Aus dem AC-Blog: How did Nadine Boynton know about the Orien

[Japp]

How did Nadine Boynton know about the Orient Express Case in Appointment with Death by Chris_Chan

How did Nadine Boynton know about the Orient Express case in Appointment With Death?

By Chris Chan

(SPOILER WARNING! THIS ESSAY CONTAINS POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, CARDS ON THE TABLE, AND THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD. READ WITH CAUTION.)

In Appointment with Death, the suspect Nadine Boynton asks Poirot to cease his investigation of her mother-in-law’s death, claiming that bringing the killer to justice would further destroy the lives of those who had suffered under the twisted matriarch’s mental sadism. In order to justify her pleas for Poirot to abandon this case, she cites the example of the Orient Express murder. Nadine points out that Poirot allowed the authorities to accept a false solution, and Poirot responds by saying, “I wonder who told you that?”

Poirot’s question is never answered, and Nadine Boynton never explains how she learned this behind-the-scenes information about the stabbing on the Orient Express. In Christie’s fictional world, we know that the inside stories behind several of Poirot’s cases have been made available to the general public of the Christieverse. Every narrative narrated by Captain Hastings is supposedly published in Poirot’s fictional world, as well as Nurse Amy Leatheran’s Murder in Mesopotamia. Both of them state that their accounts of Poirot’s cases have been published. This means, for example, that the book The Mysterious Affair at Styles exists in both the real world and the Christieverse, but there is no conclusive evidence that a character in the Christieverse can purchase a copy of The Mystery of the Blue Train, which has no narrator. (The status of the two Poirot books narrated by characters other than Hastings or Leatheran in the Christie universe is unclear. It is known that Doctor Sheppard’s manuscript of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was not released to the general public due to Poirot’s influence, and it is unlikely that Colin Lamb would allow his presentation of the investigation in The Clocks to be released due to his work as a secret agent.) It is not known for certain if any of Poirot’s cases not told by a narrator appear in book form in the Christieverse, but given the sensitive nature of the solution of Murder on the Orient Express, we can assume that the true facts of the case were never made public.

Since Nadine Boynton could not have found out that the official solution to the Ratchett stabbing was untrue through official news sources, she must have been informed by an individual who had knowledge of the cover-up. Given the secret nature of this information, the odds strongly favor that she heard these facts directly from someone involved in the case, rather than through some second-hand informant. The source cannot be Poirot himself, since he is surprised that Nadine has come across this information.

Poirot, incidentally, does not keep the Orient Express case a complete secret. He is in the habit of recounting his cases to friends; Cards on the Table and Evil Under the Sun make it clear that Poirot gives full accounts of his cases to Captain Hastings. It is highly unlikely that a member of Poirot’s close circle of friends would casually pass on this story, especially considering that Captain Hastings is in Argentina for most of the time period between the events of Murder on the Orient Express and Appointment With Death, and Miss Lemon and Inspector Japp are not prone to gossip. In any case, Hastings, Lemon, and Japp are unlikely to have met Nadine in America and become sufficiently friendly with her to reveal this information.

It is possible that Poirot has told other people of the true solution. Cards on the Table shows Poirot obliquely mentioning the true solution of the case to Rhoda Dawes and Anne Meredith. It is surprising that Poirot would make such a statement in front of two young women who he barely knows, especially considering that he considers one to be guilty of murder. This opens up the possibility that Poirot has told some unknown person who has passed on the information. This is probable, but there are other possibilities. In any case, the events of Cards on the Table prove that Anne Meredith cannot be the source, and Rhoda Dawes probably traveled to the jungle or some other remote area with Major Despard shortly following their marriage, and is unlikely to have had any contact with the Boyntons.

At first glance, it might seem more likely that the leak is some innocent party who was aboard the train at the time of the crime, but upon further investigation this seems improbable. Could the informant be a member of the Orient Express staff? This prospect is unlikely, since none of the crew (save for Pierre Michel) was present at the denouement, and even if one of them had overheard the truth, why would he tell this information to some American tourist he had never met before? M. Bouc has the reputation of his company to consider, so he would be unlikely to blab. Doctor Constantine is a possibility, but his decision to conceal the true solution suggests that he similarly disinclined to gossip. It is possible that either man confided in some trusted party (the doctor, for example, might talk to either his wife or his mistress), but given the character of these two men, it seems that they would only trust someone similarly inclined to keep mum. In any case, there is no evidence that any Orient Express employees could have traveled to the United States and had contact with Nadine Boynton.

