The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie

Published in an omnibus edition: "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd"; "They Do It With Mirrors" and "Mrs. McGinty's Dead" as part of the "Agatha Christie Crime Collection" by The Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd.: London, 1969.
First published 1926.

This year at the Founders Book Fair, an annual book fair in my hometown, I came across a few volumes of the Agatha Christie Crime Collection, and decided to buy this one based solely on having heard that this particular story, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, had a fairly 'satisfying' ending. 

It does!

Inspector Poirot, of Orient Express fame, has retired to a small village, and gets caught up in solving the murder of Roger Ackroyd, a local rich widower who was believed to have been interested in another recently deceased local, the widowed Mrs Ferrars. Helped by the local doctor, Dr Sheppard, who also serves as our narrator, Poirot is able to uncover the usual string of mysteries, subterfuge and secrets that fill out the plot of such mysteries as this. Of course there is the mystery of Roger's murder, but other questions include the whereabouts of Roger's heir, Ralph Paton, the suspicious behaviour of Roger's butler Parker, and who was responsible for a mysterious phone call to Dr Sheppard that first alerted him to the murder. Poirot, of course, is also interested in details that upon first glance appear to have no bearing to the case, such as the positioning of a particular chair in the office where Roger's body was found, and the discovery of a piece of fabric in the summer house outside. Of course, in true Poirot fashion these will give Poirot vital clues before the story is done.

What I want in a good murder mystery is for the reader to conceivably have been able to put the clues together and figure out the murderer before the reveal. Not too early, or the 'fun' is gone, but neither do you want to get the reveal and realise that there is no way you had enough information to figure it out. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd has a great balance of these elements, and as the reveal approached I found myself suddenly beginning to have an inkling of what might have been happening, and then a rush of excitement as Poirot revealed all and my suspicions were correct. Poirot mysteries are not often the easiest to figure out, but there are enough clues sprinkled throughout the book that, in retrospect, the solution makes sense.

So, yes, this is worth the read. But try not to spoil it for yourself ahead of time.

Completed 23 June 2022.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Various Picture Books

Image
As I said in my review of Peter Rabbit's Storytime Collection , I am wanting to find a way to acknowledge the books I read to Ezekiel without adding individual picture books to my reading list - I feel that would dilute it a bit much. So in this post, I've decided to look at a group of picture books all together. I've picked five picture books that I like (with a notable and noteworthy exception), and also asked Elise for five picture books she is  enjoying reading to Ezekiel. It's interesting (and helpful for this list) that our lists haven't overlapped at all this time around. So, here are ten picture books (plus one bonus 'book') that Ezekiel has been exposed to in the first 7ish months of his life: Karl's List Bunnies on the Bus - Philip Ardagh and (illustrator) Ben Mantle. Published by Walker Books Ltd: London, 2020 (2019). This is one of my favourites among our current picture books. A group of bunnies hijack a bus and hurtle through the town on th
Read more

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Image
Published by Allen & Unwin: Crows Nest, NSW, Australia, 2008. Book snobs, block your ears. *whispers* I think the movie was better. Okay, book snobs, you can unblock your ears now. *waves to get the attention of book snobs* To be honest, a huge reason why I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society at this moment in time was that I thought it would be funny to have two books with ridiculously long titles appear back-to-back in my list. For anyone who thought that there were super-deep reasons why I picked the books that I did, I hope this helps you see the error of your ways. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (which I am refusing to shorten for the rest of this review) still tells the same story as that in the movie adaptation (also called  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ), but does so in a less gripping (though still interesting) manner. This is for a few reasons: firstly,  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society book is e
Read more

Words of Radiance - Brandon Sanderson

Image
Published by Tom Doherty Associates Books/TOR Fantasy: New York, 2014. Book 2 in 'The Stormlight Archives' series. Preceded by ' The Way of Kings .' Followed by (spin-off) ' Edgedancer ' and (main series) ' Oathbringer. ' Well, I finally read the second Stormlight book, this one even longer than the last  at a whopping 1080 pages, and once again found myself enjoying Sanderson's world immensely. The plot does take longer than strictly necessary in places - particularly in the storyline following Shallan Davar as she journeys towards the Shattered Plains - but overall is still a page-turner. By the middle of Words of Radiance our three main characters (Kaladin, Shallan and Adolin) are finally in the same location, something that was never achieved in the first book. In keeping them apart for so long, Sanderson is able to give his readers a real understanding of what makes each character tick, and this becomes quite interesting as when these character
Read more