The ABC Murders

by Agatha Christie

Book 13 in the Hercule Poirot series.

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Audio available 4.5

Poirot receives letters announcing murders in towns whose names follow the alphabet. An ABC railway guide is left beside each victim, and a travelling stocking salesman appears repeatedly near the crime scenes, giving the police an apparently coherent suspect.

The widening geographical pattern creates public fear and forces Poirot to work beyond a single household. He studies the differences among the victims and the psychology of a killer who seems to seek national attention, testing whether the visible sequence is the true purpose of the crimes or a structure designed to hide a more personal motive.