Solution

The Solution is the climactic intellectual resolution of the murder of Samuel Edward Ratchett, delivered by Hercule Poirot in the dining-car of the snowbound Orient Express. After assembling all twelve passengers from the Stamboul-Calais coach, Poirot lays out two competing theories of the crime. The first is a conventional explanation: an outside assassin, a small dark man with a womanish voice, boarded the train at Vincovci, stabbed the drugged Ratchett, and escaped before the train became trapped in the snowdrift. The second is a radical, almost unbelievable solution: the murder was a collective execution carried out by all twelve passengers, each of whom had a personal connection to the Armstrong kidnapping case and each of whom stabbed Ratchett once in the darkened compartment. It is this second solution that Poirot, M. Bouc, and Dr. Constantine ultimately accept as the truth, though they agree to present the first theory to the Jugo-Slavian police.

The Two Theories

Poirot begins by outlining the first theory, which he describes as a straightforward, if flawed, explanation. According to this version, Ratchett, fearing an enemy, had hired the detective Cyrus Hardman to protect him. The enemy, a small dark man with a womanish voice, joined the train at Vincovci, wearing a Wagon Lit uniform and using a pass-key to enter Ratchett's locked compartment. He stabbed the drugged Ratchett, left through the communicating door into Mrs. Hubbard's compartment, hid the dagger in her sponge-bag, and then discarded the uniform in a suitcase before leaving the train. The watch in Ratchett's pocket, which stopped at 1:15, was explained by Ratchett's failure to set it back an hour at the time zone change; the actual time of death was 12:15. This theory, Poirot notes, is deficient in many minor points and does not account for the nature of the wounds or the multiple contradictions in the evidence. He then presents the second solution, which he calls the only one that makes sense of all the facts.

The Jury of Twelve

Poirot's second solution is built on the insight that the assembly of passengers in the Stamboul-Calais coach was not a coincidence but a deliberate gathering. He recalls M. Bouc's remark that the group represented all classes and nationalities, and realizes that such a collection could only occur naturally in one place: a large household in America. He then systematically identifies each passenger's role in the Armstrong household: Mary Debenham was the governess; Greta Ohlsson was the nurse; Antonio Foscarelli was the chauffeur; Edward Masterman was Colonel Armstrong's batman and valet; Princess Dragomiroff was the godmother of Sonia Armstrong; Countess Andrenyi was Helena Goldenberg, Mrs. Armstrong's younger sister; Colonel Arbuthnot was Colonel Armstrong's best friend; Hector MacQueen's father had been the district attorney in the case; Pierre Michel was the father of Susanne, the French nursemaid who had committed suicide; Cyrus Hardman had been in love with Susanne; and Mrs. Hubbard was actually Linda Arden, the famous actress and mother of Sonia Armstrong. The twelve passengers constituted a self-appointed jury that had condemned Ratchett to death for the kidnapping and murder of little Daisy Armstrong, and they had each taken it upon themselves to be the executioner. The twelve stab wounds corresponded to the twelve jurors. The entire crime was a carefully staged performance, with each person playing a pre-assigned part to create confusion and protect the group.

The Acceptance of the Solution

After Poirot finishes his exposition, he turns to M. Bouc, a director of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons Lits, and asks for his opinion. M. Bouc, without hesitation, declares that the first theory Poirot put forward was the correct one and suggests that this is the solution they should offer to the Jugo-Slavian police when they arrive. Dr. Constantine immediately agrees, adding that as regards the medical evidence, he thinks he made one or two fantastic suggestions. Poirot then formally retires from the case, having placed his solution before them. The conspirators are thus allowed to go free, their collective act of vengeance officially recorded as the work of an unknown outsider. The Solution, therefore, is not merely an explanation of the crime but a moral and legal compromise: the truth is known, but justice, as defined by the law, is not served. Instead, a higher, private justice is allowed to stand, and the official record is adjusted to protect the innocent—or, at least, those whom the investigators deem to have been justified in their actions.