The ABC Murders

Great book for Agatha Christie lovers

Agatha Christie is great in telling murder mystery stories and this is another great book of hers. Interesting plot, great twists, building up suspense and Poirot being brilliant once more. It feels like you can't put the book down. Hugh Fraser is a fantastic narrator! He can put just in the atmosphere of the book and he does a great job representing all the characters, especially Poirot.

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Wow 😮

This is an INCREDIBLE book, it kept me on my toes throughout- Agatha Christie has done it again!

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A great narration of a true classic...

Any additional comments?

When Captain Hastings comes back on a trip to London from his new home in the Argentine, he hastens round to visit his old friend, Hercule Poirot. After they've done a bit of catching up, Poirot shows Hastings a bizarre letter he has received, warning that a crime will be committed on a certain date in Andover. When the day comes, so does news of a murder – Alice Ascher, the owner of a small newsagents, has been found dead, with a copy of the ABC railway guide lying beside her body. Poirot and Hastings head to Andover, and soon find that Mrs Ascher's drunken husband had every reason to want her dead, and would surely be arrested for the crime were it not for the strange coincidence of the letter. Some weeks pass before Poirot receives a second letter, this time warning of a murder to take place in Bexhill and, sure enough, a body turns up on the due date, along with another copy of the ABC. Poirot is already suspicious that this murderer is working to an alphabetical plan; a suspicion that is confirmed when the third letter speaks of Churston...

This is a rather typical Agatha Christie story – typically brilliant, that is. It has everything that makes her books such a joy: intriguing clues, plenty of suspects all with strong motives, lots of red herrings and misdirection, and, of course, the hugely entertaining interplay between Poirot and Hastings. It is narrated by Hastings, partly in the first person for the sections where he was present himself, and the rest in the third person, which he tells us he reconstructed from accounts from Poirot and other people.

There are possible suspects for each of the crimes – relatives, lovers and so on – but Poirot must find the link that connects them all. Chief Inspector Japp is always happy to have help from his little Belgian friend, and some of the suspects get together to offer their assistance too, so that they can have justice for the dead and also get out from under the cloud of suspicion that is hovering over them.

People sometimes sneer at Christie for working to a “formula” but I say, if a formula works so well, then why not? There are some things in this one that I feel are standard Christie, and they add as much to the enjoyment here as they do in so many of her other books. Her victims are carefully chosen so that we hope for justice for them, while not having to go through too much of the angst of grief. Poirot and Hastings spend much of their time interviewing people until Poirot's little grey cells give him the solution, which he then reveals at a get-together of all the suspects. The tone is lightened by the warmth of Hastings' narration – his occasional humour at Poirot's expense never hiding the warm regard he feels for his friend. And although Poirot is obviously more intelligent than Inspector Japp, the police are never shown as bumbling incompetents. There is a general respect in the books that makes Christie's world a pleasure to visit, and despite the similarities in tone and structure, the plots are different and original enough to make each book feel unique.

The plot of this one is beautifully complex and elegantly simple at the same time – a true Christie trait – so that when the solution finally comes, it seems both fiendishly clever and satisfyingly obvious. This is a major part of Christie's success, I think – her “twists” are an untangling of a complicated knot, rather than the sudden introduction of some new layer of hitherto unsuspected silliness, as with so much contemporary crime. Her denouements don't so much make one gasp with stunned disbelief as nod with satisfaction at the logical working out, and grin with pleasure at her cleverness in first hiding and then revealing her clues.

I listened to the Audible version of this, narrated by Hugh Fraser, whom Christie fans will recognise as the actor who played Hastings to David Suchet's Poirot in the long-running ITV series. Fraser does a marvellous job – he captures the tone of the books perfectly, bringing out the humour and the warmth of the friendship between Poirot and Hastings. He has a lovely speaking voice and, though he doesn't “act” all the parts, he differentiates enough between the characters so that it's easy to follow who's speaking. Obviously, when he's reading Hastings' dialogue, he sounds just like Hastings. But remarkably, when Poirot is speaking, he sounds just like Suchet's Poirot! I guess Fraser must have spent long enough listening to Suchet do it that he has mastered a faultless impersonation. It gives the narration a wonderful familiarity for fans of the TV adaptations.

So to conclude, one of Christie's finest, enhanced by a fabulous narration – I promptly shot off back to Audible and used up all my spare credits on getting as many of Fraser's Poirot readings as I could, and happily he has done loads of them. My highest recommendation for both book and reading – perfect entertainment!

