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. This is a rather typical Agatha Christie story – typically brilliant, that is. 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. 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 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. 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. 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 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.
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