Poirot boards the Orient Express in Istanbul. An American named Ratchett tries to hire him as a bodyguard, and he refuses. In the night the train gets stuck in a snowdrift in Yugoslavia, and Ratchett is found stabbed 12 times in his locked compartment. Poirot learns Ratchett was Cassetti, the kidnapper who killed little Daisy Armstrong and escaped justice. Every passenger has a hidden tie to the Armstrong family. The answer: all 12, plus the conductor, killed Cassetti together, one stab each. Poirot lays out two solutions for the railway director, M. Bouc, and the doctor: one with an outside killer, and the true one. They choose the first, and the passengers go free.
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3 what changed on screen
What changed on screen
Behind the scenesA real case behind it
The kidnapping of little Daisy Armstrong, which drives the story, was inspired by the 1932 kidnapping of aviator Charles Lindbergh's baby.
In the book Poirot offers two solutions and calmly leaves the choice to others. In the 2010 ITV episode the decision tortures him, and he's seen praying with a rosary, his faith shaken.
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