The ABC Murders

 Series: Hercule Poirot #13

Author: Agatha Christie

Genre: Mystery

Original publication date: January 6th, 1936

Book description: 

There's a serial killer on the loose. His macabre calling card is to leave the ABC Railway Guide beside each victim's body. But if A is for Alice Asher, bludgeoned to death in Andover, and B is for Betty Bernard, strangled with her belt on the beach at Bexhill, who will then be Victim C?

Thoughts:

We see the return of Hastings. I had personally missed him a bit. He is always a nice perspective to have especially as he always tells us the story but is very much in the dark along with the police and other witnesses of the crime. 

This story follows Poirot, he received a letter warning him of something coming, a crime that was going to be committed on a specific date signed ABC. The police and Hastings dismiss the letter as a prank or hoax, only the Belgian detective is intrigued by it, but he lets it go as there is nothing to do. The letter itself does not provide good enough evidence to figure anything out. 

When the day comes a murder is discovered so the police try to look more into it, but very little is found. The possibility of a series of murders beginning is troubling and exciting. This is the first time we see the culprit mock Poirot and provide ample clues beforehand. The letters are not helping and the police along with Poirot have a hard time figuring out the culprit. 

Several murders take place and Poirot investigates each one, makes the inquires from the family, and is as usual very impertinent. I found it particularly entertaining the logic and the big reveal Poirot did. One of my favorite books in the series. 

We have Hasting again being very polite and drawn to defend young beautiful women, a possible romantic interest between a young orphan girl from the working class and a young handsome man who is to inherit a good amount of money in the near future who seeks nothing but to protect her. Not sure if I'm nitpicking but it seems like in every one of her books we see a young woman who is in need of rescue and she is placed in a position where suspicion is natural to fall on her at one point or another.

Again not sure if I am simply not clever enough but the big reveal was a surprise, it was not even close to what I had imagined. I arrived at the wrong conclusion but I found the reveal very satisfactory. 

The book is fairly short and can be read in a single sitting. I managed to complete it in a single morning as I had no work that day but it can be completed in a few days with no problem. It's the type of book it feels to go at a good pace but in reality, nothing is begin resolved as we are just going around in circles behind the murder for most of the story. 

As a warning: There is mention of a psychological issue here but in passing and as part of the reveal for the possible culprit. It was very vague and didn't feel realistic enough but it can be because it was not fully explored, or as a product of the time, the book was written. Not something I will hold against the author really, but it does mention possible PTSD, epilepsy, memory loss, sleepwalking, or something like that. It was never fully described or looked into.

The reviews for these books keep getting shorter and shorter, but there is very little I can do to keep it spoiler-free. 

Star rating

I recommend this book for those who-done-it fans, for people who are trying to get into older books. Christie writes very easy to get into books even if they do have a very classic plotline as they have been done over the year in other works, still very worthy read. You might know the basic plotline but the ride to get there is very entertaining. 

Feel free to leave in the comments what you thought of this one if you have read it. Also if anyone had similar feelings about the MC as me. I used to be very annoyed by Poirot and couldn't understand why he was so appreciated by readers, but I am finding that I like him a lot better in the last few books. Did he get less annoying and self-centered or is it I just got used to him? 

That is it for me guys. See you next time. Stay safe, stay healthy!