Agatha Christie in...Elberry Cove

Elberry Cove 

'Suddenly we came out on a grassy ridge overlooking the sea and a beach of glistening white stones. All round dark green trees ran down to the sea. It was an enchanting spot - white, deep green - and sapphire blue'

This is Hasting's description of Elbury Cove, also known as Elberry Cove in The ABC Murders. This peaceful, little white-pebbled beach is the setting for the Churston murder in The ABC Murders!


In this novel, the murderer sends Hercule Poirot taunting letters, detailing a date and location of a future murder and challenging 'Mr Clever Poirot' to solve the mystery. The letters are always signed A.B.C. and at each of the murders, is a copy of an A.B.C. Railway Guide.

Following the A.B.C. theme, the first victim is murdered in a place beginning with A, the second in a place beginning with B and so on, here are the victims:

Mrs Alice Ascher in Andover
Miss Betty Barnard in Bexhill-on-Sea
Sir Carmichael Clarke in Churston
George Earlsfield in Doncaster

The last victim's name doesn't follow the pattern and doesn't begin with a D, but when you read the book, it will make a bit more sense...

Elberry Cove isn't that far from Greenway - Agatha Christie was a keen swimmer and Elberry Cove was another favourite of hers for bathing.

So, Elberry Cove is also going on the list of places to visit. I've had a look at how to get there and it looks like we'll have to park at Broadsands and walk along the South West Coast Path. Broadsands is another lovely beach - I used to go on holiday here with my family when I was younger, and we spent some good times on the beach and in the sea here. Oh, happy days!

Next on the list is Churston, I know I've mentioned it briefly, but there are a few more locations in Churston that are either in novels or important to Agatha, so I'm covering that separately.

Until next time...!