It therefore follows that one of the suspects in the Orient Express crime who knew the truth had to have disclosed this information to Nadine Boynton. This is suggestive. Nadine and the other Boyntons clearly state that they have almost no close friends. Ergo, the source had to have had sufficient reason to speak to a near-complete stranger and therefore endanger his or her own reputation and the lives of twelve other people.

The Boyntons are Americans, and thusly one of the American passengers on the train might seem more likely. Mrs. Hubbard, though her notable position in society might have led her to cross paths with the wealthy Boyntons, can safely be ruled out. She was willing to bear the full brunt of the legal retribution in order to protect the others, so she has little cause to endanger them by revealing the truth. As for Cyrus Hardman and Antonio Foscarelli, there is nothing to indicate that they had any contact at all with the Boynton family, and there is no known reason why they would go against their own self-interest. Hector MacQueen is the only one of the Americans who remains a possibility. His father was a district attorney, and therefore MacQueen might have been acquainted with the wealthy and prominent Elmer Boynton, or possibly even Mrs. Boynton, who was a wardress in a prison. But once again, the question of why he would speak remains an enigma.

That question remains unanswered for all but one of the other suspects. The aristocrats, Princess Dragomiroff, Count Andreyni, and Countess Andreyni, are unlikely to cross paths with the Boyntons, and all three of them have excellent reasons for remaining silent. Colonel Arthburnot and Mary Debenham seem similarly disinclined to confide in strangers. The servants, Edward Henry Masterman and Hildegarde Schmidt, are loyal to their masters’ secrets and careful of their own wellbeing. There is no particular reason why Pierre Michel would speak to Nadine. Furthermore, there is no indication as to why any of these individuals would come across the reclusive Boyntons.

There remains one possibility, the Swedish missionary Greta Ohlsson. There are two questions to be explained, the first being how someone involved with the Orient Express case would come to be sufficiently acquainted with Nadine Boynton to confide certain details regarding the murder to her, and the second regarding why this person would endanger the safety of him or herself and the reputation of twelve close friends by speaking. The character of Greta Ohlsson explains both questions.

Greta Ohlsson is a nurse and a missionary. Both of these professions illustrate possibilities for how she might have met Nadine Boynton. Nadine was also a nurse, and it is reasonable to suppose that there might possibly have been some conference or other gathering where their paths might have crossed. In addition, Greta frequently led fundraisers in order to support her charitable work. It is not too much of a stretch to assume that at some point she might have come to the wealthy Boyntons for a donation. This potentially explains how they could have met. The reasons why Greta might confide in Nadine lie in her concern for other people. Other than the rosy-eyed Jefferson Cope, everyone in Appointment With Death with even the briefest acquaintance with the Boynton family knows that there is something unnatural with the way the family matriarch controls her brood. It is safe to assume that Greta might have seen the loathing that Nadine held for her mother-in-law, perhaps she even saw the anxiousness with which Nadine and the others anticipated Mrs. Boynton’s demise.

Greta had been in the same position; where one considers that normalcy cannot resume until one person considered unfit for life is exterminated. Greta’s deeply religious nature might mean that she could not possibly put her past actions behind her. She might try to sublimate her culpability through her good works as a missionary, but since she had already dedicated her life to the children of undeveloped countries, she had to find some other means to atone for her sins. She might have seen the opportunity to prevent another murder as a means to expiate herself. It is therefore easy to conceive of Greta providing Nadine with a cursory outline of the true circumstances of the death of Samuel Ratchett, with the hopes that Nadine might learn that a private vendetta might not be morally just.

Though Nadine’s informant cannot be definitely determined, the character traits of the possibilities indicate that Greta Ohlsson is far and away the most likely source, with Hector MacQueen being a distant next-most-likely possibility. Whoever told Nadine of the case, it seems that Nadine only absorbed the lesson that some people deserve to be murdered!

