By Capatain Arthur Hastings，O.B.E.
In this narrative of mine I have departed from my usual practice of
relating only those incidents and scenes at which I myself was present.
Certain chapters，therefore，are written in the third person.
I wish to assure my readers that I can vouch for the occurrences related
in these chapters.If I have taken a certain poetic licence in describing the
thoughts and feelings of various persons，it is because I believe I have set
them down with a reasonable amount of accuracy.I may add that they have been
"vetted"by my friend Hercule Poirot himself.
In conclusion，I will say that if I have described at too great length
some of the secondary personal relationships which arose as a consequence of
this strange series of crimes，it is because the human and personal elements
can never be ignored.Hercule Poirot once taught me in a very dramatic manner
that romance can be a by-product of crime.
As to the solving of the ABC mystery，I can only say that in my opinion
Poirot showed real genius in the way he tackled a problem entirely unlike
any which had previously come his way.
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