"Beautiful shining order": detective authority in Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express

Drawing on the work of Pierre Bayard, this essay presents a “counterinvestigative” reading of Murder on the Orient Express (1934) that highlights how Christie’s novel undermines Poirot’s authority as a detective and thereby also undermines his solution. The essay argues that the dénouement fails to bring about complete transparency and reduce the literary complexity of Christie’s plot.