Book Club

Poirot Stories

Poirot is Agatha Christie's most famous and popular detective.  No doubt he would agree that he deserves that accolade!

Here is the place to discuss all of his stories in detail with other fans.  The most insightful comments will be added to the Stories pages.  But remember to beware spoilers!

If you can't find your favourite Poirot story here, don't worry - we'll be adding them all soon.

Warning: These discussions may contain spoilers!

The ABC Murders

Jemma 05 Aug 09 at 2:58 p.m. GMT

A superb example of Christie drawing on real life events for her inspiration. Inspired by the horror of the true life serial killer Jack the Ripper, Christie sought to reduce the violence in The ABC Murders. She was more interested in mystery than horror. Was she wrong to do this? Would the book be better if the truly savage crimes of a serial killer were described in more detail?

An ever changing society is depicted through the use of the railways. Most people were travelling by train and the golden age of steam was at it's height. If Christie drew on contemporary society in this way, then why ignore the effects of the depression? Whilst the depression is hinted at with Hasting's return from Argentina, Christie does not explore its effects on England. Was her depiction of genteel tea rooms and girls in service out of date?

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Westmacott 04 Nov 11 at 1:16 p.m. GMT

No, it was the landlady’s daughter who called him after her fiancé went to talk to the police. I think she just couldn’t believe that Cust was a criminal. She is also a bit naive and believes that people are good. She has a good heart, couldn’t stand to see the mouse suffer in the mousetrap, she let the mouse go.

As for the question for Dower, I agree, Poirot later said that some of the questions were not serious. We can exclude the questions for Clarke, Fraser and Thora. So the ones for Megan and Mary Dower should be the ones that had no relevance. Also, when someone asks you something unexpected you begin to think about it. Mary just have lost her only relative so maybe this was Poirot’s way to help her move on. Or maybe I’m just too sentimental.

GKCfan 04 Nov 11 at 2:57 a.m. GMT

I believe that the woman who called Cust was his landlady.  His landlady's daughter and her fiancé contacted the police and sent the authorities on his trail.  

As for Mary's boyfriend, Poirot didn't have anything relevant to ask her, so he asked her something of no relevance to the case.  My personal opinion?  Poirot, ever the matchmaker, took a liking to Mary Drower and wanted to see her live happily ever after, so he found out that she was single so he could set her up with some nice young man.

magnoliasouth 03 Nov 11 at 10:21 p.m. GMT

This is a spoiler (and I have ticked off the "Contains spoilers" box), so beware.

I just have a question for those of you who read the book. Who was the woman that called Cust and warned him that the police were coming to question him? If it was in the book, I missed it. I seriously need closure on this.

Another question too, though I believe I know the answer. What was Poirot's point of asking if Dower had a boyfriend? I realize it was a "game" he was playing with all the suspects, but why that fact with Dower? He could have asked her a number of things, but as far as I remember the boyfriend never materialized. What was the point of that?

Westmacott 29 Oct 11 at 1:29 p.m. GMT

After all, I did love the book; it made me realize how ingenious Christie was. She sometimes makes you think you’re just reading an average detective novel and that there is nothing special about it and at the end you realize that you have been mislead all along, and it is truly an exceptional and brilliant work. All my admiration goes to Agatha Christie. And I don’t mean to put the film down, it is just some things that came to my mind, I really do love the Poirot series, they do a wonderful work. 

Westmacott 29 Oct 11 at 1:28 p.m. GMT

So the end feels like he was giving you a list of events but it is not indicated clearly how he actually got to know about them or what gave him the idea. And I don’t understand why they put in those scenes with Japp and the shopping list. But it is just what I think, I might be wrong. If I am, I would gladly receive any corrections.

  Personally, I prefer the ending of the movie where the murderer tries to escape. I didn’t think the suicide attempt to be natural in the book, and also as much as I admire Poirot’s brilliance, I don’t see how he could know in advance that the murderer carried a revolver to the meeting, or actually I don’t see why he would have the revolver with him.

