The A.B.C. Murders / The Mirror Crack’d / Cat Among the Pigeons / The Clocks

The ABC Murders (Hercule Poirot, Bk 12) (aka The Alphabet Murders) — Alice Ascher, a shopkeeper in Andover, is bludgeoned to death at her place of work. Next to die is Miss Bernard in Bexhill, then Mr. Clarke in Churston. More disturbing than the alphabetic sequence of the killings or the ABC Railway guide that the killer leaves at the scene of each crime are the taunting notes Hercule Poirot receives each time the killer is about to strike again. It is one of Poirot’s most challenging cases yet.

Also published as The Alphabet Murders.

The Mirror Crack’d (Miss Marple, Bk 8)

Marina Gregg, an actress whose best years are behind her, hosts a dinner party and, when one of her guests is poisoned, most suspect a homicidal hostess.

Cat Among the Pigeons (Hercule Poirot, Bk 33)

Welcome to Meadowbank, an exclusive school for privileged young ladies. A fine lot. A dangerous one, too. Two teachers have already bitten the dust. It’s obvious to Hercule Poirot that someone is out to scratch Meadowbank’s respectable veneer.

The Clocks (Hercule Poirot, Bk 34)

As instructed, stenographer Sheila Webb let herself into the house at 19 Wilbraham Crescent. It was then that she made a grisly discovery: the body of a dead man sprawled across the living room floor. What intrigued Poirot about the case was the time factor. Although in a state of shock, Sheila clearly remembered having heard a cuckoo clock strike three o’clock. Yet, the four other clocks in the living room all showed the time as 4.13. Even more strangely, only one of these clocks belonged to the owner of the house…