What: paperback
What else: First person narrative
Wherefore: it was on Mount TBR, and my Kindle was acting up

Hastings: "I admit," I said, "that a second murder in a book often cheers things up."

Poirot has semi-retired, but has discovered he is no better suited to the state than Holmes is said to have been, and so lets it be known that he is available to take those cases that interest him (again, like Holmes). At the beginning of this tale Hastings has come home to England from his ranch in Argent More...

I try to get my math students to read mysteries, because the logical skills of finding a pattern and using inductive and deductive reasoning are often skillfully laid out. If you've read this book, you know why its one that I use to illustrate that point in my class. Sadly, the point is underappreciated by my high school students.

This one was ok...nothing too exciting. I was able to pick out the bad guy early but this was at the end of a Christie reading marathon so I was totally satuarated wiht her writing style.

I enjoy the Poirot tales, though I often get a little impatient with the ones which are told from the first person narrative of Captain Hastings, who frequently plays Watson to the Belgian detective's Sherlock. These stories, in particular, often seem a bit too heavily padded with scenes where the two men conference - Poirot speaks very enigmatically about the case, Hastings gets frustrated, and Poirot admonishs him to "use the little grey cells." Mystery investigations are by their nature rathe More...

The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie is a mystery novel that is part of the famous Poirot detective series. I picked up this book because I am an avid mystery reader. While reading some other mystery novels I came upon a case that made many references to Agatha Christie’s novel The ABC Murders. After finding out that Agatha Christie’s Poirot is a lot like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, I decided to try her books out.
The protagonist is Poirot, a retired, sharp, and much esteemed Belgi More...

“The ABC Murders”
By Agatha Christie

A few days ago, I read a novel “ABC Murders” by Agatha Christie. If I tell you about Agatha Christie, then there is only one sentence will come from my mouth, “Agatha Christie’s was the queen of the World of Crime Fiction.”
“ABC Murders”, is the story of continuous murders occurs in the English alphabetical order. Agatha Christie’s famous and permanent character Hercules Poi rot is here to solve this mystery. Hercules Poirot received a secret letter from anonym More...

Dans cet épisode le fameux détective Hercule Poirot est à présent en retraite, et, fidèle à lui-même, il souhaite faire travailler ses cellules grises pour ne pas se ramollir. Pendant ce temps, son ami le capitaine Hastings revient de voyage.

Poirot reçoit une lettre mystérieuse, signée « ABC ». Hastings pense qu’il s’agit d’une simple plaisanterie mais Poirot décide de se pencher sur ce cas, et d’enquêter sur cet intriguant expéditeur.

Cette histoire nous est racontée par Hastings, ce qui fait pé More...

Read this now because of Hyouka :D...

So I've rated this Agatha Christie somewhat less enthusiastically than the other two I've read so far. Actually, the mystery part of this book was pretty cool, not at all disappointing or less interesting than those other two, but I found this one curiously lacking in the character department.
This is the first Poirot mystery I've read to feature captain Hastings, and I'm not fan. He does not seem to add anything apart from the "reader perspective", as a wa More...

Ketika pertama aku membaca bagian pertama ari buku ini, aku merasa diriku tak mampu memahami sedikitpun apa yang menjadi ide jenius sang penulis, Agatha Christie. Awalnya memang aku merasa susah - mungkin saat itu keadaan rumah lagi kurang bersahabat, sehingga sampai-sampai aku mengatakan pada diriku sendiri untuk menghentikan membaca The ABC Muders. Benar saja, buku tersebut terbengkalai beberapa minggu. Sempat terpikir dalam benakku untuk melanjutkannya, tapi karena ada satu hal yang harus kuk More...

I can't be the only one in my generation that used to watch CSI religiously and after that the other CSI's and after that all the old and new crime series to satisfy the need for new crime show episodes. After all those years and hundreds of episodes my interest in such shows has decreased a lot. They try to offer different angles, but after several hundred hours a lot's needed to surprise me and my crime show heuristics(if the killer is found within 30 minutes, it's not the killer and then it's More...

I grew up reading Agatha Christie. My mum has a whole shelf with most, if not all, of Christie's books. I can still see them in my mind, 5 novels a volume, bound in red, and printed in really thin, almost Bible-like paper. I worked my way through them, from beginning to end, and loved them. I haven't reread many of them since then, and I've decided I'll do more of that.

Visiting England from his ranch in Argentina, Hastings, Poirot's longtime chronicler, finds his friend preoccupied by an anonym More...

Oh, I just totally LOVE this book! I've alwayas loved murder/detective novels, and Agatha Christie's books are exactly that. Out of all her series, Hercule Poirot's my favourite! And well, this book is pretty awesome. I love how the story is told in Hasting's point of view, not Poirot's. That's because it keeps the reader guessing and confused about the murder. To me Hasting represents most of us the readers- what we think we know, how we see the murder etc. Therefore, we don't really know exact More...

Just like the scheduling details in Hampton's ABC Railway Guide, Hercule Poirot is receiving letters taunting him with the specific dates and places of the murders of random victims whose surnames begin with A, B, C, and D. The mad serial killer threatens to continue murdering through each letter of the alphabet!

What is the connection between the killer's ABC signature, the railway schedule, and Alexander Bonaparte Cust, a traveling salesman following Hampton's Guide who just happened to be in e More...

The pacing of this book is just awesome. It was non-stop, and just the right mix of Poirot-ness, Hastings perspectives, and the other investigators (most of them related to the murder victims.)

