What happens
Alexander Bonaparte Cust, a mild-mannered, headache-plagued traveling salesman, carries a railway timetable printed with the initials ABC. When a series of murders is announced in the press, each in a town whose name begins with the next letter of the alphabet, Cust finds himself in Andover, then Bexhill, and begins to fear that he may be connected to them. Franklin Clark, a man he has met in the library, becomes a confidant as the crimes spread. The story is adapted from Agatha Christie's novel The ABC Murders, and this broadcast of Suspense, first aired on May 18, 1943, is performed by Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester.
England, in the Midlands and southern towns including Andover, Bexhill and Churston, shortly after the last war
Characters: Alexander Bonaparte Cust, Franklin Clark, Miss Marbury, Mrs. Asher, Mary Barnards, Lady Clark, Miss Lily, Inspector Chrome
Listen for: Cust's growing uncertainty about his own memory and the typewritten letters signed ABC
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.