This edition published 1st November 2018 by Harper Collins.
Original story published in 1936.
From the cover of the book:
Agatha Christie’s world-famous serial killer mystery, reissued in a beautiful new classic hardcover edition designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers.‘Let us see, Mr Clever Poirot, just how clever you can be.’
Murder is a very simple crime. But at the hands of a maniac, a serial killer, it becomes a very complicated business.
With the whole country in a state of panic, the killer is growing more confident with each successive execution – Mrs Ascher in Andover, Betty Barnard in Bexhill, Sir Carmichael Clarke in Churston… But laying a trail of deliberate clues to taunt the proud Hercule Poirot might just be his first mistake…
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Captain Hastings, visiting from South America, calls in on his old friend, Hercule Poirot. Poirot is looking for an interesting crime to occupy his attention, and he shows Hastings a letter from someone calling themselves A.B.C., which might possibly fit the bill. It tells him to look out for a forthcoming crime in Andover, and challenges him to put his famous little grey cells to the test to try to outwit the letter writer. Poirot fears that a murder is about to be committed, but he has no way to intercede.
When a woman called Alice Ascher is subsequently killed in her Andover tobacconist shop, on the date given in the letter, it appears Poirot's prediction was correct. There are no clues to go on, except the deliberate placement of an ABC railway guide at the scene, but Poirot is convinced this is only the beginning.
Two more murders follow in close order, with accompanying letters and tell-tale copies of the railway guide - a young waitress, Betty Bernard, in Bexhill-on-Sea, and Sir Carmichael Clarke, in Churston. When a further letter arrives foretelling that the next murder will be in Doncaster, Poirot, Hastings, the police, and some curious partners in crime team up to try to catch the alphabet obsessed 'mad man' in the act...
Captain Hastings narrates this 1930s Agatha Christie mystery, as he does for many of the Poirot stories, but there is also an unusual component in the form of brief scenes from the perspective of A.B.C. to direct your eye towards a certain quarter. Of course, things are never that simple in a Christie mystery, and there are plenty of red herrings built in to keep you second guessing yourself about the whos, whats and whys behind the murdering spree.
Poirot's little grey cells are really put to the test in this story, and there are lots of little 'conferences' to be worked through on the way to the solution. Hastings helps with his charming way of looking at the world, and the friends and family of the victims also prove to be the key in solving the murderous shenanigans, when Poirot brings them together to act as a little crime busting team at his side.
There is some laugh-out-loud, comic inter-play between the characters, which I always love about Christie's books - especially at the beginning of the novel when Hastings reunites with Poirot and Japp. However, I think this is actually one of Christie's more unsettling storylines given the staggeringly callous acts of the murderer. It is not one of my favourites, as the pace is a bit stop-start, but it is packed with intriguing themes, particularly about the impact of crime on those left behind, which makes it an incredibly thought-provoking one.
This is my May choice for #ReadChristie2024 as a Christie book written in the 1930s, and I listened to the first class narration of Hugh Fraser in the audio book.
The ABC Murders is available to buy now in various formats.
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