The ABC murders (by Agatha Christie)

(Amazon UK link)

The 20th century writer Agatha Christie is, deservedly in my view, known as the 'queen of crime'. In her lifetime she published over 60 detective stories, most of them very cleverly written, in a variety of settings.

'The ABC murders' features Hercule Poirot, the slightly arrogant (but utterly delightful) Belgian detective who always manages to make the police force look faintly ridiculous.

In this book, Poirot tries to solve a bizarre series of apparently arbitrary murder cases, each of which takes place at somewhere beginning with a consecutive letter of the alphabet.

Gradually more and more characters are drawn together in an attempt to find the culprit. Poirot, meanwhile, is much more concerned about the motive. His research and questioning lead to a very clever twist, and an entirely unexpected conclusion.

Very cleverly written, fast-paced and enjoyable light crime fiction. This book is still in print in both the UK and the USA, in several editions.

Recommended.