The ABC Murders

Publisher's Summary

There's a serial killer on the loose, working his way through the alphabet and the whole country is in a state of panic.

A is for Mrs. Ascher in Andover, B is for Betty Barnard in Bexhill, C is for Sir Carmichael Clarkein Churston. With each murder, the killer is getting more confident - but leaving a trail of deliberate clues to taunt the proud Hercule Poirot might just prove to be the first, and fatal, mistake.

©1936 Agatha Christie Limited (P)2003 HarperCollins Publishers

🚂🔪🗝📝⚰️☕️🧩Better Than the Malkovitch Series!🧩🔮🎲🚂🗺📞📽⚖️

Inspired by the recent series starring John Malkovitch, I finally listened to this title, and was not disappointed. In fact, this is tons more fun than the series; where the series is dark, gloomy (almost depressing) and slow-moving, this book is light, fun, funny, and fast-paced. Whereas Malkovitch’s Poirot is alone, lonely, downcast and defeated by age and encroaching infirmity, this is the Poirot I remember from my youth: wisecracking, gently ribbing his faithful sidekick and affectionate companion Hastings, facing old age with good humor and aplomb, and delighting in another opportunity to exercise The Little Gray Cells. The plot is intriguing and fast-moving, the characters well drawn, the final denouement mostly unpredictable and with a good twist, and plot holes or inconsistencies generally nonexistent. Dame Agatha was a very careful writer at her best, and this is one of her best. Enjoy!

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

First Serial Murder Case Told by Hastings

Another installment illustrations the methodical workings of Hercule Poirot's little gray cells. Rather fantastic seeming, the first serial murder case Hastings has told us about. The alphabetical nature did have me wondering. I liked the new investigative legion of victims' family/friends to help hone in on the culprit. I particularly liked a comment Poirot made about how conversation was the undoing of concealment and his quoting that speech was man's invention to prevent thinking. He hinged much throughout the investigation on what would come to light in the course of discussion - and, of course, he was right. And as always he (and the narrative) employed a little misdirection and suggestion while the pieces fell into place. Leading up to the traditional reveal scene I still had no clue how the explanation would go...my suspicions had been thoroughly diverted. Until he said something in the early moments of his speech about the nature and personality of the killer, and it suddenly dawned on me. Still a nice little surprise or two in the denouement after that. Trusty narrator Fraser again did not disappoint, incorporating numerous voices and accents to distinguish not only the traditional cast but more than a dozen other major and minor players. An interesting mystery, unique in many ways, and yet still classic Christie / Poirot style.

6 of 8 people found this review helpful

Jolly good mystery!

I really do enjoy these well-narrated Agatha Christie novels, and this one doesn't disappoint. Although I'm not a huge fan of the egotistical Poirot, I am a big fan of Christie's mysteries and her (other) characters and, yes, Poirot is growing on me, if only as a somewhat laughable genius.

This mystery involves a series of alphabetical murders - the person's name and their town, running down the alphabet - that have been fortold in a series of taunting letters sent to Poirot, daring him to stop them or solve them. For reasons that later become apparent, it takes Poirot to the fourth murder (in Doncaster) to solve the problem and find the murder. In the interim, there are suspects, witnesses, red herrings, subtle clues, and a roulette wheel.

I recently found out that the character of Arthur Hastings (Poirot's friend who chronicles many of his adventures in several Agatha Christie novels) was played for almost 25 years on TV by the narrator of this book, Hugh Fraser. A nice match.

5 of 7 people found this review helpful

One of AC's masterpieces

I know "masterpiece" is supposed to refer to one work. However In Agatha Christie's case there are a handful that are really special. This is one of them. I read this many years ago so I knew the ending. I still thoroughly enjoyed the listen.

2 of 4 people found this review helpful

Gets lost early on, strong finish.

More high quality narration from Hugh Fraser. Like The Pale Horse, this can be hard to stick with. It is inaccessible at times relative to the rest of the pantheon. But it's worth staying with it. Enjoy.

3 of 6 people found this review helpful

Not what I expected

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I was very disappointed in this storyline. The reading of course was wonderful. The story however did not live up to past expectations. The A, B & C characters all had the same initial for their first and last names. This tradition should have continued. In addition, the thought process seemed scattered and random. Not one of my favorites.

2 of 6 people found this review helpful

great classic detective story

what can you say ? a must read for a detective story fan.
its been referred to in a lot of other novels and stories!

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great rendition of a classic.

The narrator does a wonderful job bringing the ABC murders to life. The book is course a classic and very entertaining mystery. I enjoyed it very much.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

oooohhhhmg

Good story, I like the end. The only thing lacking abt the performance was that some of his characters sounded similar so it got confusing in thick parts of dialogue. Still good and would recommend.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

The ABC Murders

Another mystery with a twist ending. Hercrot proit was at his finest unraveling a complicated story

0 of 1 people found this review helpful