On the luxurious Blue Train to the French Riviera, American heiress Ruth Kettering is found murdered and a celebrated ruby has disappeared. Her estranged husband, her lover and several passengers have reasons to conceal their movements, while Katherine Grey, travelling after an unexpected inheritance, becomes drawn into the inquiry.
Poirot follows the jewel, the victim’s relationships and the performance of wealth among travellers who can reinvent themselves between London, Paris and the Riviera. The novel uses the glamour of interwar rail travel to contrast public sophistication with financial dependence, romantic disappointment and criminal opportunism.