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Perfect

The perfect murder mystery, I loved this story. Hugh Fraser is a brilliant narrator and the twist is very clever. Great read.

Don't judge a book by its cover!

Please do not let the jacket illustration on this excellent book confuse you. The content is pure, original Christie at her best. Read by the irreplaceable Hugh Frazer. It has no connection whatever with the dreadful pastiche that was shown on TV and is on the jacket.

Use The Little Grey Cells

The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

When I mention the name Hercule Poirot to you, what names and stories come to mind? Obviously Dame Agatha Christie comes to mine as his creator alongside David Suchet from the excellent ITV adaptations. When it comes to stories though I find the same three tend to recur most often. Murder on the Orient Express, Death On The Nile and the one I will be reviewing today, The ABC Murders.

Much like the Holmes stories that preceded them, the Poirot stories helped codify the popularity of the mystery genre and ensured that nosy detectives would be poking their heads into other people’s business for a long time to come. In fact even the Belgian detective with his ‘little grey cells’ is still running around thanks to some modern stories licensed from the Christie estate.

The ABC Murders itself starts relatively simply. Captain Hastings the long time friend of the Belgian detective has come back to England after some ventures in South America. While the two are catching up Poirot mentions what seem to be some form of crank letter except something bothers him about it. When the appointed day forewarned in the letter arrives the crime has indeed been committed.
This leads to a chase to catch the killer with some slightly unusual help!

The story is rightfully considered a classic. Hastings is on fine form while the police force and the aforementioned unusual help makes a nice change of pace from the usual Poirot tale. Poirot himself is for once not firing on all cylinders but if anything that adds to the story. I’m also personally quite a fan of the various different ‘red herrings’ that appear throughout the book!

Now to discuss the audio! The audiobook is narrated by Hugh Fraser – Hastings from the ITV adaptations – and he does an excellent job. His voice is perfect for that traditional public school upperclass English feel that tends to permeate Agatha’s murder mysteries. He also is very adept at voicing everyone be it a very accurate take on Suchet’s Poirot, a very working class neighbour of the first victim or an irritatingly superior policeman working alongside Poirot on the case. Anyone and everyone is performed admirably. There’s a reason they got him to do the narration on the majority of the audiobooks even in those cases when Hastings himself isn’t a character in the story!

It’s no easy feat to feel yourself being drawn into the story and getting invested in what happens when you already know the answer to the mystery but this audiobook – as well as the other Poirot stories I happen to own – manage this easily. Just who killed Mrs Ascher, why did they do it and when will Poirot manage to catch the mysterious and disturbing ABC?

I highly recommend giving the original books a try. There’s a reason that Agatha Christie is acknowledged as the world’s best selling novelist after all! In fact she’s only behind The Bible and Shakespeare. Even if you’ve seen the TV adaptations a million times the books – and by association audiobooks – are the originals and it’s definitely worth it to let Poirot, Hastings and Chief Inspector Japp take you along as they attempt to solve the classic whodunnit that is The ABC Murders.

Sayonara!

Nephrite

Stylish murder mystery which doesn't disappoint!

A fiendish murderer toying with esteem detective Hercule Poirot. The murderer is sending teasing letters of possible about be happen murders of people who’s names correspond with the town they are murdered within, all found with a copy of the railway ABC book next to them. Poirot finds he must use all his formidable ‘little grey cells’ to uncover the correct killer before they strike again!

For anyone who loves a twisty murder mystery with its tradition array of ‘red herrings’. All completely lovely to be immersed within this traditional murder mystery book with the added benefit of being read by Hugh Fraser AKA Arthur Hastings within the ITV series.

Great story

Great story. Brilliant performance by Hugh Fraser as always.

Minor complaint - PLEASE change the picture - this one is from the Tv programme which bore very little similarity to the book as read here. Back to the old picture please.

Interesting listen

Full of plot and suspense, well read. Quite a heavy listen as there is a lot going on but a interesting story. Tried to read the book when I was in my teens and found it hard work so thought I’d give listening to it a chance. Worth listening too and got quite into it half way through and was looking forward to the reveal of the killer. Give this book a chance.

Original and Best

Hércule won't replace Sherlock in my affections but I enjoyed this way more than the recent Amazon /BBC adaptation, worth going back to the source. I enjoyed the narration.