The ABC Murders

Hastings admits that this was the first moment where the case began to truly interest him, as previously he thought the letter would lead to nothing consequential and that Franz Ascher was the likely culprit. He and Poirot visit the morgue, and both are moved by the sight of the dead woman. Hastings makes note of her peaceful repose, and Poirot remarks that she “must have been beautiful once” (25). The medical examiner informs them she was likely struck with a heavy object the killer then removed. Poirot asks about the force necessary, and the medical examiner immediately admits that Franz Ascher likely had sufficient strength to do so. Poirot forces him to consider that a woman may have been responsible, and he agrees that it is not impossible. Both men ultimately agree that this is unlikely.

The doctor confirms that Mrs. Ascher’s back was to her assailant, so it is more likely the perpetrator was a customer than her husband, as she was likely pulling a product from a shelf behind her. Poirot suggests they go visit Ascher’s niece before viewing the crime scene itself.

Hastings recalls Mary Drower as “by a pretty dark-haired girl whose eyes were red with recent weeping” (28). She disparages Franz Ascher, though she finds the idea of the couple divorcing unimaginable. She says that she never took Ascher’s threats seriously, as her aunt frequently responded with equal vigor. Drower denies that her aunt had any other bad relationships or received any anonymous letters. Drower reports that there was no material benefit from her death, and no other living relatives.

When Poirot gives her his card and urges her to provide him with her new address once she has left her position and returned to London, she notices that he is not a policeman. Perplexed, she asks, ““Is there anything—queer going on, sir?” Poirot confirms her guess, asking her to be ready to help him, and she agrees enthusiastically, stating, “I—I’ll do anything, sir. It—it wasn’t right, sir, auntie being killed” (32).

When the pair returns to Andover after their interview, Hastings realizes that Poirot put off his visit until roughly the same time as the murder to have a better picture of the neighborhood. The area is not in anything like its typical state. Residents flock to the tobacco shop and are shooed away by a police guard.

Hastings takes in the dingy surroundings and listens to the police escort explain where the railway guide was found and that there were no fingerprints. They visit the old woman’s personal rooms and find a photograph of Mary Drower and Alice Ascher’s former employer. Poirot points out the Ascher’s wedding photo, where they both look distinguished and striking. Hastings reflects, “I recalled the leering drunken old man, and the toil-worn face of the dead woman—and I shivered a little at the remorselessness of time” (37). They abandon the scene for lack of valuable evidence and visit the grocery store opposite.

Poirot instructs Hastings to make a decoy purchase to justify their presence, and then engages the shopkeeper in conversation, engaging in speculation about a stranger in the area. Hastings, as instructed, contradicts him about this man’s hair color. After they leave, Poirot explains that he was acting on his knowledge that English people distrust strangers asking questions: “If I had asked those people for information they would have shut up like oysters. But by making a statement (and a somewhat out of the way and preposterous one) and by your contradiction of it, tongues are immediately loosened” (39-40). Poirot chides Hastings for purchasing out of season strawberries that are staining his suit.

As they interview Mrs. Ascher’s neighbors, Poirot pretends to be a journalist and offers an overburdened housewife, Mrs. Fowler, five pounds for information. Mrs. Fowler explains her impatience with them because so many door-to-door salesman visit her, offering her goods she does not need, like “vacuum cleaners, lavender bags, and such-like foolery” (41). She offers up Franz Ascher as a likely suspect, claiming she warned the dead woman about him. She can offer no knowledge about Alice Ascher’s personal life, and insists Franz Ascher is guilty and merely avoided detection. Poirot admits to Hastings that the interview was not immediately useful but that something Mrs. Fowler said could acquire significance later.

Poirot and Hastings encounter the local police inspector, who is in despair at the number of witnesses insisting they have seen suspicious men about. He admits that Scotland Yard should be called, as the crime is beyond local expertise, and it is unlikely the culprit lives in the area. Before leaving, Poirot and Hastings meet the last two customers who saw Mrs. Ascher alive. The first is a scrupulous bank clerk, Mr. Partridge, who insists he came forward out of “duty” (46) but knew nothing specific about Mrs. Ascher. Poirot pretends to look up a train, so the man produces a railway guide. The second man, Mr. Biddell, is a blustery railway employee who meets them with “undisguised hostility” and complains of “foreigners” wasting his time (48-49). He grudgingly answers when asked why he did not come forward on his own. He explains that the shop was empty when he stopped in that evening, and that he did see a railway guide lying on the counter before leaving. This appears significant because the guide is called the “ABC” railway guide. Poirot interrupts Biddell’s tirade and leaves, taking Hastings with him.

After they board a return train to London, Hastings presses Poirot for his conclusions. As at the grocery store, Poirot dissembles, inventing a man with red hair and a limp and describing him at length. Hastings is briefly taken in, then reproaches his friend for the joke. Poirot ripostes, “You fix upon me a look of dog-like devotion and demand of me a pronouncement à la Sherlock Holmes!” (51). Poirot admits that the railway guide should satisfy Hasting’s quest for a more traditional “clue” and notes that it must have been put there deliberately as the murderer wiped off all prints. Poirot suggests that this level of meticulousness, along with the detail of the letters, is valuable information.

He performs a psychological analysis, suggesting that the unknown subject has long felt neglected and now seeks notoriety. He argues that out of the witnesses they have met, Patridge fits the type of a confident schemer more than Riddell, who Hastings suspects. Poirot pointedly insists that the killer’s gender cannot be assumed, particularly since women are more prone to write letters like the one he received. To Hastings’s dismay, his friend points out that all the traditional lines of investigation can be undertaken by the police, and they must wait for more data.

Hastings is disconcerted by the turn to inactivity and assumes that Poirot is feeling defeated and sulking. Alice Ascher’s death is officially declared a murder, but there is no other press attention.

A month later, Hastings returns to London and finds Poirot is unsurprised that another letter from ABC has arrived. It instructs Poirot to look for a murder in the town of Bexhill-on-Sea on the following day, July 25th. Hastings is emotional and disturbed, while Poirot is calm.

A conference is called including many policemen and an “alienist” (the early 20th century term for a psychiatrist) called Dr. Thompson. The police confirm that the same person wrote both letters but express doubt the crime can be prevented. Poirot suggests the victim may have a surname beginning with B, while Thompson reminds him it could be another old woman who works in a shop. Thompson asserts that there will be a logic to the crimes: “A deadly logic is one of the special characteristics of acute mania. A man may believe himself divinely appointed to kill clergymen—or doctors—or old women in tobacco shops—and there’s always some perfectly coherent reason behind it” (59).The police consider searching for shopkeepers with B surnames but note that the resort town is likely full of vacationing strangers, making the task even more difficult. Poirot shares this pessimism and reminds Hastings of the “successes of Jack the Ripper” (59).