling The blue express ) is the eighth detective novel by Agatha Christie . It was first published in the United Kingdom on March 29, 1928 by William Collins & Sons and later that year in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company . The German-language first editions in the translation by Ernst Simon were published in 1930 by Amonesta-Verlag (Vienna) and Carl Emil Krug Verlag (Leipzig). Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag (Frankfurt am Main), which today owns the rights, reissued the novel in 2004 with the translation by Gisbert Haefs, which is still used today .
It determines Hercule Poirot in his fifth novel together with Katherine Gray.
action
Poirot boards the Train Bleu , a luxury train between Calais and Ventimiglia , to travel to the French Riviera . So does Katherine Gray, who has her first winter outside England after inheriting a huge fortune in a very romantic way. On the way, she meets Ruth Kettering, an American heiress of millions who, after the breakdown of her marriage, wants to meet her lover. Her husband Derek Kettering and his new girlfriend are also among the passengers. The next morning Ruth is found murdered in her compartment; she has been strangled. The theft of her precious rubies and rumors that a strange man has been seen in her compartment lead Poirot to look for the murderer. He is commissioned to do this by the murder victim's father, millionaire Rufus van Aldin. Together with Katherine, Poirot investigates not only on the Riviera, but also in Paris and England.
In the end the following picture emerges: Richard Knighton, the secretary of van Aldin, is in reality a global jewel thief, known as “The Marquis”, who is obsessed with famous and historically interesting jewels. Van Aldin had given his daughter the famous ruby "Fireheart", which the Marquis wanted to get. But even he sometimes has to surrender to life: he falls in love with Katherine Gray. And when he notices that she is fond of Derek, he directs suspicion on Derek and places his silver cigarette case with the engraving "K" - which could stand for the surnames of both men - at the crime scene. Based on testimony from witnesses, Derek is first arrested. However, Poirot sees through the intrigue and can prove that Knighton committed the murder together with the maid, in fact an actress who specializes in trouser roles.
The plot of the novel is based on the 1923 short story The Plymouth Express with Poirot, which was only published in an anthology in 1951 in the USA, 1974 in the UK and 1977 in German.
The novel contains the first description of the fictional village of St. Mary Mead, which will later become the home of Miss Marple .
people
- Hercule Poirot, Belgian private investigator
- Rufus van Aldin, American millionaire
- Ruth Kettering, daughter of Rufus
- Derek Kettering, husband of Ruth
- Mirelle, dancer, mistress of Derek
- Richard Knighton, Secretary to Rufus
- Ada Beatrix Mason, Ruth's maid
- Katherine Gray, a young English lady
- Lady Rosalie Tamplin, Katherine's rich cousin
- Lenox Tamplin, daughter of Rosalie
- Armand de la Roche, an adventurer
- Demetrius Papopolous, a Greek antique dealer
- Zia Papopolous, daughter of Demetrius
- Caux, police commissioner
- Carrège, judge
Reviews
The Times Literary Supplement gives a more positive reaction than Christie himself in its May 3, 1928 edition. After recapitulating the plot, the reviewer concludes: “The reader will not be disappointed if the distinguished Belgian refuses for psychological reasons, the arrested husband to suspect, based on the ideas of an ugly girl who is constantly taunted by her mother. He apparently builds his ideas out of thin air, backs them up with a series of masterful proofs, and catches the fish to everyone's surprise ”.
The New York Times Book Review of August 12, 1928: “On paper, Poirot retired; retired for him means the same as a prima donna. Let yourself be carried away to a good, murderous secret in Poirot's world and you will not be able to let go again. ”The anonymous critic, however, does not mention some of the story's advantages.
Robert Barnard: “Christie's least loved novel, which she struggled with shortly before and after she disappeared. The international locations make it easy to read, but there is a lot of schoolgirl French and some bad influences from other crime novels. There are some more fruitful candidates for the title of 'Worst Christie' ”.
New figures
Poirot's servant George appears for the first time in this novel. The mysterious Mr. Goby, an unspecified informant whom the detective engages in difficult research, also appears for the first time - but here he is employed by Rufus van Aldin. He appears in two other Poirot novels: The Wax Bouquet and The Forgetful Murderess .
Film adaptations
Agatha Christie's Poirot
The novel was filmed in 2005 as an episode of the television series Agatha Christie's Poirot ( The Blue Express (2005) ) and aired on December 11, 2005 by ITV . With David Suchet as Poirot, Roger Lloyd-Pack as Inspector Caux, Elliott Gould as Rufus van Aldin, James D'Arcy as Derek Kettering and Alice Eve as Lenox Tamplin.
The film adaptation makes some changes compared to the novel. So Ruth and her lover travel together, on the run from Ruth's husband. Ruth and Katherine get to know each other. At Ruth's request they swap compartments and Ruth is so brutally murdered that her face is completely destroyed. So Poirot speculates that Katherine should be the real victim. Ruth's mother, an actress, went insane after giving birth to Ruth. Ruth's father put her in a convent, where she later became a nun.
