The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie. Short summary

5 seconds

Poirot has a new case — he helps the police catch a serial maniac who kills alphabetically. Soon a stocking salesman, Alexander Bonaparte Cast, turns himself in to the police. Poirot proves that Cast is innocent and finds the real killer.

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A novel in the «Hercule Poirot» series. A serial killer appears whose victims are unrelated, but their names go in alphabetical order. First the shopkeeper Alice Asher dies, then the waitress Betty Bernard. The third victim is the wealthy Carmichael Clark. Hercule Poirot receives letters before each murder indicating the location of the murder. The perpetrator signs as «ABC.» The fourth murder occurs out of alphabetical order—apparently the perpetrator missed.

Soon a stocking salesman, Alexander Bonaparte Cast, who suffers from memory lapses, comes to the police to confess. But Poirot discovers that at the time of the murder of the second victim Kast had an alibi.

In the end, the detective manages to prove that the perpetrator is the brother of the third victim, Franklin. The first two victims were chosen at random, and the real target was Carmichael Clark. After his brother’s wife died, Franklin was his only heir. Caste, on the other hand, was hired by the killer and sent to the right town, having pre-selected the victim there.