Madame Valois

In Le Crime est notre affaire the 2008 French adaptation by Pascal Thomas of 4.50 from Paddington, Madame Valois is the parallel of Lady Stoddart-West in the original novel. She is the mother of Valérie Valois, who comes to the Charpentier chateau to spend the Christmas holidays with her school friend Alexie Charpentier. Madame Valois is portrayed by Marie Lorna Vaconsin.

Late in the plot, Madame Valois comes to the chateau to see her daughter because all the residents appeared to have been poisoned by something in the Christmas eve dinner. Valérie tells her mother about the adventure they had been having ever since a woman, believed to be named "Martina" had been found in a sarcophagus in a museum in the chateau grounds. This Martina was believed to be the Russian wife of the late Edmond Charpentier. Madame Valois then asks to see Emma Charpentier with surprising news: the woman in the sarcophagus could not be Martina because she herself is Martina. Her maiden name is Martina Petrovna. As She had met Edmond when they were in Damascus. They had married and then after a while they had split up. She had been posted to Belgrade and married another Frenchman and then gave birth to Valérie. By a strange coincidence, Valérie went on to become a good friend of Alexie Charpentier at boarding school.

Madame Valois' revelation showed that the letter Emma had received earlier from a woman in Lyon claiming to be Martine Charpentier and to have Edmond's son was a fake. It had been planted by the killer as misdirection.