I’m moving right along on my quest to read all of Agatha Christie’s mystery novels in chronological order. I recently finished The A.B.C. Murders, her 18th novel, which was published in 1936. This book featured Hercule Poirot and his faithful friend, Captain Arthur Hastings. Here’s my take on the novel.
The basic plot of The A.B.C. Murders is as follows: One day Poirot receives a letter that specifies a date on which “something bad” will happen in a certain town. The writer, identified only as “A.B.C.,” taunts Poirot and tells him to stop the crime if he can.
Poirot thinks the letter should be taken seriously, so he and Hastings go to Scotland Yard to show it to Inspector Japp. The inspector waves it away, saying that Scotland Yard receives numerous letters in the same vein nearly every single day. It’s probably just a crackpot out to mess with Poirot. The Belgian detective feels that something isn’t quite right with the letter, but listens to Japp in the end and tries to forget about it.
But then something does happen on the date specified in the letter. A woman is murdered under mysterious circumstances, and the only clue found at the scene was an ABC railway guide. This was obviously done by the “ABC” of Poirot’s letter, so Poirot and Hastings join the investigation.
A few days later, Poirot receives another letter, again specifying a day and place. The police are unable to stop the killer, so they end up with another dead body. With two murders to examine, Poirot can see a pattern emerging: the killer is choosing victims based on the first letter of their surname. He killed an “A” first, and then a “B”. Poirot and the police can guess what’s coming next.
The rest of the novel deals with the details of the investigation as Poirot races against time to prevent the murderer from making his way through the entire alphabet. As you probably know, Poirot always gets his man, and this novel was no exception.
I enjoyed The A.B.C. Murders very much. I thought I knew who the killer was, but then Christie pulled one of her trademark surprises at the end and I was caught completely off guard. Even though Poirot managed to solve the case based on the flimsiest of evidence and clues (which many readers have grumbled about), I still thought this was an engrossing story. Not one of Christie’s best, perhaps, but a top 10 selection out of the 18 that I’ve read thus far.
Overall, I can definitely give this book a solid recommendation.