Express to Stamboul - a Parker Pyne Short Story

Parker Pyne #7

by Agatha Christie

A short story first published in the Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in June 1965.

The little known story, Express to Stamboul, takes place on the train going to Istanbul. What is intriguing is that it is difficult to locate in any of the main websites documenting Christie's work, even harder to find in the major English speaking search engines including Google.

It's a cozy mystery with Parker Pyne investigating. He's hoping to travel on the Orient Express incognito, but the baggage tags on his luggage alerts a young lady of his presence. She confides that she fears her husband is about to have her murdered.

Librarian's note: this first appeared with the title Have You Got Everything You Want in 1933. All Parker Pyne short stories can be found on Goodreads by searching: a Parker Pyne Short Story, or Parker Pyne.

Librarian's note #2: the story can also be located in the collection, Mystery on the Railways by editor Peter Haining from 1996.

Genres: Mystery, Agatha Christie, Short Stories, Classics, Audiobook, Crime, British Literature

Unknown Binding

First published April 1, 1933

About the author

Agatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.

Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Theft on the Orient Express!
A lovely young woman, Mrs. Elsie Jeffries, runs into Pyne on the famous train and confides in him that she is unhappy. This sort of problem is right in Parke Pyne's wheelhouse.
She is newly married to a very proper man, but she found a secret message on blotter paper in his office that read, "just before Venice would be the best time.", and now she's worried.



For good reason!
As they get ready to pass Venice, her jewelry is stolen, and it appears that no one could have done it.
What the heck is going on?
Well, I can't tell you without spoiling it. BUT!
Pyne confronts her quite decent husband in Constantinople and gives him some advice.
Be honest with her.
Except maybe let her keep thinking that she's reformed a rake.

This was read as part of the short story collection Parker Pyne Investigates.

[Jack Heath · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars. Have you ever wanted to travel on the Orient Express luxury train? It first came into service in 1883 as an international route between Paris and Istanbul (aka Constantinople / Stamboul). I've always wanted to take it; whether I could afford it is another matter! Sadly the full route ceased in 2009 but parts of it are still in service. The train has been the setting for many mysteries and thrillers. Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express leads the pack. This time we have Parker Pyne on the train when a young woman, Elsie Jeffries, notices his suitcase label and twigs to his London advertisement about people not being happy. She inquires, "Are you - are you, by any chance .. ?" He responds, "So you are unhappy?" He's right of course; she is worried that her husband may have arranged for something serious to happen to her as the train approaches Venice. She did the old reverse-the-blotter trick and saw that he was sending a note to someone about that. When queried, she explains that they are American and recently married. Is Edward trying to do her harm to get her jewels? Can harm come to her with Parker Pyne on the job? (Au2021/No2025)

[wilted flower · Rating 2 out of 5]

"It is a fundamental axiom of married life that you must lie to a woman."

Ok then.

Wholly uninspiring and relentlessly bland.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed a lot this short story, the characters were well defined, and the plot was fun, though not very hard to guess.
Imagine, you are on the Orient Express (yes!), and you see there a type of famous counsellor. You think your newly wed husband may be up to no good, so you confide in the counsellor and seeks his help. And then, something does happen...
Some readers may not appreciate some remarks about women, or what to expect, but in the historical context, it doesn't bother me.

[Denisa C · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an interesting case, but some remarks at the end kinda disappoited me. Not a huge fan of the remarks on how a woman reacts to certain things.

[Selah · Rating 2 out of 5]

It rolls along as a fun little caper, and then the last few paragraphs make me want to barf.

[Debalina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny detective story. The mystery isn't great because you can see and understand it all from the start almost but the ending is funny.

But I hope some Pyne doesn't advise my future husband(whoever he is) like this because men are too interesting. I want a safe, kind, virtuous or as Pyne says a 'boring' one.

Happy reading! :)

[Vin Vineeta · Rating 2 out of 5]

A robbery on the Orient Express with the moral of the story that every woman wants to waste her life fixing a cheater. I'm beginning to think dear old Agatha had a cuckolding kink by the sound of all the romantic advice in her stuff.

