Christie, Agatha: The ABC Murders

Captain Hastings returns from the Argentine on urgent business to do with his ranch there, which he promptly forgets when he meets up with Poirot again. Poirot receives a letter from “ABC”, taunting him with a hint of a crime to take place in Andover, which turns out to be the senseless murder of Alice Ascher. It becomes clear that ABC has in mind a series of similarly random murders, with the location and victim chosen by dint of their initials. Before each murder takes place, ABC writes to tell Poirot where and when it will happen. By the time we get to the letter D, Poirot has formed an investigative band, his Special Legion, made up of the people primarily affected by the murders A, B and C. They go to Doncaster to join the hunt …