Author: Bella Ratmelia

Bella is the advisory & consultation (A&C) librarian for the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. She has a Bachelor degree in Information Technology and a Masters in Information Studies. She enjoys playing video games, reading detective fiction (or anything else that strikes her fancy), and learning new stuff and skills just for the fun of it!

The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side


Sometime after Colonel Arthur Bantry dies of pneumonia, his wife moves into a cottage on the estate grounds and sells Gossington Hall to film star Marina Gregg, who takes up residence with her husband Jason Rudd. At a fête hosted by Marina, St John Ambulance helper Heather Badcock drinks a daiquiri and subsequently dies. The coroner reveals Heather died as a result of ingesting four grains of the antidepressant Calmo, a quantity six times the recommended dose.

Shortly before her death, Heather was in conversation with Marina, giving her a long, boring account of how she had met Marina many years ago in Bermuda, getting out of bed despite her illness and putting on lots of makeup, to seek Marina’s autograph.

Marina is seen with a “frozen” look on her face for a moment while Heather talks to her; it is a look likened to the Lady of Shalott, as though “doom has come upon her.”

It then comes to light that Marina had handed her own drink to Heather after Heather’s was spilled. Therefore, it is surmised that Marina must be the intended victim. As a famous star who has married five times, she is a far more likely murder target. Suspicion is cast on many people, including Marina’s seemingly devoted husband, a big-shot American TV producer who is a former admirer and an American actress who was previously Marina’s rival in love (both Americans turn up unexpectedly at the party). A photographer at the party is actually one of three children Marina had adopted in the past for a while and then “got tired of” (Marina does not recognise her as such at the party).

 

Murder on the Orient Express

After catching the Taurus Express from Aleppo in Syria and traveling to Istanbul, private detective Hercule Poirot arrives at the Tokatlian Hotel. Once there, Poirot receives a telegram prompting him to cancel his arrangements and return to London. He instructs the concierge to book a first-class compartment on the Simplon-Orient Express leaving that night. However this becomes impossible when it is revealed that in an unusual occurrence for the time of year (December), the train is fully booked and Poirot only gets a second-class berth after the intervention of his friend M. Bouc, a fellow Belgian who is a director of the train line Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits and is also boarding the train. After boarding, Poirot is approached by Mr. Samuel Ratchett, a malevolent, elderly American he initially saw at the Tokatlian. Ratchett believes his life is being threatened and attempts to hire Poirot but, due to his distaste, Poirot refuses. “I do not like your face, Mr. Ratchett,” he says.


On the second night of the journey, as he is only travelling to Italy, M. Bouc gives up his first class-compartment to Poirot who is going to Calais and on to London (Bouc sleeps in the Pullman Coach which has only one other occupant, a Greek doctor named Constantine). This gives Poirot the compartment next to Mr. Ratchett. The train is stopped by a snowdrift near Vinkovci (spelled Vincovci in the book). Several events disturb Poirot’s sleep, including a cry emanating from Ratchett’s compartment. The next morning, M. Bouc informs him that Ratchett has been murdered and asks Poirot to investigate, in order to avoid complications and bureaucracy when the Yugoslav police arrive. Poirot accepts.