Agatha Christie - The ABC Murders

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Agatha Christie’s world-famous serial killer mystery, reissued with a striking cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers.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…

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By Captain Arthur Hastings, O.B.E.

In this narrative of mine I have departed from my usual practice of relating only those incidents and scenes at which I myself was present. Certain chapters, therefore, are written in the third person.

I wish to assure my readers that I can vouch for the occurrences related in these chapters. If I have taken a certain poetic licence in describing the thoughts and feelings of various persons, it is because I believe I have set them down with a reasonable amount of accuracy. I may add that they have been ‘vetted’ by my friend Hercule Poirot himself.

In conclusion, I will say that if I have described at too great length some of the secondary personal relationships which arose as a consequence of this strange series of crimes, it is because the human and personal elements can never be ignored. Hercule Poirot once taught me in a very dramatic manner that romance can be a by-product of crime.

As to the solving of the ABC mystery, I can only say that in my opinion Poirot showed real genius in the way he tackled a problem entirely unlike any which had previously come his way.

Chapter 1 1 The Letter 2 Not from Captain Hastings’ Personal Narrative 3 Andover 4 Mrs Ascher 5 Mary Drower 6 The Scene of the Crime 7 Mr Partridge and Mr Riddell 8 The Second Letter 9 The Bexhill-on-Sea Murder 10 The Barnards 11 Megan Barnard 12 Donald Fraser 13 A Conference 14 The Third Letter 15 Sir Carmichael Clarke 16 Not from Captain Hastings’ Personal Narrative 17 Marking Time 18 Poirot Makes a Speech 19 By Way of Sweden 20 Lady Clarke 21 Description of a Murderer 22 Not from Captain Hastings’ Personal Narrative 23 September 11th. Doncaster 24 Not from Captain Hastings’ Personal Narrative 25 Not from Captain Hastings’ Personal Narrative 26 Not from Captain Hastings’ Personal Narrative 27 The Doncaster Murder 28 Not from Captain Hastings’ Personal Narrative 29 At Scotland Yard 30 Not from Captain Hastings’ Personal Narrative 31 Hercule Poirot Asks Questions 32 And Catch a Fox 33 Alexander Bonaparte Cust 34 Poirot Explains 35 Finale About Agatha Christie The Agatha Christie Collection About the Publisher Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

The Letter 1 The Letter 2 Not from Captain Hastings’ Personal Narrative 3 Andover 4 Mrs Ascher 5 Mary Drower 6 The Scene of the Crime 7 Mr Partridge and Mr Riddell 8 The Second Letter 9 The Bexhill-on-Sea Murder 10 The Barnards 11 Megan Barnard 12 Donald Fraser 13 A Conference 14 The Third Letter 15 Sir Carmichael Clarke 16 Not from Captain Hastings’ Personal Narrative 17 Marking Time 18 Poirot Makes a Speech 19 By Way of Sweden 20 Lady Clarke 21 Description of a Murderer 22 Not from Captain Hastings’ Personal Narrative 23 September 11th. Doncaster 24 Not from Captain Hastings’ Personal Narrative 25 Not from Captain Hastings’ Personal Narrative 26 Not from Captain Hastings’ Personal Narrative 27 The Doncaster Murder 28 Not from Captain Hastings’ Personal Narrative 29 At Scotland Yard 30 Not from Captain Hastings’ Personal Narrative 31 Hercule Poirot Asks Questions 32 And Catch a Fox 33 Alexander Bonaparte Cust 34 Poirot Explains 35 Finale About Agatha Christie The Agatha Christie Collection About the Publisher Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

It was in June of 1935 that I came home from my ranch in South America for a stay of about six months. It had been a difficult time for us out there. Like everyone else, we had suffered from world depression. I had various affairs to see to in England that I felt could only be successful if a personal touch was introduced. My wife remained to manage the ranch.

I need hardly say that one of my first actions on reaching England was to look up my old friend, Hercule Poirot.

I found him installed in one of the newest type of service flats in London. I accused him (and he admitted the fact) of having chosen this particular building entirely on account of its strictly geometrical appearance and proportions.

‘But yes, my friend, it is of a most pleasing symmetry, do you not find it so?’

I said that I thought there could be too much squareness and, alluding to an old joke, I asked if in this super-modern hostelry they managed to induce hens to lay square eggs.

Poirot laughed heartily.

‘Ah, you remember that? Alas! no—science has not yet induced the hens to conform to modern tastes, they still lay eggs of different sizes and colours!’

I examined my old friend with an affectionate eye. He was looking wonderfully well—hardly a day older than when I had last seen him.

‘You’re looking in fine fettle, Poirot,’ I said. ‘You’ve hardly aged at all. In fact, if it were possible, I should say that you had fewer grey hairs than when I saw you last.’

Poirot beamed on me.

‘And why is that not possible? It is quite true.’

‘Do you mean your hair is turning from grey to black instead of from black to grey?’

‘Precisely.’

‘But surely that’s a scientific impossibility!’

‘Not at all.’

‘But that’s very extraordinary. It seems against nature.’

‘As usual, Hastings, you have the beautiful and unsuspicious mind. Years do not change that in you! You perceive a fact and mention the solution of it in the same breath without noticing that you are doing so!’

I stared at him, puzzled.

Without a word he walked into his bedroom and returned with a bottle in his hand which he handed to me.

I took it, for the moment uncomprehending.

It bore the words:

Revivit.—To bring back the natural tone of the hair. Revivit is not a dye. In five shades, Ash, Chestnut, Titian, Brown, Black.

‘Poirot,’ I cried. ‘You have dyed your hair!’

‘Ah, the comprehension comes to you!’

‘So that’s why your hair looks so much blacker than it did last time I was back.’

‘Exactly.’

‘Dear me,’ I said, recovering from the shock. ‘I suppose next time I come home I shall find you wearing false moustaches—or are you doing so now?’

Poirot winced. His moustaches had always been his sensitive point. He was inordinately proud of them. My words touched him on the raw.

‘No, no, indeed, mon ami. That day, I pray the good God, is still far off. The false moustache! Quel horreur!’

He tugged at them vigorously to assure me of their genuine character.

‘Well, they are very luxuriant still,’ I said.

‘N’est ce pas? Never, in the whole of London, have I seen a pair of moustaches to equal mine.’

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