I just read The Alienist and was done with serial killers for awhile ... but wait! This Christie novel is about a serial killer, too. The killer has a unique MO: the first victim's name starts with 'A' and so does the town in which the murder takes place, the second victim's name starts with 'B' and so doe More...

Poirot is sent a taunting letter challenging him to figure out what the writer intends to do in the city of Andover on a certain date. Of course, Poirot doesn't like to be teased so it bothers him, but what can he do about such a strange letter? He and his friend Hastings, along with Scotland Yard's arrogant Crome, soon discover that someone is intent upon murdering their way through the alphabet.

Oh, it's been a while since I've sunk into the comfort of a Christie novel, and this is a good one, More...

"A serial killer is on the loose, and Hercule Poirot will travel the length and breadth of England to track this ruthless killer.. . " Thus begins the tale of murder by the alphabet, with the great detective providing his usual urbane wit and psychological insight. If you are a fan of Agatha Christie, you will enjoy this book with all the Christie hallmarks--a widespread cast of characters, plot twists, swift pacing, red herrings, oddball characters, intriguing setting. As a dedicated audio book More...

Sometimes murder is as easy as ABC but this time Hercule Poirot seems to be faced with a homicidal maniac and clues seem to be few and far between. Poirot receives a letter that informs him that there is going to be a murder in Andover and Mrs Ascher is found battered to death behind her shop counter. Next young Betty Barnard is strangled on a beach in Bexhill and then Sir Carmichael Clarke is killed in Churston. Why are each of the bodies found with a copy of the ABC railway guide and who the h More...

This Hercule Poirot novel was different from the other ones I've read - there are multiple murders, the victims don't know one another, etc. I was originally happy with a slightly different premise. Unfortunately, though, it made the book much more transparent than her other works. I guessed at part of the solution before I even read the book (view spoiler)[that is, that there was a "real"/intended victim hidden in among the murders and that the ABC concept was an attempt to hide the real motive (hide spoiler)] and I figured More...

Before I begin my review, let me start off my saying I am a HUGE fan of Agatha Christie. Throughout the years I have always used her novels as "go to" books if I am in a literary dry spell and yearn to read something I am guarentee to enjoy. My girl Aggie usually hits the spot! However, sadly, I must say that "The A.B.C. Murders" is thus far my least favourite of all her books.

The following may contain spoilers:

Poirot, everyone's favourite detective, receives a mysterious letter warning him of More...

Now that I’ve finally read one of the Miss Marple mysteries, I feel it only fair that I dip my toe into the pond of Poirot. My husband has claimed that the Poirot murders far exceed the Marple ones in quality, so I picked up the first one listed – apparently one of the later ones chronologically.

In this Poirot novel, Hastings has returned to visit England, and of course he drops in on his old friend. Poirot has recently received a strange letter, claiming that the author will commit a crime on a More...

As I listened to this audiobook, I was in a quandary over whether the book seemed worse than it was because of the weak audio performance or if the audio performance was so poor because it's such a stupid book. Now that I've finished, I'm leaning toward the latter.

The premise of the book is good -- a murderer sends a series of letters to a famous detective, taunting him with when and where his next murder will take place. But Poirot actually encourages friends and family members of the previous More...

This is probably not the best Hercule Poirot mystery Christie wrote, but it’s the first one I’ve read, and I quite enjoyed it. In this story, a murderer sends letters to Poirot signed A.B.C., and then on the dates mentioned at the town mentioned, a murderer takes place of a person with the same last name initial as of that of the town’s first letter, all proceeding in alphabetical order -- from Andover to Bexhill to Churston…The murderer leaves an A.B.C. railway guide at the scene of each crime. More...

In the thrilling mystery novel, Abc Murders by Agatha Christie, there plays an insane serial killer on the loose detective, Hercule Poirot, the serial killer decides to send him letters telling him who he was going to kill next and where the killing was going to occur, signing it with ABC. The first victim was Alice Ascher of Andover, second, Betty Barnard of Bexhill-on-Sea, and then, Sir Carmichael Clarke of Churston. Apparently, Hercule and the police arrive too late before they can stop the k More...

Wanted so much to put this down – coz the hour on the clock was silently accusing me of being up still – but this story just wouldn’t let go.

Which may sound strange, considering that the plot is pretty straightforward – a letter challenging Poirot’s sleuthing capabilities tells him to watch out for an immanent event (of course it’s a murder…this is Poirot we’re talking about). The letter is tauntingly signed, A.B.C.

Sure enough, a murder is committed in the quiet little town of Andover. And a we More...

I was really looking forward to reading this Christie novel as I love Poirot and I really liked the alphabetical concept of the story and the murders. Unfortunately I ended up a bit disappointed, mainly because for the last three months I've been working my way through Christie's novels and this one tied in a bit too closely to After the Funeral, which I'd read previously. I can't help but think that while the ideas behind the Poirot and even Marple novels are often original and ingenious, the s More...

In this novel, Hercule Poirot once again has to solve a mystery.. but he has to do it quickly, too!

Short thoughts about this thrilling book.

The A.B.C. Murders is a truly great crime novel, where the art of misdirection is mastered by the amazing Agatha Christie. All the way from major red herrings to tiny ones that make you (read: me) think you just snatched up something important and that you solved the mystery, this novel's plot is both thrilling and mysterious.

I throughly enjoyed the plot, More...