The A.B.C. Murders characters

Appears from the start

The Belgian detective, now living in a modern London flat and semi-retired, though he denies growing older with more energy than the denial requires. He receives the first of the anonymous letters that begin the case and insists on treating it as a challenge addressed to him personally. His method here is to study the victims rather than pursue the murderer, which exasperates the police.

Appears from the start

Poirot's old friend and companion in many cases, back in England on a visit from his ranch in South America. Loyal, warm-hearted, and easily convinced by the last strong personality he has met, he narrates most of the story and is impatient with Poirot's habit of sitting still and thinking.

First appears in chapter 2

A shabby, ailing man in cheap lodgings who travels the country selling stockings on commission. He served in the war, was wounded in the head, and suffers from headaches and blackouts in which he cannot afterwards say where he has been. He is timid with landladies, anxious about money, and reads reports of crimes in the newspapers with an unsettled attention.

First appears in chapter 3

The Scotland Yard inspector who has known Poirot for many years, cheerful, sceptical, and fond of teasing him about foreign methods. He brings the official view of the first letter and remains on friendly terms as the case grows.

First appears in chapter 3

An elderly woman who keeps a small tobacconist and newsagent's shop in a back street of Andover, worn down by years of work and by a husband she left long ago. Her neighbours know her as a hard-worked and frightened woman.

First appears in chapter 4

Alice Ascher's estranged husband, a German-born drunkard who has pestered her for money for years and threatened her in public more than once. Loud, maudlin, and thoroughly disreputable, he is the obvious suspect for the Andover police.

First appears in chapter 5

Alice Ascher's niece, a domestic servant in London and the only relative who showed the old woman any kindness. Sensible, quietly spoken, and honest, she gives Poirot a clear account of her aunt's circumstances.

First appears in chapter 8

The police inspector from Scotland Yard put in charge of the case, efficient, modern, and openly dismissive of Poirot as a relic of an earlier generation. He prefers records, laboratories, and systematic searching to speculation about character.

First appears in chapter 9

A young waitress at a seafront cafe in Bexhill, pretty, flirtatious, and fond of dances and admirers, to the exasperation of the man she is engaged to. Her parents run a small guest house.

First appears in chapter 11

Betty Barnard's elder sister, a shorthand typist in London, dark and plain beside her sister and unwilling to pretend anything about her. Her flat, unsentimental honesty about the family impresses Poirot, and she becomes one of his helpers.

First appears in chapter 12

Betty Barnard's fiance, a young clerk in an estate agent's office, devoted to her and tormented by jealousy over her behaviour with other men. He is highly strung and shaken to pieces by her death.

First appears in chapter 15

A wealthy retired throat specialist living near Churston in Devon, a noted collector of Chinese art with a settled routine that includes an evening walk. His wife is bedridden and he manages the household around her illness.

First appears in chapter 15

Sir Carmichael Clarke's secretary, a strikingly beautiful young Scandinavian woman who runs the household correspondence and the collection's catalogue. She is composed, capable, and entirely aware of the impression she makes; Hastings is much struck by her.

First appears in chapter 17

Sir Carmichael Clarke's younger brother, who has spent years knocking about the world in the East and comes home when his brother is killed. Brisk, forceful, and full of practical energy, he takes charge of the family's affairs and pushes hard for the amateurs to do something rather than wait on the police.

First appears in chapter 20

Sir Carmichael Clarke's wife, gravely ill and kept sedated for the pain, so that her mind wanders between clarity and confusion. In one of her clearer intervals she remembers something she saw from her window that nobody else thought worth recording.