From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The A.B.C. Murders

Dust-jacket illustration of the first UK edition
Author	Agatha Christie
Cover artist	Not known
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Crime novel
Publisher	Collins Crime Club
Publication date	January 1936
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	256 pp (first edition, hardcover)
ISBN	NA
Preceded by	Death in the Clouds
Followed by	Murder in Mesopotamia

The A.B.C. Murders is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in January 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence.

The book features the characters of Hercule Poirot, Arthur Hastings and Chief Inspector Japp. The form of the novel is unusual, combining first-person and third-person narrative. Christie had previously experimented with this approach (famously pioneered by Charles Dickens in Bleak House), in her novel The Man in the Brown Suit. What is unusual in The A.B.C. Murders is that the third-person narrative is supposedly reconstructed by the first-person narrator, Hastings. This is a clumsy approach, but shows Christie's commitment to experimenting with point of view, famously exemplified by The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

In Great Britain Penguin Books published a paperback edition (#683) of The ABC Murders in August 1948. It cost one shilling and sixpence.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Characters in "The A.B.C. Murders" 3 Literary significance and reception 4 Allusions to other works 5 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations 6 Publication history 7 External links 8 References

A serial killer is murdering apparently random people in order of their names: first Alice Ascher of Andover, second Betty Barnard of Bexhill-on-Sea, third Sir Carmichael Clarke of Churston (a small village). The killer sends a letter to Hercule Poirot before each murder, telling him where and when each murder will take place, but Poirot and the police always arrive too late. The killer signs himself 'ABC' and at the place of each murder, leaves an ABC Railway Guide next to the body.

Poirot and the police are baffled until a series of clues lead them to suspect the murderer is traveling as a stocking salesman. Then the 'D' murder in Doncaster goes awry and a stocking salesman called Alexander Bonaparte Cust walks into a police station and surrenders.

The case seems closed, but although Cust has confessed to the crimes, he claims not to have heard of Hercule Poirot and can not explain the letters, although they were written on his typewriter. Cust suffers from epilepsy and is subject to blackouts. He claims he can not recall committing the murders, but he believes he committed them because he was in the vicinity of each crime scene. He also sees other clues, such as blood on his cuff (put by Franklin Clarke) and believes himself the culprit. Poirot is suspicious and is later able to prove that Cust is innocent of the crimes.

In a twist ending Poirot reveals that the brother of Sir Carmichael Clarke, Franklin Clarke, who wanted Sir Carmichael's property and money, committed the crimes in order to draw attention away from the murder of his brother. Franklin had met Cust by chance and decided to use him as part of his plan. He arranged for Cust to be hired as a stocking salesman and gave him a travel itinerary that ensured he was at the scene of each murder. He also sent Cust a box of ABC Railway Guides and a typewriter, on which he had already typed the 'ABC' letters.

The story features various characters, associated with the victims, who need to be investigated for possible means and motive for the murders:

• Franz Ascher - estranged husband of the first victim, Alice Ascher.
• Mary Drower - niece of the first victim, Alice Ascher.
• Donald Fraser - jealous boyfriend of the second victim, Betty Barnard.
• Megan Barnard - sister of the second victim, Betty Barnard.
• Franklin Clarke - brother of the third victim, Sir Carmichael Clarke.
• Thora Grey - attractive secretary to the third victim, Sir Carmichael Clarke.
• Alexander Bonaparte Cust - a salesman who visited the home of the victims shortly before their murders.

The Times Literary Supplement of January 11, 1936 concluded with a note of admiration for the plot that, "If Mrs. Christie ever deserts fiction for crime, she will be very dangerous: no one but Poirot will catch her."

Robert Barnard: "A classic, still fresh story, beautifully worked out. It differs from the usual pattern in that we seem to be involved in a chase: the series of murders appears to be the work of a maniac. In fact the solution reasserts the classic pattern of a closed circle of suspects, with a logical, well-motivated murder plan. The English detective story cannot embrace the irrational, it seems. A total success – but thank God she didn't try taking it through to Z."^[1]

In chapter three of the novel, Poirot lays out the plot of what he considers a perfect crime, a crime so challenging that 'even he' would find it hard to solve. This exact murder - where someone is murdered by one of four people playing Bridge in the same room with him - is the subject of Christie's Cards on the Table, which was published later in the same year. Similarly, in chapter one of The A.B.C. Murders Poirot alludes to a situation in the 1935 novel, Three Act Tragedy.

