Fri 9 Apr 2010
Two Lists of Favorite Mysteries Set on Trains.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists[5] Comments
In the comments that followed Bill Pronzini’s review of Warren Adler’s Trans-Siberian Express (1977), the discussion in the comments turned first to other favorite mysteries set on trains.
Here’s David Vineyard’s list, repeated here for ease and convenience:
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS — Agatha Christie
DREAD JOURNEY — Dorothy B. Hughes
MURDER ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIN — the Gordons
STAMBOUL TRAIN — Graham Greene
COMPARTMENT EAST — Pierre Jean Remy
THE EDGE — Dick Francis
LADY ON A TRAIN — Leslie Charteris
THE WHEEL SPINS — Ethel Lina White (THE LADY VANISHES)
MURDER ON THE LINE — John Creasey
RUNNING SPECIAL — Frank L. Packard
THE MAN IN LOWER 10 — Mary Rinehart
THE ST. PETERSBURG-CANNES EXPRESS — Hans Koning
GHOST TRAIN and the THE WRECKERS both by Arthur Ripley based on his plays
BOMBAY MAIL — Lawrence G. Blochman
What reminded me of David’s list was that I came across another Top 10 Train Thrillers list. It’s not clear who came up with this one, entitled “Murder on the Literary Express,” but it was sponsored by abebooks.com:
1. Strangers on a Train – Patricia Highsmith.
2. The Wheel Spins – Ethel Lina White.
3. Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie.
4. Stamboul Train – Graham Greene.
5. The Necropolis Railway – Andrew Martin.
6. The Edge – Dick Francis.
7. La Béte Humaine – Émile Zola.
8. 4.50 From Paddington – Agatha Christie.
9. Mr. Norris Changes Trains – Christopher Isherwood.
10. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three – John Godey.
Most of the others I’ve come up with that are not on either list involve timetables, not actual train travel, and while I’ve not read all of the above, I can’t think of any that would replace the ones in either list.
April 9th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
Can’t believe I left STRANGERS ON A TRAIN or LA BETE HUMAINE off of the favorites list.
And though not a novel the opening story of THE PEOPLE VS WITHERS AND MALONE is a great mystery on a train tale by Craig Rice and Stuart Palmer (filmed as MRS. O’MALLEY AND MR. MALONE).
GRAND CENTRAL MURDER (novel Sue McVeigh, film with Van Heflin) is an interesting mix since it involves murder on a train but the train never leaves the station. Private eye Barney Custer (Heflin) and wife Virgina Grey help cop Sam Levine solve the the murder of a star in her private car on the tracks inside Grand Central Station.
By that standard we’d have to include Thomas Walsh’s A NIGHT IN MANHATTAN filmed as UNION STATION as police try to capture a kidnapper who has taken a blind girl and hidden her in the tunnels under the station.
I also left off Sebastian Japrisot’s THE 10:30 FROM MARSEILLES — which has murder on a train but isn’t really set on a train, and somehow George Simenon’s THE TRAIN, THE PREMIER, and THE MAN WHO WATCHED THE TRAINS GO BY and a couple of Maigret novels and stories that have a murder on a train if not during the journey.
There’s also MURDER IN TEXAS by A. E. Lingo which takes place on a train across Texas, PANTHER’S MOON by Victor Canning (filmed as SPY HUNT) which has a pair of leopards with microfilm in their collar escape a train in Europe, and THE MIDNIGHT MAIL by Henry Holt (which has much less to do with the train than you might think).
And while Dorothy L. Sayers FIVE RED HERRINGS is a timetable mystery, her original story (more a suggestion) that became the film THE SILENT PASSENGER with Peter Hadden as Lord Peter and Austin Trevor as Inspector Parker (Trevor also played Anthony Gethryn and Hercule Poirot) is a mystery on a train although it is mostly about John Loder’s character.
Also check out Lester Dent’s LADY TO KILL, a good murder and intrigue on a train mystery featuring Chance Molloy who previously took on murder on a plane in DEAD AT TAKE OFF.
April 10th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
How about SLEEPERS EAST by Frederick Nebel?
April 10th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Jamie
One free kick in the pants to me!
I left off SLEEPERS EAST — not only that I left off the two entertaining films based on it, SLEEPERS EAST with Preston Foster and SLEEPERS WEST with Lloyd Nolan as Michael Shayne — the latter the film that first sold me on mysteries set on a train.
It’s a great book too. Not just a good mystery, but a good novel as well.
This is a good example of trying to think of obscure books and films and forgetting one of the classics. A bit like trying to list great Civil War films and leaving off GONE WITH THE WIND.
Sadly it’s a hard book to come by (or at least it used to be). It took me twenty something years to find a copy. But not only does it belong on the list, it belongs at the top of my list.
April 10th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Not necessarily meaning to start the discussion in another direction, but my own favorite movie set on a train is NARROW MARGIN, the 1952 one with Marie Windsor and Charles McGraw.
Not only that, but it’s very nearly my favorite movie of all time, no matter the genre or subgenre.
Heresy or not, I think that train movies are even better than train books.
April 10th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Steve
I agree about movies set on a train, though for me SHANGHAI EXPRESS edges out NARROW MARGIN as favorite film on a train, but only just, and only because it is such a fine example of old fashioned melodrama.
You would think a train would be a limiting set for a film, but it has always seemed to bring out the best in directors from Howard Hawks genius comedy TWENTIETH CENTURY to the hilarious train journey in Preston Sturges PALM BEACH STORY.
But even if you limit it to mystery/suspense films it’s a daunting list — especially since the first feature ever made revolves around a train robbery.
This list could end up potentially longer than the Man on the Run list. Michael Crichton’s THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY, Alister MacLean’s BREAKHEART PASS, SILVER STREAK, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, SHADOW OF A DOUBT, AN AMERICAN FRIEND …
But no argument NARROW MARGIN is a great film, all the more so because it manages to do so without star names (though McGraw was the lead in a few films he is primarily a character actor). But I will give it this, NARROW MARGIN is the best film noir on a train, and even that’s no small category.