Murder on the Orient Express is a detective novel by English writer Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 1 January 1934. The elegant train of the 1930s, the Orient Express, is stopped by heavy snowfall. Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks.

The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Isolated and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must identify the murderer – in case he or she decides to strike again.