Mystery Of The Blue Train Pt. 2 of 2 (1928)
The novel's plot is based on the 1923 Poirot short story The Plymouth Express (much later collected in book form in the US in 1951 in The Under Dog and Other Stories and in the UK in 1974 in Poirot's Early Cases). This novel features the first description of the fictional village of St. Mary Mead, which would later be the home of Christie's detective Miss Marple. It also features the first appearance of the minor recurring character, Mr Goby, who would later appear in After the Funeral and 'Third Girl'. The book also features the first appearance of Poirot's valet, George. The Times Literary Supplement gave a more positive reaction to the book than Christie herself in its issue of May 3, 1928. After recounting the set-up of the story the reviewer concluded: "The reader will not be disappointed when the distinguished Belgian on psychological grounds declines to suspect the arrested husband and, by acting on the suggestion of an ugly girl who consistently derides her preposterous mother, builds up inferences almost out of the air, supports them by a masterly array of negative evidence and lands his fish to the surprise of everyone".
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