Westmacott 29 Oct 11 at 1:27 p.m. GMT

I have just reread the book and watched the Suchet adaptation as well. I think the film is fairly true to the book, and captures really well the atmosphere I like so much about Christie’s work (most Suchet episodes do). The changes are not that extreme that would irritate you.

There is something that bothers me, though. I felt that they left out some important parts, like the one where Poirot asks each one of the ‘Legion’ a question, expecting to find out about the truth. And also the one where he insists on the fact that a mad person, in fact, acts in a logical and rational way even if it only seems logical to himself. To me these were some of the most important parts to actually see how Poirot’s so-called little grey cells work, and how he gets closer to the solution.

butico 08 Aug 11 at 9:10 p.m. GMT

Quantos recursos Agatha tinha? E por que nós não pensamos nos crimes individualmente, como indica Poirot?

Só com células incríveis como as do detetive podemos chegar ao assassino. E engraçado é que depois que descobrimos, parece tão fácil, óbvio..

Mas ela era assim mesmo, incomparável.

Tommy_A_Jones 07 Mar 11 at 3:52 p.m. GMT

I love the book too, I have read it many times and so it is one of my favourites, I haven't read it for at least 8 years though, I have the Adaptation Alexander Bonaparte Cust is portrayed wonderfully, I love the escapest aspect of the book which sadly is not around in some of Agatha Christies later work which I think is a shame, I would love to know where the Murderer would have struck for their 24th Murder, perhaps they would have deviated slightly and killed an X-ray Tecknician called Xavier?, I am so glad you enjoyed the book.

Masha_Gayne 06 Mar 11 at 10:09 p.m. GMT

I have just finished reading the ABC Murders today. I found it very enjoyable, not my favourite novel but I felt thoroughly satisfied when I got to the end. A little far-fetched perhaps, but I enjoy that, thinking what could happen. The fact the AC does not include the Depression but does include quaint tea rooms and girls in servce, I am sure is a very delibrate under-taking on her behalf as nobody would want to have read anything more about the big problem than they had to. It is wonderful escapism, AC was well aware of this and obliged.

I did find it rather odd, however, that there were characters, such as Megan and the niece, whose name now completely eludes me, who take over quite a sizable chunk of the book and I completely forget them now and then there is Alexander Bonaparte Cust, who only appears in page long intervels and I think I shall always remember that character.

bobhopeless 08 Dec 10 at 11:09 a.m. GMT

Thora Grey - raw deal?  The two brothers (one via a letter) and maid have nothing bad to say about the girl, only the (bitter) old woman doesn't like her, yet in the end Poirot dismisses her in quite an unkind fashion, basically alleging that she is just a gold-digger and presumably that the interests she shared with Car were all part of an act. Is this womans intuition, or just jealousy?  Poirot (AC) seems to have no doubt.

One flaw I thought was that surely a strange man selling stockings on the day of the murder would have been the first thing Thora would have told the police; and not just recalled the fact when reminded about the issue some weeks later.

Tommy_A_Jones 15 Sep 10 at 4:38 p.m. GMT

I have 3 Suchet's and this is one of them and I love it.

beccalouj9 15 Sep 10 at 3:30 p.m. GMT

I absolutely love the David Suchet version of this book! He is just so good at this role! I don't think that the plot is at all far-fetched, as previously mentioned by some. The lengths some people will go to, to cover their tracks, is extraordinary when under that amount of pressure, one would assume!

Lone_Wolf 20 Aug 10 at 7:06 p.m. GMT

The plot was still  on the "believable" side for me, though it definitely stretched its limits a bit.

Lily's warming wasn't unbelievable for me, though - I viewed it as an irrational impulsive act of kindness. She did once pull a mouse out of a mousetrap, after all.

xrysoula 18 Aug 10 at 11:01 p.m. GMT

I read this one very recently and just once. I can 't say I was thrilled, I was tricked  again though-I too thought that AC decided to change compeletely her style for once.

My main problem with the ABC Murders is the exact same as in some of the other novels- the main plot is way too far-fetched for me.I know it 's fiction, yet I honestly can 't imagine anyone, however crazy he may be, managing to set this whole story up and actually killing three more people, just to cover up the one murder he profitted from!

