At the Mattapoisett Library, there’s always room at the table for creativity with a literary twist, and a new murderous display will have everyone wondering whodunit.

A group of six friends from Mattapoisett and Marion have installed an elaborate tablescape in the reading room based on Agatha Christie’s classic mystery, “Murder on the Orient Express”.

Under the moniker M&M Railroad, couples Michael Esposito and Cynthia Redel of Mattapoisett, Donald and Genie Rice of Mattapoisett, and Andy Kotsatos and Heather Parsons of Marion have created thematic table settings at New Bedford’s Rotch-Jones-Duff House and Garden Museum three years in a row. The three-day event in mid-November event, called Celebrate the Seasons, features dozens of settings created by museum members and businesses.

This year, the function had a literary theme, and since a member of the group already had a replica of the Orient Express, the idea took shape naturally.

“It was a collaborative effort for us as a team over two dinners with lots of wine,” said Esposito.

It also took about three weeks of work.

Mattapoisett Library Director Susan Pizzolato saw the display, which won the people’s choice award, and asked the group to recreate the scene in the reading room.

“When I thought of it just being up for the weekend, it was just killing me,” said Pizzolato.

She was overjoyed when the M&M Railroad team said “yes” to her proposal.

In “Murder on the Orient Express”, a man is found stabbed to death on the Orient Express. Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is a fellow passenger, and after discovering that the murdered man, Ratchett, is a mobster, he begins an investigation to figure out which of the many suspects aboard the train is the culprit.

Using details from the 1934 novel, the three couples created a detailed table setting and backdrop.

“We get a little carried away,” said Esposito.

It took the group about five hours to pack everything up in New Bedford and refashion it in the reading room, but it was worth it as several people stopped, eyes wide and jaws dropped, to appreciate the literary scene.

“The more you look, the more you see,” said children’s librarian Jeanne McCullough.

“We tried to recreate this as a dining car looking out,” Esposito said.

There are place settings for the characters with clothes they might have worn draped on each chair. Poirot’s chair is cloaked with a smoking jacket that Esposito said is part of his New Year’s Eve attire. The Princess Natalia Dragomiroff’s chair has a stole handed down to Redel from her great aunt, a costume tiara and a muff.

Among the other details at the table are gold-edged china settings, a vintage cigarette case and a bottle of champagne, with a gold-plated train as the centerpiece.

The whole scene looks onto a snowy mountain backdrop with windows silhouetting Paris, Venice and Istanbul, three major cities where the Orient Express stopped. A replica of the actual train circumnavigates the mountain.

The wintery scene is sure to enthrall patrons and may drive them to pick up an Agatha Christie mystery. Her novels will be featured alongside the display, tying into a grant the library recently received to improve their knowledge of and ability to recommend mystery novels.

The installation will be in the reading room until mid-December.