[Sephiroth90]

Interessant, aber ich glaube kaum, dass die gute Agatha mit dieser Frage eine solch ausführliche Antwort erwartet hätte ^^

[marple9]

interessant?
kannst das wohl auch noch lesen?
werde mir wohl mal nen dolmetscher zulegen müssen

[Sephiroth90]

Dolmetscher? Schulenglisch reicht

[mark]

@Japp: Lieben Dank für den wirklich interessante Artikel!

@MArple9: Ich bin froh, daß manche hier solche interessanten Artikel und Auszüge etc. finden und hier reinstellen, also vielleicht etwas netter schreiben. Christie ist nun mal eine englische Schriftstellerin und Neues gibt es nur noch auf Englisch. Zur Not: Ich bin Dolmetscher, da kann ich ja etwas helfen, solltest Du Fragen haben.

[BigBen]

@Japp: Lieben Dank für den wirklich interessante Artikel!

@MArple9: Ich bin froh, daß manche hier solche interessanten Artikel und Auszüge etc. finden und hier reinstellen, also vielleicht etwas netter schreiben. Christie ist nun mal eine englische Schriftstellerin und Neues gibt es nur noch auf Englisch. Zur Not: Ich bin Dolmetscher, da kann ich ja etwas helfen, solltest Du Fragen haben.

Hallo,
Mark spricht mir aus der Seele! Es gibt so viel Interessantes hier im Forum, und wenn es denn auf Englisch ist, dann dauerts mitunter etwas länger (zumindest bei mir!). Aber diese "Fundgrube" ist wirklich einmalig. Herzlichen Dank an alle, die so etwas einstellen.
@Marple9: Du bist noch recht jung, hast Du mal geschrieben. Du gehst noch in die Schule. Wann lernt Ihr denn Groß-und Kleinschreibung sowie die Punktsetzung? Entschuldige bitte, aber diese Frage wollte ich schon lange mal loswerden....

[marple9]

@Marple9: Du bist noch recht jung, hast Du mal geschrieben. Du gehst noch in die Schule. Wann lernt Ihr denn Groß-und Kleinschreibung sowie die Punktsetzung? Entschuldige bitte, aber diese Frage wollte ich schon lange mal loswerden....

hab nie geschrieben daß ich recht jung bin
bin nicht soooo alt wie ihr

klingst wie mein lehrer
mit dem hab ich mich auch rumärgern müssen
dem gingen dann die argumente aus
wozu groß und klein schreiben?
der inhalt bleibt doch der gleiche

da halte ich es wie der lutersch king:
ich habe einen traum
ich habe einen traum, dass irgendwann auf der ganzen welt nur noch mit kleinen buchstaben geschrieben wird und die lästigen satzzeichen auch verschwinden

vielleicht sprechen wir irdgendwann einmal nur noch in einer sprache
nichts dauert ewig

[Sephiroth90]

Wieso nicht gleich alles groß und zusammengeschrieben ohne Punkt und Komma?

DASSIEHTDANNUNGEFÄHRSOAUSWUNDERSCHÖNZULESENNICHTWAHR

Ich versteh nicht, warum sich Schüler so gegen Großschreibung wehren und selbst die Satzzeichen für unnötig halten... Im Endeffekt wird die Sprache dadurch doch nur vereinfacht. Zumindest beim Lesen.

[BigBen]

Hallo,
melde mich nochmal kurz zu Worte.
@Sephiroth90: Du hast es auf den Punkt gebracht (haha, kleines Wortspiel....).
@marple9: Damit habe ich kein Problem, dass ich wie ein Lehrer klinge (aber wenn schon, dann bitte Lehrerin !), mich stört halt diese permanente Kleinschreibung. Und meinst Du Martin Luther King (Verkürzung eines Namens macht das Lesen desselben schwieriger)? Klar, der hatte einen wunderbaren Traum, hatte aber nichts mit der Sprache zu tun. Dann müßte Dir die englische Sprache ja sehr entgegen kommen, dort wird fast alles kleingeschrieben, aber auch die Briten benutzen Punkte und Kommata......
Nix für ungut, das wollte ich nur mal loswerden.
Genug "off topic" geschwätzt......

[Japp]

also ich unterscheide gar nicht mehr zwischen deutsch und englisch. wenn ihr den artikel nicht lesen könnt,
tuts mir für euch leid - aber wir leben in 2009, und wenn ihr da kein englisch könnt, seit ihr echt bissel
hinten dran. especially if you are a young person