Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1065867 in Books
• Published on: 1976-09-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Synopsis
There's a serial killer on the loose, bent on working his way through the alphabet. There seems little chance of the murderer getting caught - until he makes the crucial and vain mistake of challenging Hercule Poirot to frustrate his plans.

Customer Reviews

Poirot does it again !
Once again we see Dame Agatha Christie successfully copying the Arthur Conan Doyle structure to produce a novel which while having characters of depth & substance in situations of great drama & suspense is nice and easy to read . That is Dame Agatha's genius that she took the idea of a brilliant detective , a lovable sidekick who like the reader is baffled by Poirot's brilliance and the grand old school copper who feins grudging admiration for the detectives greatness ( while really having much affection for him ) and delivered it an early 1920's context . I love this novel as it led to one of David Suchets most excellent Poirot TV shows . I cannot speak of it too highly and as ever the consumers friend Amazon.co.uk offer it at a great knock down price !

Really clever
This is a great triumph by Agatha Christie and it was extremely griping and clever. I enjoyed it and very nearly gave it 5 stars but I do feel that some of her other masterpieces are better so I gave it less stars.

Poirot has not had a case for a while and he seeks a complex one too really get his ''little grey cells'' working again. This is just the type of case he has coming when he receives a letter saying that a murder is going to happen in Andover and the murder victims second name begins with ''A''. Then he receives another letter about a murder that is going to happen in Bexhill and the murder victims name will begin with ''B''. And so on through the alphabet until the letter ''D''. Poirot seeks why someone would murder people for such a stupid reason and he wants to find the psychology behind the killer. Another clue that links these murders is the murderer leaves an ABC railway guide beside each of the victims bodies. Poirot soon discovers a man who was at each of the towns when the murders took place and goes in search of him, but is it that simple?

This is such a clever novel and it is filled with red herrings, directing you away from the identity of the real killer which was a complete surprise to me. This is a great novel and it will get first time readers of Christie hooked and will keep Christie's current readers hooke, I highly reccomend it.

Classic Christie!
This is one of my favourite Agatha Christie Poirot mysteries. A great story that is very cleverly written to misdirect you as to 'whodunnit' leading to a satisfying ending where Poirot reveals all. For crime fiction fans this is well worth reading.