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A character in Murder on the Orient Express

Monsieur Bouc

Poirot's old friend, a director of the sleeping-car company, who finds him a berth and then hands him the case.

What they want

To have the affair settled quietly, and to be the one who understands it first.

The book

Murder on the Orient ExpressAgatha Christie, 1934

A snowbound train, a dead American with twelve stab wounds, and a carriage full of strangers who all have an alibi.

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At a glance

In the book
Railway director, Poirot's friend, travelling in the coach
Where he appears
Throughout

Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Bouc is Belgian too, a former member of the Belgian police turned railway director. He is the person who puts Poirot on the train and the person who asks him to solve the murder before the Yugoslav police can make a scandal of it. He sits beside Poirot through every interview, guesses wrong at every stage, and is cheerfully certain each time.

How Monsieur Bouc Is Portrayed

Appearance, manner, and tone — as the book sketches them, in our words.

  • The officeA director of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, with the power to find a berth in a full coach.
  • The guessesHe suspects the Italian for being Italian, and says so; Poirot lets him.
  • The full coachHis remark that the coach is oddly full for December is the book's first real clue, made before the murder.
  • The verdictIn the last chapter he is given the choice between two solutions and takes the one the police will believe.
Their ending, and the commentary — spoilers aheadHow the book leaves them, what happened after, and what the record says. Open when you're ready.

Bouc chooses the false solution, the stranger who boarded at Vinkovci, and the law never hears the true one.

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