The ABC Murders - Moé for Solarpunk Books

English language

Published March 17, 2013 by HarperCollins.

ISBN:: 978-0-00-752753-3

(1 review)

There's a serial killer on the loose, bent on working his way through the alphabet. And as a macabre calling card he leaves beside each victim's corpe the ABC Railway Guide open at the name of the town where the murder has taken place. Having begun with Andover, Bexhill and then Churston, there seems little chance of the murderer being caught until he makes the crucial and vain mistake of challenging Hercule Poirot to frustrate his plans.

2 editions

nerd teacher [books] reviewed The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

An Enjoyable Mystery

4 stars

Content warning The end of the review is marked again with the spoiler in question.

This is probably one of the more engaging novels that Christie wrote, and it's also easy to see why someone attempted to turn it into a game (though the game feels a bit flat in comparison). There are a lot of moving parts the pay attention to, though it also feels often like you're precisely in the position of Hercule Poirot despite having more information than he does (coming from chapters titled 'Not Hastings Perspective'). You're trying to find the clues that maybe he overlooked, even though you obtain them at roughly the same time.

Overall, it's just a very enjoyable kind of detective romp. Engaging and interesting with a story that is, once you recognise what's happening, fairly simple and not convoluted at all. (That is, btw, something I enjoy in mysteries.)

The spoiler comes after this:

The story left me with one major question, which is: Is it easier to suggest to people with epilepsy that they've done things that they really didn't? Or that things happened that didn't? Because this is a major plot device that is used in the conclusion, and I'm wondering if it was based on reality/presumed reality or assumption.