Murder on the Orient Express characters

Appears from the start

A celebrated Belgian detective, small, immaculate, and vain of his moustaches, travelling back from a case in the East and anxious to reach London. He works by talking to people and weighing what they choose to say against what they cannot help revealing, and he is far more interested in character than in cigarette ash. Chapter positions in this entry follow the book's three parts read straight through, so Part Two chapter one is counted as chapter nine.

Appears from the start

A young Englishwoman travelling home from Baghdad, where she has been a governess. Cool, competent, and strikingly self-possessed under discomfort and delay, she manages her own affairs without fuss. Poirot notices her calm on the Taurus Express and also a moment when it deserts her.

Appears from the start

A British Army officer on leave from India, correct, reticent, and given to short declarative opinions and a pipe. He is protective of Miss Debenham, whom he meets on the journey from Syria, and disapproves of discussing other people's business.

First appears in chapter 2

A director of the company that runs the international sleeping cars and an old friend of Poirot, genial, excitable, and fond of a good dinner. He arranges a berth for Poirot on a train that should have been empty and is not, and later asks him to take charge of the investigation to spare the company a scandal.

First appears in chapter 2

A wealthy elderly American travelling with a secretary and a valet, said to be in business of an unspecified kind. He has a pleasant manner and, as Poirot observes him, an expression that does not match it. Believing himself in danger, he offers Poirot a large sum to act as his bodyguard, and is refused.

First appears in chapter 3

Ratchett's private secretary and interpreter, a friendly young American who speaks no language but his own and is glad of company on a long journey. He handles his employer's correspondence and travel arrangements, and admits without much prompting that he does not like the man he works for.

First appears in chapter 3

Ratchett's English valet, correct, colourless, and answering questions in the fewest words a servant can use. He suffers from toothache on the journey and shares a compartment with another passenger.

First appears in chapter 3

A talkative middle-aged American woman travelling home from a visit to her daughter, with strong views on foreigners, sanitation, and the conduct of railways, which she shares with everyone in the coach. Her compartment adjoins Ratchett's, and she is convinced that a man was in it during the night.

First appears in chapter 3

An ancient and formidable Russian aristocrat, tiny, ugly, and entirely unbothered by either fact, travelling with her own maid. She speaks with the bluntness of someone who has not had to be tactful for sixty years and expects to be obeyed.

First appears in chapter 3

A young and beautiful Hungarian woman travelling with her husband, quiet, foreign-educated, and content to let him answer for her. She keeps to her compartment for most of the journey.

First appears in chapter 3

A Hungarian diplomat travelling with his wife on a diplomatic passport, courteous, guarded, and quick to invoke his privileges when questions become personal.

First appears in chapter 3

A middle-aged Swedish woman returning from missionary work, trained as a nurse and easily reduced to tears by any unkindness. Her English is uncertain and her anxiety to be helpful is considerable.

First appears in chapter 3

A large, cheerful Italian-American who has lived many years in the United States and sells motor cars. He talks readily, gestures a great deal, and shares a compartment with Ratchett's valet, whose reserve he finds trying.

First appears in chapter 3

A large American travelling as a salesman of typewriter ribbons, loud, friendly, and in the corridor a good deal. His account of himself does not survive Poirot's first serious question.

First appears in chapter 4

Princess Dragomiroff's German lady's maid, middle-aged, respectable, and frightened of officials. She is devoted to her mistress and gives her evidence with obvious nervousness.

First appears in chapter 3

The French conductor of the Istanbul to Calais coach, a long-serving employee of the sleeping-car company, responsible for the passengers, the bells, and the door to the next carriage. He is on duty in the corridor for most of the night.

First appears in chapter 5

A Greek doctor travelling in the same coach, who examines the body and works out what he can about the wounds and the time of death. He assists Poirot and Monsieur Bouc throughout the enquiry and is inclined to believe whatever the medical evidence suggests, even when it contradicts itself.