After re-visiting a couple of my favorite Christie mysteries over the past couple of months, I've noticed that my favorite stories are those that are less formulaic. Don't get me wrong, I tend to like most novels and Christie is the only author that I go back to when I need cozy entertainment with a dash of murder, but some stories have that special something that makes them stand out from the crowd.

Orient Express starts out conventionally enough: Poirot travels aboard the luxury train Orient Express among an eclectic group of people, when a snowdrift halts the journey. A person is murdered, Poirot begins to solve the crime. Pretty standard, right? It's when the case starts to appear impossible to solve, even more impossible than usual, that it changes tracks. Not only is the solution extremely unusual for Christie, but what happens after that can feel incomprehensible at first. I admit that the ending is a bit abrupt, but in a way it's just perfect. It doesn't leave you hanging, but it still leaves you with questions about injustice. What would you have done?

I believe the case is technically solvable, because everything you need to know is revealed when you shadow Poirot. In practice, though, it's astounding how Christie can throw clues at your face and you still wonder what the hell is going on!

This is also the story that inspired the Orient Express board game. I couldn't tell you how many hours I've spent roaming around the train and trying to figure out the murderer. The amount of cases combined with the difficulty level, and the fact that I only play it every couple of years, ensures that I can play the cases over and over again without remembering the solutions or details. Sometimes I "play" it alone by just reading the cards and leaving out the dice throwing part. Maybe this Christmas is the perfect time for board games again?