I rate this as one of Christie’s three best Poirot books, along with “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” and “Then There were None”.
The story follows a series of murders with the towns in which they are committed and the victims’ names following an alphabetical sequence. For good measure, the killer leaves a ABC rail guide at the scenes of the crime. Early in the story, we are exposed to Alexander Bonaparte Cust who seems to have a close link with the killings. The structure is that of a typical Poirot book — the initial crime, the follow-up crimes, assorted characters related to the victims, a prime suspect, some romantic entanglements, and Poirot’s dénouement at the end in a room full of people. Poirot’s actions, just before the dénouement, are usually strange — in this book, they are even more inexplicable than usual.
A hallmark of a good detective novel, in my view, is its ability to give the reader a sporting chance to solve the mystery while at the same time being clever enough to make it very difficult. “The ABC Murders” scores on that front — the challenge here is to figure out the underlying thread of the story rather than the killer themselves. The only grouse I had it with the book was that certain aspects of the story seemed a bit far-fetched. And like most Christie books, this one is a page-turner!
As a side note, When I re-read the Poirot books, I am struck by how naive Christie has made Hastings out to be — early in the book for example, Hastings believes that Poirot’s grey hair is turning black. While Christie means Hastings to be a perfect foil for Poirot, a sort of Dr. Watson to Sherlock Holmes, she does do a disservice to him! :-)
Pros: Page-turner, clever plot, satisfying end
Cons: Some elements of the story seem far-fetched
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