The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

Published 1936 · 58,260 words · about 3 hours at an average pace · Mystery & Crime

How hard is The ABC Murders to read?

The ABC Murders scores 36 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it moderately challenging. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 42 out of 100
The text primarily uses accessible English vocabulary, typical of popular detective fiction. Occasional French phrases, like 'mon ami' or 'quel horreur,' are common for the character of Poirot and generally understandable in context, not posing a significant barrier. Specialized terms such as 'alienist' or 'platelayer' appear infrequently but are not obscure.
Sentence structure: 48 out of 100
Sentences are predominantly of moderate length and clear structure, facilitating easy comprehension. While some sentences incorporate multiple clauses, they avoid the extensive nesting or convoluted constructions found in highly complex literary works. Hastings's narration maintains a direct and navigable style throughout.
Abstraction: 38 out of 100
The narrative remains largely concrete, focusing on plot progression, character interactions, and the physical details of the investigation. While Poirot's deductions delve into psychological profiling and the killer's motivations, these are presented as logical inferences from observable facts rather than abstract philosophical discourse, keeping the content grounded.
Information density: 42 out of 100
The book presents information at a steady, manageable pace, prioritizing plot and character development without overwhelming the reader with excessive detail or multiple, highly interwoven narrative threads. Key clues and deductions are introduced clearly, allowing for straightforward comprehension without demanding intensive rereading.
Narrative indirection: 30 out of 100
The narrative in "The ABC Murders" is overwhelmingly direct, with Captain Hastings providing a clear, chronological account of events and Poirot's investigative process. Readers are told what happens and what the characters think, requiring minimal inference to understand the plot or character motivations. Poirot explicitly explains his deductions, leaving little for the reader to construct independently, placing it closer to '1984' in its directness.
Symbolic density: 15 out of 100
"The ABC Murders" exhibits very low symbolic density, prioritizing a literal interpretation of events to serve the intricate plot. Motifs like the alphabetical killings or the railway guide function primarily as direct clues and plot devices rather than carrying deeper allegorical or symbolic weight. The narrative focuses on the concrete details of the investigation, not on meaning beyond literal events, similar to 'Diary of a Young Girl'.
Ironic distance: 40 out of 100
A moderate ironic distance is present, primarily through Captain Hastings's often naive and sentimental narration, which Poirot frequently and gently punctures with his superior intellect and dry wit. This creates a humorous gap between Hastings's limited understanding and the author's (and Poirot's) more astute observations. However, this irony serves more as character development and lighthearted banter than as a deep, critical commentary on the text's themes or events, making it less pronounced than in 'Moby-Dick'.
Resolution withholding: 20 out of 100
As a classic detective novel, "The ABC Murders" is inherently designed to provide definitive closure to its central mystery. While the killer's identity and motive are withheld for much of the narrative, the entire plot structure builds towards a complete and logical explanation by Hercule Poirot. The excerpt concludes with the killer's confession and Poirot's promise of a full elucidation, leaving no significant ambiguities or open questions about the crime's resolution, far from the open-endedness of 'Waiting for Godot'.
Structural complexity: 45 out of 100
The novel employs a moderately complex structure by alternating between Captain Hastings's first-person, chronological account and third-person "Not from Captain Hastings' Personal Narrative" sections that follow the killer, Mr. Cust. These shifts in perspective are clearly delineated and serve to advance the plot and build suspense without disorienting the reader. The overall timeline remains linear, avoiding the fragmented chronologies or experimental forms found in higher-scoring works like 'Pedro Paramo'.

How The ABC Murders is regarded

The ABC Murders holds a literary regard score of 62 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.

Where The ABC Murders sits in Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism

Placed by a full reading of the text (109 passages), not from reputation. Each verdict quotes the passage that earned it. On the axis from myth to irony, The ABC Murders scores 62 out of 100. A second mythos, irony, pulls at it with a weight of 0.2. About the map of stories.

Mode: Low Mimetic
“I am better than the police,” said Poirot. He said it without conscious arrogance. It was, to him, a simple statement of fact.
Symbol: Literal & Descriptive
“You see? It is the same motif three times repeated. That cannot be coincidence.”
Mythos: Comedy iii (Normal Comedy, with ironic shading) (comedy iii)
“Rouge, impair, manque!—you win, M. Poirot! But it was worth trying!”
Genre: Novel
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.

Where the story of The ABC Murders takes place

  • England, June-November 1935: London, Andover, Bexhill, Churston, Doncaster, the main setting

5 things that are true of The ABC Murders, with the passage for each

  1. Poirot has taken to dyeing his hair, and Hastings finds the Revivit bottle.

    “Poirot,” I cried. “You have dyed your hair!”

  2. The first letter from A B C names Andover and the 21st of the month.

    Look out for Andover, on the 21st of the month.

  3. The Doncaster suspect's suitcase is full of boxes of silk stockings.

    “Stockings, sir. Silk stockings.”

  4. Poirot has Franklin Clarke's pistol secretly unloaded before he can shoot himself.

    He removed your pistol from your pocket, unloaded it, and returned it, all without you being aware of the fact.

  5. Poirot's claim of a damning fingerprint on the typewriter was a bluff he invented to please Hastings.

    “I put that in to please you, my friend.”

Scenes in The ABC Murders that Frye would name

22 sightings of Frye's terms in the text. The strongest:

Anagnorisis, Twenty-one: Description of a Murderer
“Stockings,” he was murmuring. “Stockings…stockings…stockings…ça vient…stockings…stockings…it is the motif— yes…three months ago…and the other day…and now. Bon Dieu, I have it!” Poirot suddenly recognises the stocking-seller as the unifying link between all three crimes.
Anagnorisis, Thirty-four: Poirot Explains
A B C and Franklin Clarke were one and the same! The detective's revelation that the true murderer is the helpful brother pivots the story.
Pharmakos, Thirty-four: Poirot Explains
He—he himself—is the killer! He remembers his headaches—his lapses of memory. Cust is manufactured into the scapegoat for Clarke's crimes and bears the community's horror.
Alazon, Thirty-four: Poirot Explains
“Rouge, impair, manque!—you win, M. Poirot! But it was worth trying!” The hearty, boasting Franklin Clarke, who disguised himself as helper and sportsman, is exposed as the impostor.
Cognitio, Thirty-five: Finale
“Do not be afraid to forget,” said Poirot gently. “She was not so well worth remembering. In Mademoiselle Megan you have one in a hundred—un coeur magnifique!” Poirot restores the social order and pairs the young couple at the close.
Lyric, Thirty-two: And Catch a Fox
“—And catch a fox And put him in a box And never let him go.” A children's rhyme is overheard and becomes the moral key of the ending.

Books that share these scenes with The ABC Murders

About the author

Agatha Christie