At the end of the film, the murderer dies instead of being arrested by the French police as in the novel.
Important English and German language editions
- 1928, William Collins and Sons (London), March 29, 1928, hardcover, 296 pages
- 1928, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), 1928, hardcover, 306 pages
- 1930, German first edition in translation from English by Ernst Simon, Vienna: Amonesta-Verlag; Leipzig: Carl Emil Krug
- 2004, new translation: The blue express, from the English by Gisbert Haefs, Frankfurt am Main: Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag
Others
Writing this book (part of which was written in the Canary Islands early in 1927) was an agony for Christie. The events of 1926, the death of her mother, the failure of her marriage, her breakdown and the ten-day disappearance had left deep psychological marks. Now divorced from her husband and in dire need of money, she returned to writing. She had a lot of trouble with the story, and she later said of this novel that she "always hated it." In her biography she describes how she counted the words again and again in order to finally be able to end the ordeal. She never wanted to get into this situation again, which is why she withheld two manuscripts in the 1940s in the event of another writing crisis ( rest rude and curtain ). The author did not regain her full creative power until two years later when a new main character stepped onto the Christie stage: Miss Marple in her first novel Murder in the Rectory .
The Mystery of the Blue Train was first published as a serialized novel in the London evening newspaper The Star in thirty-eight unillustrated episodes from Wednesday February 1 to Wednesday March 15, 1928. Only minor changes have been made to make sequels easier to read. The reference to the Daily Mail was also removed in order not to advertise a competitor. Some headings of the chapters have also been changed.
The novel is the only major work by Agatha Christie whose first edition in the UK does not contain a copyright notice or publication date.
dedication
Christie's dedication in this book reads:
"For the two honorary members of the OFD - Carlotta and Peter"
This dedication is directly related to the events of 1926. These events marked her for the rest of her life. Christie saw the many people from whom she had expected help in need turn away from her. One person who did not was Charlotte Fisher (1901? - 1976), who had been employed by Christie as a secretary and nanny for their daughter Rosalind since 1924. In coming to terms with the events of 1926, Christie "took stock of her friends". Agatha and Charlotte (who was also affectionately called "Carlo" and "Carlotta") divided their acquaintances into two groups: The Order of Rats and The Order of Faithful Dogs (OFD) Dogs). Carlo came first in the last group for her active support. In the BBC film Agatha Christie - My Life in Pictures , a kind of film adaptation of her autobiography, the human and professional relationship between Christie and Carlo in the difficult crisis is given in detail. The secretary worked on the dialogues and the plot.
A member of this second group was also Peter, the beloved terrier who was bought for Rosalind in 1924. She has never forgotten Peter's devotion to Agatha during this time and she put this affection down in writing when she wrote to her second husband Max Mallowan in 1930 : “You never had such a really bad time with nothing more than a dog holds to you. "Peter received a second dedication in the novel The Ballspielende Hund from 1937, (where he was also shown on the dust jacket of the first edition), a year before he died. In her last novel, which she wrote before her death, Age does not protect against sagacity , she sets a loving and detailed literary memorial to a terrier: the novel ends with a song of praise for the dog that was involved in the criminal investigation.
Charlotte Fisher, along with her sister Mary, also received a second dedication in 1939 to the novel And Then There Was No More .
Audio books
- 2003 The Blue Express (7 CDS): unabridged reading Speaker: Martin Maria Schwarz. Director: Hans Eckardt. Translation by Gisbert Haefs. Publisher Marburg / Lahn: Publishing house and studio for audio book productions
Web links
- The Mystery of the Blue Train (2005) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ The Observer March 25, 1928 (Page 11)
- ↑ John Cooper and BA Pyke. Detective Fiction - the collector's guide : Second Edition (Pages 82 and 86) Scholar Press. 1994. ISBN 0-85967-991-8
- ↑ American Tribute to Agatha Christie
- ↑ a b German first edition in the catalog of the German National Library
- ↑ a b New translation in the catalog of the German National Library
- ^ The Times Literary Supplement May 3, 1928 (Page 337)
- ↑ The New York Times Book Review August 12, 1928 (Page 17)
- ↑ Barnard, Robert. A Talent to Deceive - an appreciation of Agatha Christie - Revised edition (Page 200). Fontana Books, 1990. ISBN 0006374743
- ↑ a b c d Morgan, Janet. Agatha Christie, A Biography . (Page 164) Collins, 1984 ISBN 0-00-216330-6 .
- ↑ Christie, Agatha. To Autobiography . (Page 358). Collins, 1977. ISBN 0-00-216012-9 .
- ↑ Thompson, Laura. Agatha Christie, An English Mystery . (Page 168) Headline, 2007 ISBN 978-0-7553-1487-4
- ↑ To Autobiography . (Pages 339-340).
- ↑ [1] ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Audiobook (licensed) in the catalog of the German National Library
