No spoilers here! I’m not going to spoil any books for you, in this little Rediscovering Reading series, I promise.

This was my first time reading Agatha Christie. As I mentioned in my previous posts in this series, I’m apparently really into crime thrillers written by women; so, I figured I needed to give the OG Agatha Christie a try. (Also, I’ve been told that she’s an ILI in socionics, same as me, so I was curious to see how she wrote.) It was kind of obligatory.

I was no stranger to Hercule Poirot, as I’d seen the recent movies: Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, and A Haunting in Venice. The first of these was pretty good, but the second and third… meh. I thought maybe the books would be better, as is pretty much always the case.

So, the time had come for me to read Agatha Christie. At my public library, I found my way to “CHR” on the adult fiction shelf, and was met with a long row of plain black spines, their gold titles partially hidden beneath those library stickers (see pic); I was short on time, so I grabbed one pretty much at random, and it ended up being The Mystery of the Blue Train.

It was certainly a change of pace from Sally Hepworth. Agatha Christie’s writing is not sensual. It’s very matter-of-fact; very ILI. “This happened, then this happened, then this happened.” All action. There is some description, and what’s there is really concise and vivid; but never does she really get into the characters’ heads. So, not my favorite, stylistically. In fact, I almost didn’t stick with it, because it failed to really grab me. But I didn’t want to be a quitter, so finished it out of sheer stubbornness.

I did like meeting Hercule Poirot in literary form. He’s much more unserious, in the books! On the screen he’s rather formidable and cool, but in the books she really plays up his silliness: a fat little puffed-up guy with a huge mustache and an even bigger ego, but you kind of adore him. He’s comical, and, like most of the characters, kind of a caricature, a colorfully overblown figure — but just believeable enough.

One thing I think Agatha Christie is especially good at: names! Standouts from this novel include: Lenox (for a girl; feels very 2026 trendy, but this was published in 1928!), Zia, and Mirelle. And of course in Death on the Nile we had Linnet, which I’ve always thought was an excellent girl name.

And another thing I like about her writing: it’s clean. It manages to have zero explicit content while still being a very sexy story full of sexual tension and extramarital affairs, ardent longing and dramatic romance. Modern writers, take note! It can be done! It’s actually much more alluring when it’s not talked about openly. This is one aspect of Agatha Christie’s 1928 writing that I really appreciate.

Another thing I liked: it has a religious sensibility, an atmosphere of moral standards, and regular references to, as Poirot says, le bon Dieu. Katherine Grey is occasionally referred to as a “saint.” Divorce is seen as a horrible scandal. There’s a sense of propriety and societal norms. Which is nice to see, in a murder mystery; most contemporary ones are so gritty and grim and grisly. This one has a hopeful and happy ending.

Overall though, I don’t plan on reading any more of her books. I don’t want a bunch of sexual content, but I do want a bit more sensory engagement, and a bit more time to slow down and focus on the characters rather than the action.

Also, the surprise ending kinda came out of nowhere, for me. I know a surprise is supposed to be just that: a surprise, but, with a murder mystery, there need to be clues, or something that, when you get to the end, makes you go “oh, right! 🤦‍♀️” And that just wasn’t there, for me. Too much happened off-camera, making the solution feel a little hasty towards the end. — Maybe I’m just too stupid to have noticed the subtle clues, though. (To my credit, I did catch that something was off with the details about the cigarette case, but other than that…)

I’m glad I read it though, just so I can say I have. And if you like plot for its own sake, and/or you like solving puzzles (because indeed, this book feels more lile a puzzle than a novel, to me), you will probably enjoy it. Let me know what you think if you read this or any other Agatha Christie books.