The ABC Murders Recently, I started reading a series of books written by Agatha Christie. This particular book was called the ABC Murders. The book was set in England, the main character being a man by the name of Hercule Poirot. He is a world famous Belgian detective. The plot is centered around a series of murders that take place in different towns beginning with specific letters. For example, the first murder occurred in Andover and the name of the woman murdered was Alice Ascher, thus the next murder happened in Bexhill and Betty Barnard was the victim. I liked how this book had a surprising storyline, the story switched between first and third person and how the story used humor to make the book better. Some important characters in …show more content…
this book were Hercule Poirot, Captain Arthur Hastings, Alexander Bonaparte Cust, Franklin Clarke, and the four victims, Sir Carmichael Clarke, Alice Ascher, Betty Barnard and George Earlsfield. Most of the book is written from Captain Hastings point of view, making him one of the main characters. Hastings is always accompanying Hercule Poirot during the whole mystery. Alexander Bonaparte Cust is a special character because he is the man being framed for the whole mess. He’s even thinks he did the crimes as he was in the same town during the right time for each of the three crimes. Franklin Clarke is the younger brother of Sir Carmichael Clarke, it the end it is found that he has committed the crimes in order to kill his brother and ensure that he receives his brother’s fortune before his brother married again. The conflict is set around Hercule trying to find out who the ABC murderer is. The murderer kept sending Poirot letters telling him where his next murder would take place. Poirot felt like he was a failure because he couldn’t solve the mystery of the first three murdered victims and couldn’t prevent them from being murdered. After the fourth murder Alexander Bonaparte Cust turns himself in because he believe his has gone crazy and is the murderer without knowing it. Poirot has an interview with Cust and determines that there is no way Cust actually committed the crime because he can’t remember any of them and he had an alibi during the Bexhill murder, when he was identified, by multiple sources as being at a bar on the outskirts of Bexhill, a totally different location than the murder. Poirot told Hastings after the interview, “_______”. Poirot then went on to really figure out who committed the crimes. My favorite part of the book was when Hercule Poirot had all the victim’s relatives in a room.
He went through the details of the case that they already knew or could infer. Then he went more complex, explain why he didn’t believe that Alexander Bonaparte Cust was the murderer. He believed that he had figured out who the real murderer was. He said that Franklin Clarke thought that Sir Carmichael would remarry the housewife, Thora Grey, after is sick and ailing wife died. If Sir Carmichael remarried, Franklin would lose the inheritance from him. Franklin had just set up the other murderers, as to not raise suspicion upon the “important” murder and place the blame on Cust. Franklin says there is no qays this is possible as he was in Egypt for the first two murders. Poirot thens retorts by saying that his fingerprints were found on Cust’s typewrite, proving him guilty. Clarke gives in and admits he did it ending the case. Later, when talking to Hastings, Poirot says, “His fingerprints were never found on the typewriter, I was bluffing.” This creates a funny, yet serious scenario where somebody admitted to a crime though false pressure. This story was really exciting, because once you thought they had caught the criminal, a new one replaced him. The way the author’s switched between first and third person was really interesting as well. I would give this book an eight out of ten, because of the intriguing plot line. This book is a good read from anyone older than a middle school
student. I think this book is very well-written and almost anybody could follow along. Agatha Christie has written a lot of Hercule Poirot books and I can’t wait to read more of them in the future.
Suzanne Lebsock, the author of “A Murder in Virginia”, has written many historical novels, including “The Free Women of Petersburg: Status and Culture in a Southern Town, 1784-1860”, “Visible Women”, and “A Share of Honour”. Lebsock has been recognized with the MacArthur Fellowship, the Bancroft Prize and Berkshire Conference Prize for “The Free Women of Petersburg”, and the Guggenheim Fellowship. “A Murder in Virginia” captures the essence of the Southern society post-slavery. The strictly fact based novel goes chronologically from soon prior the murder of a white farm wife, Lucy Pollard, to the convicting of suspects, to sentencing those found guilty to be hanged, to the children of Fort Mitchell searching for the lost money. These events span from 1895 to over a century later. The previously
Evaluation: I thought the book was very exciting and suspenseful like her other books. The book had very good detail and an interesting plot. I liked the twist when Juan and the girl’s father came upon Glenn walking down the road. I also liked how the author described the action in great detail. It made me feel like I was right there seeing it all happen firsthand. I don’t think that the author could’ve made this book any better than she did already.
The book is great with the plot mainly focused in the courtroom, but it feels like the author put the plot of the story from different events that happened to younger people and not from one whole event. Finally, the document went into depth of how the defense attorney went on to get every piece of evidence as possible to make the eyes of the jury see that Brenton Butler was not the person that shot and killed the
I found the book to be easy, exciting reading because the story line was very realistic and easily relatable. This book flowed for me to a point when, at times, it was difficult to put down. Several scenes pleasantly caught me off guard and some were extremely hilarious, namely, the visit to Martha Oldcrow. I found myself really fond of the char...