[Whitney (The Cover Collector) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gross, what a bad ending. No one should EVER take Parker Pyne’s disgusting marriage advice.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Pyne meets a woman on a train who suspects that some harm will come to her based upon a note that her husband wrote. Sure enough, a fake fire is started to distract the passengers and her jewels are stolen. Mr. Pyne takes the case and tells her to meet him in his hotel room once they reach their destination. There, he produces her jewels. She is shocked and wants the story but he says that he can’t tell her. After she leaves, Mr. Pyne meets her husband who Mr. Pyne telegrammed before arriving suggesting that he should return the jewels. He figured out that it was the husband who had taken the jewels weeks ago and replaced them with pastes and then arranged the theft of the fake jewels so that his wife would never learn the truth. He needed to sell the jewels to pay off the people who have been blackmailing him since before his wedding a year and a half earlier. They trapped him in a compromising position and threatened to tell his father-in-law. Mr. Pyne said that he would take care of the blackmailers but he should tell his wife the truth.

[Abeer Albossany · Rating 2 out of 5]

What I like about this story is that it lacks the element of evil which is almost present in every novel crime. This story tells the events which happened to unlucky husband leading him to be under the mercy of a gang for some time. At the end everything was settled on a very convincing way.

[AN · Rating 3 out of 5]

The storyline was simple and a little opaque. However, the language was really superb.

[Kayla Lodge · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting story compared to the others this is the first story where Mr. Parker Pyne actually does some investigating and it was really an enjoyable experience.

[R. R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Came by this book quite by coincidence. I have been listening to Agatha Christie's books for a few weeks now ( I know this is not proper reading, but explaining the reason for doing so will have to wait for another time). I happened to see this title. I listened to it. It was no more than 40 minutes tops, and ran to Goodreads to put it in "My Books". Unfortunately I couldn't find the book in Goodreads database, nor in any of the many search engines I tried.
It seems the story is a forgotten short story overshadowed by "murder on the Orient Express" or has been part of a larger book by Christie. I'm not sure. I hope to hear from anyone who has read/listened to it to give me their feedback on the accuracy of the information I put a when I "created' this book in Goodreads. I would like to know why it's not as famous, or at least acknowledged as her other works.

[Akemi G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

With this story, our Mr Parker Pyne leaves his London office.

I don’t know if the “truth” Parker Pyne maintains holds true. I think it’s true only for wealthy women who have nothing better than to gossip and to worry about their husbands. And that’s what Dame Agatha Christie meant. For her, working class people are the secondary human kind; they rarely are the culprits of her stories, nor the main victim. (They might become a witness, and for this reason, target of secondary murders.) She was probably amused that many working class people enjoyed her stories.

BTW I don’t think Parker Pyne could telegram a stranger’s husband. Am I missing something? Were there so few Americans in Istanbul 90 years ago that he could just contact him by name?

[Serena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Parker Pyne Investigates

My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.

[Reema · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Parker Pyne, I didn’t expect how different he would be! I like the premise and the story was cute abd set on the orient express which in itself if fun. I did dislike the ebd a bit with the whole lying but I guess it is a point of view of that time.

[alan douglas dalrymple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got everything

A woman's view of how men think women operate or she is telling secrets of the opposite sexes opinion of men.

[Meriyou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audio version under this title, but is this "Have You Got Everything You Want?" from Parker Pyne Investigates?

[Aisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: 2.5 ⭐

[Alinnarossa · Rating 4 out of 5]

the story wasn't really interesting, instead i felt more interested in the moral of the story...
disclaimer: you may hate it. it's something related to feminine stuffs

[Jina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listening to
The audiobook.

[Amr Nabil · Rating 3 out of 5]

The storyline was simple and a little opaque. However, the language was really superb.

[Haley Durfee · Rating 4 out of 5]

parker pyne's version of marriage counseling

[Leya · Rating 4 out of 5]

very funny story. 😄 😆

[Alif · Rating 1 out of 5]

this was kinda bland!

[Rolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another entry of this interesting new series of Christie’s, with Parker Pyne as the scientific student of human nature who creates situations to try to solve his clients’ problems. This is a fun caper similar to “The Case of the City Clerk,” though I’m not a fan of what Pyne says about how invented lies hold up a happy marriage.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad story, different from the others. A lady bumps into Pyne, sorry, Mr Parker Pyne. If you don’t write it like Agatha Christie constantly does, you’ll get confused 😂. She informs him of a cryptic message she found on her husbands ink blotter pad. Pyne now has a case to solve.

[Joop · Rating 2 out of 5]

In mijn optiek is het verhaal niet af. Daarom slechts 2 *

[itchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hey, that was a little unexpected, Mr Pyne.

Read as part of the collection Parker Pyne Investigates.