I spotted some other,rather outstanding, flaws too.Lily calls Cust to warn him-why?Just out of the goodness of her heart?How could she possibly know he wasn 't guilty, after all?

Then, in the final scene, when Poirot reveals the truth about the murder in Downcaster,inside the cinema,he tells Franklin something utterly ridiculous: that this time he didn 't bother to choose a victim whose name started with a D, because someone with such a name would certainly be sitting nearby, so everyone would presume that the murderer made a mistake!Please! 

Being an AC fan, it really pisses me off to have her underestimate my intelligence.Unfortunately, I can 't help feeling she does that sometimes.

Yunakitty 08 Aug 10 at 3:03 a.m. GMT

I felt really sorry for Cust (the scenes of him being hungry and pitied by his landlady) so I was happy that he got a good ending.

Gilles 15 Jul 10 at 12:51 a.m. GMT

The ABC Murders may have been inspired by Jack the Ripper (i.e. a serial killer) but I think Mrs. Christie had a much more modern way of telling a story than just creating a gothic atmosphère, as Poirot would say. As for gory details, that's not what I look for... the daily news show us enough of that. What strikes me is the discussion Poirot has with Hastings in Chapter 17: in trying to circumscribe the psychological nature of the killer, one could say that Agatha Christie gives the reader an example of the so-called "Offender Profiling" invented (in modern times) by Dr. Walter C. Langer around 1945. i don't think this has been noted often in essays about Agatha Christie.

Lone_Wolf 16 Jun 10 at 12:16 p.m. GMT

Mr_Graves

However, for some reason i thought that they were all in on it- I thought maybe they had all previously met- Miss. Downer, Megan, and the other guy, what was his name? Carmichael Clarke's brother, anyway, I thought maybe they had all met (Megan's return from wherever she was seemed suspicious) previously, and worked out a way for them to all get what they wanted.

Sounds like Оrient Ехpress 2.0. It was one of my first Christies, when I was still unaquianted with her tricks, so I fell for the Cust herring completely, thinking that AC decided to write a "howcatchthem" novel for a change.

From what I know about the way seasoned Christie veterans perceive the misdirection, the common tendency among them is to consider Cust innocent for one of the murders...

Mr_Graves 16 Jun 10 at 9:52 a.m. GMT

A shock to me- not being very well aquainted with 1930s literature, but the violence! I thought that was very Christie...

As for the plot, well... Unfortunately for Dame Agatha I have seen a couple of Charlie's Angels in my time, as well as as similar sort of thing for my own little play- a series of serial killings to disguise one man's motives, so in that respect I wasn't altogether baffled. However, for some reason i thought that they were all in on it- I thought maybe they had all previously met- Miss. Downer, Megan, and the other guy, what was his name? Carmichael Clarke's brother, anyway, I thought maybe they had all met (Megan's return from wherever she was seemed suspicious) previously, and worked out a way for them to all get what they wanted.

The real solution was very ingenious. I think AC did a terrific job writing from several viewpoints, as was a constant experimentation with her, and also the mind of AB Cust, an excellent portrayal of a man who doesn't know what the hell he's doing. There were perhaps too many characters thrown in- I have a thing about that, like with Dan Brown's, but all in all, I tip my hat to you, Agatha Christie! You've done it again. Another entirely original and exciting mystery. Bravo!

MissQuin 06 May 10 at 3:08 p.m. GMT

I love the Suchet adapt of The ABC Murders, I actually saw the TV version before I read the book. The viwer sees how Cust is feeling tha his sanity is slipping away from him and everyone he sees is blurred and distorted. It's very eerie and cleverly done.

As I young female, I can say that the one playing Franklin Clarke, completely lacks what Chrisite's characters call SA (sex appeal!) It's the only think about this adapt, that I dislike.

sjoerdbol 16 Mar 10 at 9:23 p.m. GMT

yes that is true, he says to Hastings ' where can you hide a murder best, between other murders. ' And the brother of Carmichael Clarke is the only character who profits from one of the deaths. Carmichael Clarke is the only rich fictim. The scenes with Cust are brilliant I think.