["Murder in the Calais Coach" is] your best mystery bet of the moment by quite some distance—a thoroughly up-to-snuff Christie that ought to go down in history as one of the author's slickest. Or should we say one of Hercule Poirot's slickest since that famous sleuth is again on the trail, his egg-shaped head and amusing locutions working overtime? Before we forget it, "Murder in the Calais Coach" seems to us just as good as "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd."…
One of Mrs. Christie's charms is, of course, that she writes in the civilized manner, and that always helps. Then, her mystery technique is nothing short of swell. She's probably the best suspicion scatterer and diverter in the business. If you find your old friend, credibility, seeming to slip in the later stages of this exciting tale, don't worry—for Mrs. Christie is working up to something most unusual by this very means. There's an alibi for everything that appears a leetle stretched. Indeed, we'll go so far as to say that "Murder in the Calais Coach" is a tour de force in the way of an artificial and no less gripping riddle. But you'll have to read it to find out just what is meant by this profound judgement. (p. 12)
Will Cuppy, in New York Herald Tribune Book Review (© I.H.T. Corporation; reprinted by permission), March 4, 1934.
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