I tried to fall asleep. I tried to close my eyes and erase my mind. I have school tomorrow. Just forget everything and sleep. I have to sleep now, I thought. It was no use. I finally reached over to turn on my lamp and grabbed my book. The cover was so spooky, with an old fashioned picture of a steam train. I let my finger move over the ridges as I traced the words Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. It was the best mystery book I have ever read, and I always wanted to keep reading. Agatha Christie is such a good mystery writer, I thought to myself.

The Murder on the Orient Express takes place in the late 1800s or early 1900s. The detective, Hercule Poirot, boards a train going to London called the Orient Express. The whole story takes place on the train, which gets stopped by a blizzard far away from any human civilization.

I really liked the characters that Agatha Christie created in her book Murder on the Orient Express. The main character, Hercule Poirot, was a detective. He had run into an old acquaintance by the name of Monsieur Bouc who assists him in solving the mystery along with Doctor Constantine. Mr. Ratchett is the victim. There are many suspects because everybody in one car is interviewed. There is the American Hector MacQueen. There is the victim's valet Edward Henry Masterman, and the conductor, Pierre Michel. Governess Mary Debenham is another suspect as well as the British officer coming back from the war in India, Colonel Arbuthnot. Princess Natalia Dragonmiroff, Hildegarde Schmidt, and Greta Ohlsson are three more suspects. Then there are Count and Countess Andrenyi. Mrs. Hubbard, Antonio Foscarelli an Italian businessman, and Cyrus Hardman are the last three suspects.

The Murder on the Orient Express is a very exciting book. It all starts one night when detective Hercule Poirot wakes up hearing many strange noises from outside his cabin. When everybody wakes up the next morning, they realize that the train has stopped in its tracks due to a huge snowstorm and that Mr. Ratchett was mysteriously murdered. At this point the book becomes extremely spooky and impossible to put down. Many clues are discovered in Ratchett's compartment, including the fact that Ratchett is not even his real name. Poirot questions each of the suspects to find that they are all suspicious for some reason or another. I can't spoil the ending, but the book certainly has a very good and a little bit unexpected conclusion.

I would recommend this book to anybody who wants to read a great mystery story. Murder on the Orient Express will keep you excited the whole time and at the end you'll wish you had more to read. I would definitely say this is a five star book. You'll want to finish it all in one night.