Murder on the Orient Express

It's the winter of 1934. Eccentric yet famed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, in the Middle East on a part business, part pleasure trip, is able to secure passage at the last minute in First Class on the Orient Express from Istanbul to Paris, despite First Class being sold out, odd for this time of year. The securing of the cabin is a favor from his friend Bouc, who works for the railroad, he the nephew of one of the railroad's executives. Poirot's last minute change of plan is as he is notified of a case for which he has to return to London immediately. He is initially to share a cabin with Hector MacQueen, the assistant to American businessman, Edward Ratchett. Aboard, Poirot rejects Ratchett's offer of employment for the duration of the trip to act as his security as Ratchett believes someone is trying to kill him, he admitting that his business dealings less than above board. Despite not wanting to get involved, Poirot cannot refuse Bouc's request - when Ratchett is discovered murdered, stabbed twelve times in his cabin, while the train is temporarily snowbound in the Yugoslav mountains - to investigate until the Yugoslav police arrive to take over, if only to protect the most vulnerable on board. From initial evidence, Poirot deduces that the murderer has to be among the dozen or so people who are traveling or working on the Calais First Class car. In his investigation, Poirot discovers that Ratchett, an assumed name, was once involved in a child kidnapping case in the States, a case with which Poirot is intimately familiar. As such, Ratchett's murder could be associated to that incident rather than his crooked business dealings. Poirot also discovers that many of the First Class passengers seem not to be telling the whole truth, he needing to deduce which if any lie is to hide involvement in murder.