The ABC Murders

Christie periodically uses clothing to signify aspects of a character’s nature. Thora Grey strikes Poirot with her attention to fashionable dress—“that crepe marocain and the silver fox collar—dernier cri [the latest fashion]” (148). In the same scene, Poirot calls Thora’s disclosure of her dismissal by Lady Clarke strategic—perhaps implying that Thora is honest about this because it is consistent with her own purposes, including an interest in Franklin Clarke. To Poirot, Thora’s clothing telegraphs her ambition.

At the other end of the spectrum, much is made of Cust’s “shabby” experience by the witnesses who recall him (200). He is not memorable and is disheveled—not to conceal his true nature, but rather to broadcast his harmlessness and lack of sophistication. Cust’s appearance explains, in part, why Franklin chose him as a likely target for the scheme.

The Great War, as it was initially known, changed English society, creating more opportunities for women, changing gender norms, and beginning a gradual erosion of the class system. Christie hints at this with the character of Betty Barnard—who feels comfortable casually dating men and putting off marriage. Hastings himself is a war veteran, and Poirot alludes to his solving of the case in The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which took place during the war and directly concerned the changing social position of the aristocracy. Alice Ascher’s marriage is a prewar affair, but some characters suggest its failure was due to the pressures of wartime and anti-German sentiment.

Cust’s character is where addresses the war motif most directly, when he encounters the young men on the beach who claim that war service makes men have mental health conditions. Notably, one of the young men suggests that war is “preventable” while his friend rejects the idea one can be against them, as they are more like natural disasters (121). Cust regards his war service as a trauma (“my head’s never been right since”) but also speaks to Poirot about his service with great pride (121). He declares, “I enjoyed the war. What I had of it, that was. I felt for the first time, a man like anyone else” (237). Cust laments his discharge as unjust. He experienced the war as a social equalizer, a test of masculinity he was able to pass.

The ABC letters first catch Poirot’s attention because they are written to him and explicitly reference his Belgian nationality: “you fancy yourself, don’t you, at solving mysteries that are too difficult for our poor thickheaded British police” (6). Franklin Clarke effectively confirms he is the killer when he calls Poirot a “jackanapes of a foreigner” (261). Xenophobia also plays some role in the life of Alice Ascher, as the local authorities note that her marriage to a German was likely a source of social tension during the years of World War I.

Poirot remains, in many respects, cheerfully unassimilated. He speaks in French without translating his remarks and is largely unconcerned with the occasional inaccurate use of idioms, as when he confuses the expression “mare’s nest”— a puzzle or intractable problem—and a wasp nest (12). Poirot remains an acute observer and occasional critic of English culture, reflecting on fox hunting as particularly cruel. Where Franklin upbraids his outsider status, Poirot calls Franklin’s crime “not an English crime at all—not aboveboard—not sporting” (263). Poirot may follow his own codes of conduct, but he feels confident Franklin has violated those of English society.