The novel was adapted in 1992 for the television series Agatha Christie's Poirot with David Suchet playing the role of Hercule Poirot. The adaptation remains faithful to the novel, with some minor changes and characters omitted. The cast included:

• Hugh Fraser as Captain Hastings
• Philip Jackson as Chief Inspector Japp
• Donald Sumpter as Alexander Bonaparte Cust
• Donald Douglas as Franklin Clarke
• Nicholas Farrell as Donald Fraser
• Pippa Guard as Megan Barnard

It was previously adapted for the 1965 film, The Alphabet Murders, with Tony Randall as Hercule Poirot.

• 1936, Collins Crime Club (London), January 1936, Hardback, 256 pp
• 1936, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), 1936, Hardback, 306 pp

• The ABC Murders at the official Agatha Christie website
• The Alphabet Murders (1965) at the Internet Movie Database
• Agatha Christie's Poirot, The ABC Murders (1992) at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e Works by Agatha Christie
Detectives:	Hercule Poirot • Miss Marple • Tommy and Tuppence • Ariadne Oliver • Arthur Hastings • Superintendent Battle • Chief Inspector Japp • Parker Pyne
Novels:	The Mysterious Affair at Styles • The Secret Adversary • The Murder on the Links • The Man in the Brown Suit • The Secret of Chimneys • The Murder of Roger Ackroyd • The Big Four • The Mystery of the Blue Train • The Seven Dials Mystery • The Murder at the Vicarage • The Sittaford Mystery • Peril at End House • Lord Edgware Dies • Murder on the Orient Express • Three Act Tragedy • Why Didn't They Ask Evans? • Death in the Clouds • The A.B.C. Murders • Murder in Mesopotamia • Cards on the Table • Dumb Witness • Death on the Nile • Appointment with Death • Hercule Poirot's Christmas • Murder is Easy • And Then There Were None • Sad Cypress • One, Two, Buckle My Shoe • Evil Under the Sun • N or M? • The Body in the Library • Five Little Pigs • The Moving Finger • Towards Zero • Death Comes as the End • Sparkling Cyanide • The Hollow • Taken at the Flood • Crooked House • A Murder is Announced • They Came to Baghdad • Mrs McGinty's Dead • They Do It with Mirrors • After the Funeral • A Pocket Full of Rye • Destination Unknown • Hickory Dickory Dock • Dead Man's Folly • 4.50 From Paddington • Ordeal by Innocence • Cat Among the Pigeons • The Pale Horse • The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side • The Clocks • A Caribbean Mystery • At Bertram's Hotel • Third Girl • Endless Night • By the Pricking of My Thumbs • Hallowe'en Party • Passenger to Frankfurt • Nemesis • Elephants Can Remember • Postern of Fate • Curtain • Sleeping Murder
As Mary Westmacott:	Giant's Bread • Unfinished Portrait • Absent in the Spring • The Rose and the Yew Tree • A Daughter's a Daughter • The Burden
Short story collections:	Poirot Investigates • Partners in Crime • The Mysterious Mr. Quin • The Thirteen Problems • The Hound of Death • The Listerdale Mystery • Parker Pyne Investigates • Murder in the Mews • The Regatta Mystery • The Labours of Hercules • The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories • Three Blind Mice and Other Stories • The Under Dog and Other Stories • The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding • Double Sin and Other Stories • The Golden Ball and Other Stories • Poirot's Early Cases • Miss Marple's Final Cases and Two Other Stories • Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories • The Harlequin Tea Set • While the Light Lasts and Other Stories
Plays:	Black Coffee • And Then There Were None • Appointment with Death • Murder on the Nile/Hidden Horizon • The Hollow • The Mousetrap • Witness for the Prosecution • Spider's Web • The Unexpected Guest • Verdict • Rule of Three • Fiddlers Three • Akhnaton • Chimneys
Radio (and Television) Plays:	Wasp's Nest • Three Blind Mice • Butter In a Lordly Dish
Other books:	The Road of Dreams • Star Over Bethlehem and other stories • Poems • An Autobiography