The A. B. C. Murders: A Hercule Poirot Mystery

M. Poirot is faced with the daunting case of a twisted serial killer, stalking the country, oddly leaving an 'ABC' railway guide as his/her calling card at the scene of each murder. Furthermore, the murders are following on alphabetically in sequence for both names of victims and place names. The killer is deliberately teasing M. Poirot with clues and the country is up in arms. An enjoyable psychological mystery that Poirot must solve to prevent the continuation of deaths. Packed with red herrings, clever misdirection and prose, narration switching between first and third person, psychological study - there's alot going on here - making for an excellent read and, furthermore, the absolutely superb denouement does not let us down. Rather different from the traditional murder mystery from Agatha Christie, there is a bigger element of realism here. Overall, very enjoyable indeed.

This is one of the most convoluted of Agatha Christie plots, featuring a series of seemingly unrelated killings but with the common feature of a railway timetable being found beside each body. The final lengthy explanation by Poirot of the true solution demonstrates the ingenuity of the author's mind in concocting such a bizarre explanation for the series of murders, which confound the "[too] obvious" identity of the killer. The novel is a mixture of first person (by Poirot's sometime confidante Arthur Hastings) and third person narration, where Hastings supposedly faithfully records events at which he was not present. I like the Poirot-Hastings partnership, which was used only in some seven novels - it is very reminiscent of Holmes and Watson. I was prompted to read this by watching the BBC TV adaptation last week. While I thought this was a good piece of atmospheric drama in its own right, it differed in several aspects from the novel, especially in terms of Poirot's background.

I first read The A.B.C. Murders back in the 70s. Last week I watched the BBC TV adaptation starring John Malkovich as Hercule Poirot - Poirot, but not as you know him! I had to read the book again just to confirm what a travesty the BBC airing was! The book for the most part is narrated by Poirot's old friend Captain Arthur Hastings, O.B.E. who has returned in June 1935 from his ranch in South America to see to various affairs at home. He looks up his old friend who is now retired but still practiced his profession on occasion. The BBC for reasons best known to themselves completely omit Hastings from the cast list! DCI Japp figures prominently in Poirot's previous investigations and he plays his usual rôle in the book - BBC have him retired and bump him off with a heart attack in the first scene... And Malkovich? Well - he is not David Suchet! Despite all of this, reading the book again so soon after the TV show was very rewarding. It did not spoil my enjoyment in the slightest. I won't go into the details of the plot as I am sure most of you will be familiar with it. The book really is Agatha Christie at her best. And those little grey cells? Don't get a mention on the BBC!

By my count of Agatha Christie's Poirot NOVELS, this 1936 

It's a decent set up for a murder mystery; and it's pretty modern (something you'd easily see on Law and Order, and such): Poirot vs a serial killer, what a great tag line! However, the constant POV changes REALLY killed the atmosphere the book was building and the end reveal was...lackluster to say the least. It wasn't bad, but it's definitely one I won't be revisiting anytime soon.