In my eyes I loved the book I rate it a 9/10, its had a good twist and turn to it. I loved this
story, the plot was good. The liked the purpose of the author and the way
Murder on a Sunday morning is a documentary of an unfortunate mishap with the legal justice system that happens one of many times. In Jacksonville, Florida the year of 2001, May 8th there was a horrific scenery at Ramada hotel. A women named Mary Ann Stevens and her husband were tourists, while leaving their room early Sunday morning around 9AM a gunshot fatally killed Mary Ann and ended the couple’s vacation. When cops arrived at the scene and investigated they took notes on what the suspect looked like from the husband, “ The suspect is skinny black male dark shorts unknown shirt on foot running south bound…. Fishlike hat on.”- cop at the scene. When the cops were driving around they’ve spotted an African American
The first suspect is Edward “Bennie” Bedwell. Bedwell was a local dishwasher who was questioned at a local motel for three days (Sigona). What supported Bedwell as a suspect is that he actually confessed to the murder (Sigona). There were multiple problems with Bedwell’s confession, however. The first problem with his confession is, “Bedwell couldn’t read or write, so it would be nearly impossible for him to understand what he was confessing to” (Sigona). The second problem with his confession is “After a time, everyone realized Bedwell’s story didn’t add up. There were inconsistencies, including the fact that Bedwell said he was with the girls for a month before they died” (Sigona). Finally, the main problem with his confession is that the girls were dead within four hours of leaving home (Sigona). The other suspect in the case of the murder of Barbara and Patricia Grimes is Max Fleig. Max Fleig was a young man in his teens when the Grimes sisters were murdered (MacGowan). Max offered to take a lie detector test, which he failed (MacGowan). The reason Fleig was released even after failing the test is “The police began to focus on him as a prime suspect until they were told that it was illegal to polygraph someone underage. The police released him, many of the authorities thinking he was their man” (MacGowan). Another example that supports Fleig as a suspect is that he was imprisoned later in his life
I would recommend this story to anyone who enjoys stories centered on the maturation of youth during their teenage years. I felt that the climax of this story was not as exciting as it could have been. However, the storyline was very interesting as well as entertaining. I look forward to reading other stories by this author!
Each person in this room will walk past a serial killer 36 times in your lifetime.
The birth of classic detective fiction was originated just in the mid nineteenth century, and was producing its own genre. Classical detective fiction follows a set of rules called the ‘Ten commandments of detective fiction’. The genre is so popular it can bee seen by the number of sales in any good book stores. Many of these books have been created a long time ago and there is still a demand for these types of books. The popularity is still ongoing because it provides constant entertainment, and also the reader can also have a role of detective trying to solve the crime/case committed. Classical detective fiction has a formula, the detective story starts with a seemingly irresolvable mystery, typically a murder, features the astute, often unconventional detective, a wrongly accused suspect to whom the circumstantial evidence points, and concludes with a startling or unexpected solution to the mystery, during which the detective explains how he or she solved the mystery. Formula that includes certain elements such as, a closed location to keep the number of suspects down, red hearings spread around the stories to keep the reader entertained yet interacted.
This book is a Modern Criminal Fiction novel story that produces suspense, tragedy and mystery. It brings a gloomy kind of mood mixed with action and suspense.
Agatha Christie depicts a descriptive, fictional murder mystery in the novel ABC Murders. With the help of the narrator, Captain Arthur Hastings, Hercule Poirot solves the murders of four victims who are killed in alphabetical order by Franklin Clarke, more commonly known as ABC. The story elicits copious high points but the rare low point as well. Examples of these aspects can be found within the plot, setting, characters, conflict, and theme of the book. According to Stanford’s Suggested Reading List, the book is considered a “must read.” ABC Murders definitely holds up to the reputation placed upon it by Stanford and would be a favorable choice for anyone wishing to read a well written novel.
I enjoyed this story and whislt reading it I wondered if it was a good detectivew story and therefore I compared it to W.H. Audens description of a detective story. Which is "A murder occurs; many are suspected; all but one suspect, who is the murderer, are eliminated; the murderer is arrested or dies." While a murder does occur and many are suspected but that is were the similarity ends. Because the suspects are not eliminated down to a single criminal and a murderer is not arrested or dies. Perhaps this is because Agatha Christie believed that the outcome does not always have to do justice in accordance with the law and rather that it is morally right.
Success came fairly early for Christie. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was published in 1920 when she was only thirty years old. Many of Christie’s books had reoccurring characters such as Miss Marple, Poirot, and Harley Quin. Miss Marple is an older woman who does not look like the average detective. Christie got her inspiration for the character from looking at the older ladies in the towns she lived in as a child. Poirot is a stout little Belgian man who could have been the best detective of all time. She got her inspiration for his character from the Belgian expatriates. Harley Quin was one of Christie’s favorite characters. He is more of a supporting character who helps the lead detective in her stories. She truly hit her peak in the late 1920’s when “she published four non-series mystery novels, fourteen Poirot novels, two Marple novels, two Superintendent Battle books, a book of stories featuring Harley Quin and another featuring Mr. Parken Pyne, an additional Mary Westmacott book, and two original plays” (“Agatha Christie – Books and Biography” 3). Christie wrote all of her romantic novels under the name of Mary Westmacott. “More than 400 million copies of her novels and short stories have been sold and her works have been tran...