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A character in Murder on the Orient Express

Pierre Michel

The French conductor of the Calais coach, who answered every bell that night and swears nobody passed him.

What they want

To keep his job and his good name, and to be asked nothing about his family.

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.

View the book

At a glance

In the book
Wagon Lit conductor of the Calais coach
Where he appears
Part One, chapter 5; Part Two, chapter 1; Part Three

Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Pierre Michel is the first witness Poirot calls and the one whose evidence fixes everyone else's. He sat on his seat at the end of the corridor all night, answered bells, and saw no stranger. He has served the company for fifteen years, and Bouc vouches for him. He is also, though nobody says so for a long time, a man with a daughter.

How Pierre Michel Is Portrayed

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

  • The postSeated at the end of the corridor, from where every door in the coach could be watched.
  • The bellsRatchett's bell, Mrs Hubbard's bell, the Princess's bell; he answers each and gives the times.
  • The uniformA conductor's uniform with a missing button turns up in a passenger's luggage, and it is not his.
  • The serviceFifteen years with the company; a widower, Bouc says, with a grown daughter who died.
Their ending, and the commentary — spoilers aheadHow the book leaves them, what happened after, and what the record says. Open when you're ready.

Michel's daughter was Susanne, the Armstrongs' nursemaid, who was accused of helping the kidnapper and threw herself from a window before she was cleared. He was one of the twelve, and the phantom conductor was his invention.

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