Cast of characters -- The facts: An important passenger on the Taurus Express -- The Tokatlian Hotel -- Poirot refuses a case -- A cry in the night -- The crime -- A woman -- The body -- The Armstrong kidnapping case -- The evidence: The evidence of the wagon lit conductor -- The evidence of the secretary -- The evidence of the valet -- The evidence of the American lady -- The evidence of the Swedish lady -- The evidence of the Russian princess -- The evidence of Count and Countess Andrenyi -- The evidence of Colonel Arbuthnot -- The evidence of Mr. Hardman -- The evidence of the Italian -- The evidence of Miss Debenham -- The evidence of the German lady's-maid -- Summary of the passengers' evidence -- The evidence of the weapon -- The evidence of the passengers' luggage -- Hercule Poirot sits back and thinks: Which of them? -- Ten questions -- Certain suggestive points -- The grease spot on a Hungarian passport -- The christian name of Princess Dragomiroff -- A second interview with Colonel Arbuthnot -- The identity of Mary Debenham -- Further surprising revelations -- Poirot propounds two solutions.

While en route from Syria to Paris, in the middle of a freezing winter's night, the Orient Express is stopped dead in its tracks by a snowdrift. Passengers awake to find the train still stranded and to discover that a wealthy American has been brutally stabbed to death in his private compartment. Incredibly, that compartment is locked from the inside. With no escape into the wintery landscape the killer must still be on board. Fortunately, the brilliant Belgian inspector Hercule Poirot is also on board, having booked the last available berth.